It’s kidnapping spree despite N122bn Safe School Initiative

•Senate launches probe amid Maga schoolgirls’ abduction

By Henry Umoru, Assistant Politics Editor

11 years after the idea of Safe School Initiative (SSI) was mooted, it resurrected on Tuesday at the hallowed Chamber of the Senate as a matter of discourse and for probe.

Discussions by the Senate on the programme were provoked by the deadly raid on Government Girls’ Comprehensive Secondary School Maga, Kebbi State in the early hours of Monday when gunmen killed a security guard and reportedly abducted about 25 students.

The Senate resolved to carry out a full investigation into the SSI, questioning how funds allocated to the initiative were spent amid repeated attacks on educational institutions.

The SSI, which was a response to the 2014 abduction of over 300 schoolgirls in Chibok, Borno State, is designed to protect educational institutions across all regions of the country.

The initiative was launched in May 2014 under former President Goodluck Jonathan, in partnership with the United Nations and Nigerian business leaders.

It was introduced by the United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education, Gordon Brown, who is also a former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (UK).

The programme is about school-based interventions, community protection efforts, and special measures for institutions located in high-risk areas.

Its implementation has since commenced in the North-East.

The Federal Government had disclosed in November 2024 that an allocation of N122 billion had been made through the National Plan for Financing Safe Schools and would span the next three years.

The Minister for Minister for Women Affairs, Imaan Suleiman-Ibrahim, disclosed this information in a statement released during the Universal Children’s Day with the theme, ‘Advancing Children’s Rights for a Sustainable Future.’

The Minister, who noted that the allocation was designed to ensure that schools across the country remained safe and inclusive, said, “Through the National Plan for Financing Safe Schools, over ¦ 122 billion has been allocated to safeguard learning environments over the next three years. “This ensures that schools remain safe and inclusive spaces for all children, regardless of background or circumstance.”

Suleiman-Ibrahim also highlighted the Federal Government’s efforts to advance children’s rights, noting that all 36 states of the Federation had adopted the Child Rights Act.

Before then, in August 2022, then-Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Dr. Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed, announced that the Federal Government was set to launch a National Safe School Plan before the end of the third quarter of that year.

“The plan outlines how Nigeria intends to protect her schools and other learning places, so that our children can once again return to learning in a safer and more secured environment”, he had said.

The former Minister, who was represented by his then-Permanent Secretary, lamented that Nigeria had faced major security challenges, including attacks on schools and other places of learning, leading to closure of schools in impacted and most at risk communities.

He recalled that the Federal Government had, in 2014, launched the SSI.

At the event, then-Chairman of Nigeria Governors Forum, NGF, and former governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, pledged the commitment of the governors in the effort towards ensuring a safer school and learning environment.

Fayemi declared that the Governors Forum would liaise with local government Chairmen in ensuring that commitments made towards the realization of a safer school environment were promptly implemented, since most of the schools and children were in the localities.

As a follow-up, the Federal Government, in December 2022, launched the National Plan on Financing Safe Schools 2023-2026, with a total investment size of N144.8bn.

Speaking at the launch in Abuja, Ahmed said that the plan was designed to achieve measurable outcomes such as reducing the number of out-of-school children and improving Nigeria’s rating in the Human Capital Index in the long run.

It has also been revealed that the Safe Schools project has registered 11,550 schools on the National Safe Schools Response and Coordination Centre’s central monitoring platform. According to reports, the total funding for the SSI 2023-2026 National Plan is approximately N144.8 billion, with a 2023 Federal Government take-off grant of N15 billion.

The funding is expected to be sourced from various stakeholders, including federal, state, and local governments, intervention agencies, foreign governments, and private donors.

Reports also have it that a year-by-year breakdown of allocations for initiative shows: Federal Government Contribution (overall): Expected to be N119.83 billion, or 83% of the total investment plan; States’ Contribution (overall): Expected to be N24.93 billion, or 17% of the total investment plan. 2023 Federal Government Take-off Grant: N15 billion. Specific Annual Commitments (Total Investment Plan):2023: N32.58 billion; 2024: N36.98 billion; 2025: N37.15 billion and 2026: N38.03 billion.

Regarding the probe of the SSI, the Upper Chamber, on Tuesday, mandated its Standing Committees on Finance, Education, Defence, Army and Navy to carry out a holistic investigation into the funding and expenditure of the programme as it has seen little success in preventing mass abduction of schoolchildren.

Resolution of the Senate was sequel to an urgent motion sponsored by Senator Yahaya Abdullahi, APC, Kebbi North following the Kebbi abduction.

Soon after the presentation of the motion, senators began to contribute and the issue of the SSI came up when it was the turn of Senator Ahmad Lawan, APC, Yobe North to speak.

Lawan said, “I join my colleagues to sympathise with the people and government of Kebbi State and, indeed, the people of Nigeria.

“In 2014, the Federal Government of Nigeria launched the Safe Schools Initiative after the abduction of the Chibok girls.

“Former British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, who then worked with the Global Business Coalition for Education, was also in Nigeria to work with our leaders to ensure that we created safe education and learning environment in our schools.

“Some money was contributed then by the UN to the tune of $20 million and, of course, the program took off. But as soon as it took off, it went down.

“What has happened in Maga is simply the kind situation that we face in every part of the country.

“About three days ago, a general was murdered in Borno, a general and his team who were fighting insurgency to protect us.

“It is very important here that we address the security situation very squarely.

“This administration is making huge investments in the security sector.

“I believe that with a lot of funds and resources going into our armed forces, we should be asking for better outcomes.

“We should be looking at time-frame, it shouldn’t be an endless war against insurgents.

“Can we really afford to fund our armed forces and other security agencies better, given the fact that we now have more revenues than before, and insist on value for money? Or else, we look for others who can do it better.

“I also want to suggest that the relevant committees of the Senate investigate what has happened to the Safe Schools Initiative because this program was working at the beginning, but no one talks about it anymore. What can we do to our children and wards when they go to school?”

When it was the turn of Senator Adams Oshiomhole, APC, Edo North to come up with additional prayers, he took a swipe at what he described as commercialisation of national security and demanded answers about the Safe School funds.

He said, “People have turned our security to business. We should not monetise the death of our people by those living. What happened to the money earmarked for the Safe School programme?”

Oshiomhole, who pressed further for a Senate-led probe and enhanced technological capacity for security agencies, said, “Mr. President, the Senate should also urge relevant committees and the Federal Government to investigate all funds appropriated and released under the Safe School Programme.

“At the moment, there is no evidence of effective implementation. I call on the military to deploy the use of technology and tracking devices to be able to track these criminals.”

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