The postponement of the reopening of universities because of the coronavirus Covid-19 has left students in Maiduguri, Borno State, disappointed and frustrated.

The postponement followed an Academic Staff Union nine-month strike, which started in March and ended on December 24 when the government released about 65 billion naira to address the concerns of university lecturers.

But now the vicious spread of the virus has resulted in the postponement.

Umar Mustapha, a student at the University of Maiduguri’s department of health education, said he was unhappy with the news of the postponement because it had affected his plans and goals for the future. “Four or five years is enough for us to graduate but the government seems to be holding us back,” he said.

He said developed countries that had suspended the opening of schools and universities because of the COVID-19 pandemic had provided e-lectures for their students.

“The Nigerian government did not put anything in place before they made the announcement. I would like the government to emulate the developed nations and stop jeopardising our studies,” Mustapha said.

“I don’t even believe that there’s COVID-19 in Maiduguri and Nigeria. Maiduguri is big but I’ve never seen a COVID-19 pandemic patient since it came into being,” he said.

Hauwa Dauda, a student at the University of Maiduguri’s department of mathematics, said that the government should introduce online classes rather than postpone the date of schools reopening. He complained that he had already been kept at home for nine months because of the strike.

A disappointed Suleiman Abubakar said he was unhappy about the postponement because he had already been at home for the strike and now the students had been told of the postponement and would not attend classes “until further notice”.

“We have been preparing our return to school to finish our exams on January 18. We had not finished our first semester exams when the strike started.”

Students urged the government to “look into the matter and come up with another way of containing the spread of the pandemic” instead of postponing the date for reopening universities and schools.