NEWSLETTER OF THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF PROPRIETORS OF PRIVATE SCHOOLS (NAPPS) NIGERIA ON ACTIVITIES AND RESOLUTIONS IN RESPECT OF CLOSURE OF SCHOOLS IN NIGERIA DUE TO COVID -19 PANDEMIC
The National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS) which serves as the umbrella body and voice of private school owners in the country would like to APPRECIATE the resilience of members nationwide during this unprecedented period caused by the outbreak of the Coronavirus in the country. The NAPPS executives also share the fears and concerns of members just as the education sector in the country continues to bear the brunt of the impact of COVID 19 pandemic in the country.
Recall that before the lockdown announced by the President in his first broadcast to the nation on Sunday 29th March 2020, private and public schools in the country had since been closed.
This abrupt closure of schools by the government to protect the students in the country, unfortunately, brought a lot of untold hardship on private schools owners who rely heavily on school fees to meet up with obligations such as payment of staff salaries, operational costs and repayment of loans obtained from various financial institutions.
Therefore, the reality of the abrupt closure of schools and the sudden break in the economic cycle of private schools due to the present COVID- 19 pandemic is rather challenging for our members to cope with.
In view of this unfortunate development, NAPPS in its effort to ensure that the interest of members are safeguarded in the equation of things in the country set the ball rolling by making several moves through letters, virtual engagements etc to both the Federal Government and Governmental agencies to push for palliatives to cushion the effect of the pandemic on members.
Also, NAPPS organized several press conferences and granted several interviews which were widely publicized in various media outlets to communicate the minds of private school owners to the Federal and State governments with regard to challenges faced by private school owners.
For record purposes, the following steps and actions were taken to address the issues as follows;
1. NAPPS wrote a letter to the Economic Sustainability Committee headed by the Vice President of Nigeria Prof. ‘Yemi Osinbajo to advise Central Bank of Nigeria to issue a directive to financial institutions to put in place plans to restructure existing loans & terms for private school operators by granting special concessions and a minimum of 1-year moratorium on repayment of existing loans. This is because schools were still in session and expecting school fee payments before the pronouncement of the lockdown
2. NAPPS submitted a letter to the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria to include and consider private school operators in the country as a matter of priority in the N50 Billion Targeted Credit Facility for households and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and also
grant private school operators access to single-digit interest and long term loan facility (minimum of 10- year tenure) from the government established financial Institutions such as Bank of Industry, NIRSA and others. This is necessary to aid the recovery process of private schools after COVID-19 pandemic is over.
3. NAPPS submitted a letter to the Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC)seeking a virtual sensitization programme to be conducted by the NCDC officials to enlighten NAPPS members, school health personnel on ways to prevent the spread of COVID 19 infections in schools ahead of school reopening.
4. NAPPS submitted a proposal letter to the Federal Minister of Education for consideration of palliatives to private schools in the country.
5. NAPPS submitted a letter to the Chairman Presidential Committee on COVID-19 to seek palliatives for private school owners in the country.
In response to all our letters to various government ministries and agencies, federal governments held a meeting recently with NAPPS, through the Vice President- Prof. Yemi Osinbajo who was ably represented by Amb. Yemi Dipeolu, Special Adviser to the Vice President on Economic Matters. We made the following demands to the Federal Government to support the private education sub-sector;
. i. Educational Grants: Provision of educational grants by the Federal Government to private schools to cushion the effect of COVID- 19pandemic thereby ensuring private schools are able to meet monthly obligations to staff.
ii. Non- Interest Loan: This will ensure that private schools keep running during post lockdown as parents will find it challenging also to meet up with their financial responsibilities immediately schools are reopened.
iii. Suspension of Interest on Existing Loans: NAPPS seeks the support of the Central Bank to suspend interest on loans attributable to private schools until when schools reopen.
iv. Suspension of Taxes, Dues, and Levies: We request various state governments to suspend all dues, levies, taxes, etc., for a minimum of an academic session. This will allow private schools to recover from the effect of the pandemic on our operations.
v. Extension of Scope of Operation of Development Banks to Private Education Sub-sector:: The scope of operation of either the Development Bank of Nigeria or the Bank of Industry or BOTH be expanded to accommodate services to private education at compassionate loan interest and tenure.
8. It is gratifying to note that the representative of the Vice President promised to convey our proposal s to the Federal Government through the office of the Vice President noting that the Federal Government would look into the issue of palliatives for the school owners. He, however, drew our attention to the fact that the federal government revenue base had been badly hit as a result of the fall in the price of crude oil internationally due to the impact of COVID -19 pandemic with its attendant impact on revenue of the Government vis a vis budget implementation.
9. NAPPS suggested the re-opening of schools in batches starting with the terminal classes – Primary 6, JSS3 and SSS3 to enable them to be adequately prepared for their external examinations. It will be recalled that NECO (National Examination Council) has also suggested the recall of BECE/SSCE candidates for revision and examination. They suggested that only such students and teachers involved in the examinations should be recalled while at the same time social distancing with other safety measures should be observed.
10. Where reopening of schools all over the country at the same time is not feasible because of the COVID-19 pandemic, NAPPS suggested that schools be authorized to resume in those states with no records of positive Coronavirus cases and in those with a reduction in positive cases.
11. We are of the opinion that the continued closure of schools with the relaxation of restriction for other sectors may make these children vulnerable to ills of the society such as drug abuse, rape, kidnapping etc since their parents may not be around to attend to them.
12. Moreover, for effectiveness, the regulatory bodies should act and supervise the implementation of the safety guidelines among both public and private schools before school resumes.
13. In line with our readiness to collaborate with the Government, NAPPS forwarded recommended safety and preventive guidelines such as the provision of running water, Infrared thermometers, proper seating arrangement, etc to different government agencies such as NCDC, Federal Ministry of Education for consideration. Also, we reported that the majority of our member schools have had cause to attend one seminar or the other on safety and prevention for COVID -19 in readiness for school resumption.
14. We reiterated the supportive role played by private school owners to governments at all levels in providing the much- needed education for the development of the Nigerian Child and also in the employment of a significant number of Nigerians in the country.
15. SUCCESSES RECORDED.
Consequent upon our several letters to the Federal Government and different government agencies to channel our demands. lt is worthy of note that we have been able to achieve the following:
I. Federal Government has directed the Vice President of Nigeria through his representative to listen to our demands for consideration.
ii. NAPPS is currently on board of some of the committees instituted by the Federal Ministry of Education with the mandate to consider protocols for schools ahead of reopening of schools.
iii. The Federal Government has considered the recommendation of NAPPS as regards reopening of schools in batches as one of the ways out. This has also necessitated the decision of NECO to look also in that direction.
16. NEC RESOLUTIONS DURING VIRTUAL MEETING
i. The NEC has advised against any form of physical street protests by members because of negative security reports against such and health concerns, rather, State Chapter executives should lobby political leaders for support in their respective states
ii. NEC is suggesting the engagements of National and State Assemblies to secure the support of governments (Federal & States) in respect of palliatives and single-digit loans and or grants for members.
iii. NAPPS State chapters are enjoined to grant press conferences, interviews to communicate the demands of private school owners to their respective state governments.
iv. State Chapters are encouraged to issue internal memos to their members on the need to get their schools ready ahead of reopening by putting in place recommended facilities to safeguard their schools against COVID -19.
v. The NAPPS notes that the Federal Government has directed states to determine when schools are to safely reopen in their respective states.
lt should be noted that lobbying seems to be the best strategy to get the attention of the Governments for palliatives during this unprecedented period more so that other sectors are also requesting same palliatives and the government itself is seeking grants/aids from Companies/ International donors. This situation is quite different from NAPPS struggle against the imposition of obnoxious taxes, levies etc by the state governments where members can resort to street protests to get the attention of their state governments. Both Federal and State have also been overwhelmed by the impact of this pandemic. NAPPS is aware of this and that accounts for the adoption of lobbying as our strategy in this situation. Moreover. street protests can fuel the spread of the COVID- 19.
17.RECOMMENDATION
NAPPS NEC through one of its numerous virtual meetings has suggested that this is a period where school owners should bring to bear experience gathered through various seminars during NAPPS meetings in the past on the need to have multiple sources of income and diversify too. The NAPPS NEC is considering a virtual seminar on businesses with minimal start-up capital to consider as a way of adding to sources of income for proprietors. Details will be communicated to you in due course.
In conclusion, once again, we share the anxiety of school owners at this period due to continued delay in the resumption of schools as a result of this deadly virus but we reaffirm our commitment to continue to engage governments at different levels to ensure that private education sub-sector is not left out in the bailout intervention programmes of the governments.
Thank you and God bless
Chief ‘Yomi Otubela Fcma
National President, NAPPS
