The joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, (JAMB) as part of contribution to the ongoing efforts aimed at combating the ravaging the coronavirus pandemic, is collaborating with the Nigeria Defence Academy (NDA) and Premium Times to host a virtual colloquium.
This colloquium which is slated for Tuesday,11th August,2020 became necessary following the preponderance of divergent opinions from professionals on some of the pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical measures being adopted by relevant authorities to curb the spread of the virus.
It is to be noted that these arguments have been ventilated in almost equal and convincing measures by several individuals and agencies to the extent that the populace is becoming increasingly confused and concerned as to whether these measures are life-saving or life-threatening.
For example, disinfectant booths whereby chemicals are sprayed on human skin each time one passes through these booths have become a common sight in public buildings. It would be noted that as much as the use of body disinfectant booths and tunnels have been canvassed by several agencies, there have been vociferous arguments against their deployment by other individuals and bodies.
In the same vein, some professionals have also argued that hand washing with soap alone is not completely effective without the additional use of alcohol-based hand sanitizers, while some experts have argued that one can serve in place of the other.
Some of these contentious issues and many more that would be ventilated and interrogated at the colloquium would help to broaden our knowledge while imparting useful advice that would equip individuals with relevant skills to navigate the new normal
Resource persons at the colloquium would be interrogating pertinent issues ranging from the effect of too much sanitising chemicals on the hand more so that we are advised to undertake frequent hand sanitisation to the effect of face/nose masks on our breathing especially for those with respiratory issues or those who are advanced in age, among others.
Representatives of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19; Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive of the National Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI); it Director-General, National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD); Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) Consultancy Services and Director-General, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and other eminent scholars from the academia are expected to participate at the colloquium.
