Owen Gee kicks against reopening of schools

ACE comedian Owen Osamwengie (Owen Gee) has joined those frowning at the reopening of schools in view of the rising wave of Covid-19 afflictions.

In an interview published by Punch, the comedian feared that the younger ones might contact the virus in school. He pointed to his son, whom he said contacted the virus in school during the last term; a development that spread the virus in his home affecting himself, his wife and his elder son, who were all trying to take care of the sick son.  

“I have two kids — one is in primary while the other is in secondary school. Last term, one of my kids came home ill and was sick for a while. We kept treating him for malaria but to no avail,” he said.

“We treated him for two weeks till he lost his senses of smell and taste. He had body aches and was excessively weak. It was at that point we discovered he had contracted Covid-19. He was about nine years old at the time. My wife and I started taking care of him because we could not abandon him, he is our son. In the process of taking care of him, my wife and I also contracted the virus. It was a war for us, later on, his elder brother contracted the virus,” he narrated.

The comedian also pointed out that a bucket of water and hand sanitizer outside the school are not enough to prevent children from getting the virus as everyone has different immunities. He said the increase in numbers of infected people across the country should discourage the government from opening schools.

Government announced the opening of schools on Monday even as the National Centre for Disease Control kept announcing increasing figures of infections and deaths. Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, who announced government’s position on the matter claimed that although the Federal Government was not comfortable with the situation, state governments that own the bulk of schools in the country insisted on reopening schools for studies.