In its determination to enhance the coordination of the Safe Schools project to ensure that key stakeholders work cohesively within a unified framework, a Presidential Steering Committee for Nigeria’s Safe Schools Project is to be inaugurated after the November 2023 Ministerial Retreat in Abuja.
Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator Dr George Akume announced this in a goodwill message delivered at a one-day National Summit on the Safe Schools with the theme, “Tackling identified threats in Nigeria.”
Represented by his Senior Special Assistant (Technical) Professor Bolaji Bernard Babatunde, he explained that the goal is to promote stronger synergy, optimise resource allocation, and ensure a more effective coordinated implementation of the Safe Schools Declaration (SSD).
The Chief Scribe applauded the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) as a coordinating agency of the Safe Schools for organising the event, and admonished Ministries of Education, Finance, and Interior, as well as the contributions of Development Partners and Civil Society Organisations such as the Save the Children International for the roles being played.
Also speaking, the Honourable Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, corroborated the SGF’s view by saying Safe Schools is very critical to national development which requires children to be well protected and to guarantee the confidence of parents to send them to school.
He described safe schools as an enviable and best policy of government advising that its implementation requires a collective approach that should be handled with seriousness by all relevant stakeholders.
The safety of our schools is not just a government responsibility, but a collective one. Parents, Educators, Law Enforcement Agencies, and Communities must all work together to ensure the safe learning environment our children deserve, Tunji-Ojo added.
Even though he said NSCDC is charged with the protection of critical national assets and Infrastructure with schools inclusive, he pointed out that the Corps alone can not achieve the desired results, and called for collaboration and synergy from security agencies and relevant stakeholders particularly in the area of Intelligence.
According to him, security agencies need to be more proactive than reactive as he reiterated that with intelligence, precise and collective results will be attainable.
Dr Tunji-Ojo emphasised the need to invest more in intelligence as a solution to the dearth of personnel stressing that every school within the Nigerian territory needs to be protected as that defines the essence of sovereignty which is to protect all irrespective of class.
In an address of welcome, the Commandant General of NSCDC, Ahmed Abubakar Audi said the National Safe Schools Response Coordination Centre (NSSRCC) has been performing creditably well using the whole-of-society approach in collaboration with all security agencies, civil society organisations, schools and host communities, government organs at federal, state and local government levels as well as local and international partners and donor agencies.
Audi explained that his administration has established a Schools Security Vanguard which provides NSCDC personnel the opportunity to visit the school community and sensitise them through advocacy.
Using this approach, members of different communities including youth leaders have been engaged.
The summit was organised by the centre in an attempt to address perceived threats militating against the successful implementation of the Safe Schools Project in Nigeria.
The NSCDC boss explained that the summit was to facilitate actions and to equip relevant stakeholders on the implementation of the Safe Schools Project and called on participants including security and education experts, civil society and development partners and strategic stakeholders to lend their voice in contribution to ensure that the desired outcome for the summit is achieved.
Other highlights of the event were an overview of the background of the centre by the Commander, CSC Tersoo Shaapera PhD, presentations by different schools, the National Speaker, Children’s Parliament, Rt. Hon. Progress Friday Umoh, goodwill messages delivered by the Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher G. Musa who was represented by Air Commodore Musa Aileru, National Coordinator Financing Safe Schools, Hajiya Halima Iliya, members of the diplomatic Corps and Development partners both local and international.
The remaining highlights were a panel discussion on “protecting education from attacks in Nigeria,” a questions and answers session with the audience and a breakout session on safschoolls implementation in Nigeria: Progress, challenges, way forward and reports from the breakout session.