The Lagos State Government has affirmed its earlier pronouncement that all public and private schools in the state below tertiary level should resume on Monday, January 18, 2021, for the second term 2020/2021 academic session.

This clarification by the state government is coming against the backdrop of opposition from some stakeholders and uncertainty amongst parents and students on the resumption of schools.

According to a statement by the Head, Public Affairs, Lagos State Ministry of Education, Kayode Abayomi, on Friday, January 15, 2021, this affirmation was made by the state’s Commissioner for Education, Mrs Folasade Adefisayo.

The Commissioner maintained that the resumption is in line with the Federal Government’s resolution after reaching a consensus with relevant stakeholders.

Adefisayo, while welcoming all to a happy and successful new academic term, urged students and members of staff to stay safe and adhere strictly to COVID-19 guidelines, adding that schools must provide soap, wash hand basin, alcoholic hand sanitisers, thermometers, and other essential items in public and private schools across the State.

She stressed the washing of hands, wearing of face masks, and maintenance of social distancing must be adhered to in order to avoid further spread of the virus.

She added that, “All schools must ensure strict compliance with subsisting COVID-19 requirements for school’s resumption. Administrators of both public and private schools are expected to ensure full compliance with the guidelines for school’s re-opening in their respective schools as the State’s Office of Education Quality Assurance Team will be on the ground to monitor situations in all schools across the State.’’

What you should know

• It can be recalled that the Lagos State Government had earlier announced that all public and private schools below the tertiary level in the State should resume for the second term 2020/21 academic session from Monday, January 18, 2021.
• The state government also advised all schools to come up with flexible plans where students and teachers who feel sick can teach or learn from home through available online platforms, adding that schools should also strive to prevent any COVID-19 infection among all students and staff.

FLASH: The Lagos State Government has affirmed its earlier pronouncement that all public and private schools in Lagos State below tertiary level should resume on Monday, 18th January, 2021 for the second term 2020/2021 academic session.#ForAGreaterLagos @jidesanwoolu pic.twitter.com/CkNI7GhXka

— Jubril A. Gawat (@Mr_JAGs) January 15, 2021

The Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) has announced that any accredited lawyer found culpable for filing a false document in the course of company registration will be liable to 2 years imprisonment.

The new directive follows the relaxation of the strict requirements of the past where its officers need to compare signatures and looked at other documents to validate new filling.

According to a report from the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), this disclosure was made by the Registrar-General of the Commission, Alhaji Garba Abubakar, at a forum with the Commerce and Industry Correspondents Association of Nigeria (CICAN) on Friday in Abuja.

What the Registrar General of CAC is saying

Abubakar in his statement said that once a document is submitted by accredited lawyers or certified secretaries (customers) on behalf of a company, the commission presumes that those documents are regular and the person that submitted has the authority to act in that capacity.

He said,

• “If anybody makes any mistake or false declaration or submit any information that is false, that person will be liable to two years imprisonment upon conviction. We advise our customers to ensure they have proper authority to make filings on behalf of companies that engage them. If there is any wrong information or any misstatement in the document submitted, they will be held responsible.’’

Abubakar also pointed out that, as part of new regulations to support the new Companies and Allied Matters Act 2020, (CAMA), the new system has placed a lot of responsibilities on the persons submitting documents on behalf of the companies.

What you should know

• In a bid to improve on the ease of doing business, attract investment and ensure economic growth, President Muhammadu Buhari signed into law the CAMA 2020 in August 2020, to replace the CAMA 1990.
• It should be noted that the new CAMA 2020 is not an amendment of the old act but rather a re-enactment.
• The Minister for Industry, Trade and Investment, Adeniyi Adebayo, approved a draft regulation to support the implementation of the new CAMA in December 2020.
• Also, CAC had given registered companies until April 1 to revalidate their various information and accounts or face sanctions.

Nigeria’s GDP growth and eventual recovery in 2021 is expected to be heralded and driven by the Non-oil sector of the economy.

This disclosure was made in the presentations at the e-press conference titled “Positioning in the new normal” by Cordros Capital.

According to the report…

• In 2020, the Non-oil GDP dipped by 2.5% year-on-year which was attributed to the lingering impact of the pandemic on business activities, with partial easing of lockdown restrictions.
• The Oil GDP also dipped by 13.9% year-on-year as a result of 18.1% year-on-year decline in crude oil production, as Nigeria fully complied with the OPEC+ agreements.
• In 2021, the Non-oil sectors are expected to spearhead the economic recovery with the Services sectors growing by 2.69%. The Agriculture sector is expected to remain as resilient as it was in 2020 and grow by 1.89%, but the Manufacturing sector will dip by 0.89% as a result of weakening demand as well as limited FX supply constraints.

Why this matters

Nigeria’s economy has been quite monolithic since the 1980s and this has been persistently threatened by the instability in crude oil prices in the international market.

The need for the diversification of the Nigerian economy from over-dependence on oil cannot be overemphasized, especially going by the unstable and fluctuating global oil prices. This is aimed at minimizing the country’s vulnerability to macro-economic risks, such as production fall, fall in demand and price, and also a run out of reserves.

In the early ’60s, agriculture was a booming sector – Groundnut, Cotton, Cocoa, Palm-kernel, etc, coupled with other mining activities were the major sources of the booming tradable goods before the advent of oil and its predominance in the Nigerian economy.

No doubt, the non-oil sector has what it takes to unlock the economy of Nigeria and position it on the path of resilient and sustained growth, if optimally harnessed.