COVID-19: Varsity students discard face masks after passing checkpoint on campus Students are returning to classes amidst a surge in COVID-19 infections across the country. Some students at the University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, were seen discarding their face masks and ignoring other COVID-19 safety protocols on Wednesday as soon as they passed through a health check at the university campus gate. A PREMIUM TIMES reporter, who monitored activities on the two campuses of the university, observed poor compliance with COVID-19 safety protocols by the majority of the students. University of Uyo, like most other universities in Nigeria, has just resumed for the 2019/2020 academic session after about nine months’ nationwide strike by university lecturers.