Coronavirus-Opening Schools now can be catastrophic-Prof. Olagoke

A number of State Governments are desirous to reopen schools, even though there is already an unusual increase in the positive cases of the coronavirus in several states of Nigeria.

Already worship centers have been reopened, with a sizable number of them contravening the guidelines for reopening. Sadly government officials are among the several personalities who have violated the guidelines put in place to check the spread of the virus, while several common Nigerians have been prosecuted for same. In this interview, the Founder, Spiritual Head and Grand Imam of Shafaudeen-in-Islam Worldwide, Prof. Sabitu Olagoke warns that reopening schools at this time may be catastrophic. Excerpts :

Do you think it is reasonable to reopen schools now, considering the increasing positive cases of the coronavirus ?

Across the lines of the three spheres of life, namely educational, religious and government institutions, only the last is functional-playing the big daddy role overbearing authority of instructions. Expectedly, it is the power house of society because the wealth and the might of the nation rests squarely on its shoulders under its control. But disappointingly the spread of the coronavirus pandemic is going on at such an alarming rate as if to say that no efforts have been made to curtail the spread. The first question is why are the educational and religious institutions rendered inactive in the control of the pandemic both in the areas of spread prevention and in the areas of cure for victims. The reason is not far fetched.

The religious institution has lost bearing of its focus in taming the wildness of the evening times, empowering adherents to have immunity against hunger and poverty as well as against spiritual attack which the coronavirus represents. Religious adherents and their leaders are more into rhetoric and entertainment part of religion because of their economic driven commercial focus and without readiness to sacrifice for fellow human beings. Qualification to meditate or supplicate on to God, for divine intervention is therefore lacking, may be this is why government has the audacity to close down acclaimed houses of God, without repercussion or remorse. With the daily increase in the number of positive cases, which has now gone beyond an international contagion to that of community based transmission, reopening of the houses of God may be regarded as a costly mistake of the century by government, more so when they can bear witness that houses of God can become havens for fraudsters, prostitutes, kidnappers, drunkards, drug addicts and those who are spiritually dead and socially decadent, contrary to the demands of the scripture on the issue of integrity, fear of God, soul purification and body preservation from sins and crimes correct adherent illumination and radiation as preconditions to effect divine intervention on matters concerning humanity.

Government ought to have capitalized on this by instructing the religious houses to do the needful for acceptable religious relevance in the scheme of sanitizing the society and developing the nation.

A critical monitoring of the reopened houses of God so far, reveal partial compliance with the guidelines for their reopening, while most of their adherents are yet to believe that the coronavirus is real because their immediate neighbors are yet to die.

The basic question is that are the religious leaders ready to replace profanity with sacredness to ensure value restoration into the houses of God ?

A clean body without sincerity of purpose and purified souls is more of a time bomb that may aid further spread of diseases of which the coronavirus is a current case study. The coronavirus like HIV has come to stay with humanity, its proper management to prevent it becoming a terminal disease is what matters most now.

2021 has been slated for the reopening of schools in the United States of America, when it is most certain that the environment must have been free from the pandemic. Working on how the community transmission would stop and how to prevent congestion at the home front to be able to avoid been infected with the disease is what should preoccupy everybody as stakeholders, while government should facilitate urgent reforms in the education, health and religious sectors, since they all have standards of practice based on the sustaining curricula. Most religious organizations are now resorting to virtual learning through zoom and some other internet facilities including Skype. The rigorous pursuit of these internet facilities would be a good adoption by government and owners of schools as a functional social educational interaction between the teachers and parents for the students not to be unnecessarily idle at home. However, parents must be on guard to instill discipline and prevent waywardness of their children.

Opening of schools under whatever pretense during this period may be catastrophic. Government must avoid a situation whereby some people would start insinuating that it is aiding and abetting the rapid spread of the virus as a modern day sacrifice to appease some diabolic cults. The present situation calls for caution in reopening schools as well as religious houses considering the rapid spread of the virus.