By Chidi Anselm Odinkalu
This past week, education came to a halt in Abuja, Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory, FCT. It began with the order by the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, on July 25 closing down all six Federal Government Colleges (better known as Unity Schools) in the FCT while the students were in the middle of their end of year examinations.
In a separate announcement issued on the same day, the Education Secretariat of the FCT summarily informed “parents and guardians that the 2021/2022 academic calendar for FCT schools will come to an end on Wednesday, July 27, 2022”. They did not much care to provide any justification for this measure. The assumption that the reason for the closure of all schools in the FCT was the same as that cited by the Minister of Education when he closed down the Unity Schools, does not necessarily explain the two more days of grace given by the FCT administration to all the other schools in the FCT.