Probing the Safe Schools Initiative

The Senate’s planned probe of the Safe Schools Initiative (SSI) has arisen from a bitter national irony: a programme meant to protect children has become a symbol of waste and recurring insecurity. Fresh outrage over school kidnappings has pushed lawmakers to demand answers on how about N144 billion was spent with so little visible protection to show for it. The Senate, through an ad hoc committee, has resolved to investigate the initiative’s funding, implementation and outcomes. It wants to know where the money went, who supervised it, and why schools remain exposed to attack despite repeated promises of safety. This is the proper response to a crisis that cannot be managed by mere rhetoric.

The Safe Schools Initiative was conceived in the aftermath of the 2014 Chibok schoolgirls’ abduction, when Boko Haram’s war on education shocked the world and exposed the vulnerability of Nigerian schools. The Federal Government, working with private sector leaders and development partners, launched the scheme with N20bn to improve school protection, establish early warning systems, perimeter security and emergency response. In 2023, the Federal Government unveiled a N144.8 billion financing plan for the 2023–2026 period, under arrangements meant to be implemented with federal, state and partner participation.

Yet the evidence points to failure. First, school abductions have not ended; they have intensified and spread from the North-East to the North-West and now to the South-West, President Bola Tinubu’s own geopolitical zone. Second, insecurity around schools has become normalised, with children, teachers and parents living under constant fear. The recent foiling of a planned school abduction in Edo State by the DSS, working with vigilant citizens, shows that the threat is nationwide and that official protection remains inadequate. There is no convincing public record showing that the huge sums released translated into measurable safety gains.

That is why the probe must be open, serious and uncompromising. Nigerians deserve a full account of how the money was used, what contracts were awarded, what projects were completed and who should be held responsible for any abuses or failures. Any infractions should attract full accountability and justice duly meted. The scheme must now be repackaged around three essentials. It should be anchored on real-time intelligence sharing and tech/community-based surveillance. It should tie funding to verifiable security upgrades in schools, with clear performance targets and independent audits. And it should be run with transparent multi-level oversight, so that no tier of government can hide behind another when things go wrong. The Federal Government and Nigerians must defy the evil schemes of the jihadists who have attacked education since the Chibok tragedy. Nigeria can never be overcome by agents of darkness and medieval barbarity. The duty now is to reclaim the schools, protect the children and prove that terror will not determine the nation’s future.

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