Lagos State governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu; the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, the Commandant General of the Nigeria Security And Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, Dr Ahmed Audi, will on Wednesday speak at the Education Writers’ Association of Nigeria, EWAN, annual summit tagged, “Towards safe school schools in Nigeria.”
While Governor Sanwo-Olu will declare the event open, Adamu will be the Special Guest of Honour, and Dr. Audi, will give the keynote address at the event.
The event, to be hosted by the Special Adviser on Education to Governor Sanwo-Olu, Mr. Tokunbo Wahab, will have panelists such as : the Comptroller General of NIS, whose agency supervised border security and migration management; Mr Isah Idris; the Director of Senior Secondary Education at the Federal Ministry of Education, Hajia Binta Abdulkadir; the newly appointed Vice-Chancellor-Designate at the University of Lagos ,UNILAG, Professor Folasade Ogunsola, and the Head of Nigeria’s Office of the West African Examinations Council, WAEC, Mr Patrick Areghan.
EWAN said other relevant stakeholders including private school proprietors, NECO board chairman, Dr Abubakar Siddique, among others, have pledged to grace the event.
In a statement jointly signed by the EWAN Chairman, Mojeed Alabi, and the General Secretary, Taiwo Omilani, the association said the summit scheduled to hold at Radisson Blu Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos. would among other things address the issue of an estimated 20 million out-of-school children; rising cases of violent attacks on schools by bandits, the sit-at-home order in a particular region which affected schooling on Mondays, and cases of bullying, rape, and drug abuses.
The statement read in part: “This is what informed the theme of the summit and the stakeholders that have been carefully selected to play key roles.
“We assure Nigerians that this will not be another talk shop and that its outcome will end up on the shelves. We will pursue the implementation of whatever recommendations by concerned individuals and authorities.”
Meanwhile, EWAN chairman, Alabi added that :”The summit has become necessary considering the degenerating security situation across the country and the significance impact on education.
“ EWAN therefore, is committed to advancing conversations around key issues within the education sector as part of our advocacy mandate to promote quality and affordable education in a peaceful atmosphere towards promoting assured future for Nigeria and Africa by extension.”