Senate urges governors to embrace safe-school initiative

The Senate on Sunday called on state governors to embrace the Safe-School initiative as an alternative to state police in protecting students and schools from attacks.

The upper chamber maintained that the initiative could serve as a stop-gap measure pending the establishment of state police, which is part of the proposed amendment to the nation’s constitution currently under consideration by the National Assembly.

The Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, stated this in a statement issued by his Media Office while condemning the abduction of students in Borno and Oyo states.

The Safe School programme is a federal security initiative launched in 2014 to protect students and schools from attacks.

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The programme was introduced in the aftermath of the Chibok schoolgirls’ abduction and was designed to operate at different levels, including state-led efforts and national coordination through agencies such as the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps and the Safe School Parents Watch Network.

However, the initiative has largely ceased to function across states despite the federal government’s commitment of several billions of naira to make it operational. Reports indicate that not less than $30 million has been spent on the initiative.

The issue came up on the Senate floor last November when senators linked the rising cases of student kidnappings and attacks on schools to the non-functioning of the initiative.

The chamber subsequently constituted a 13-member ad hoc committee to investigate how the $30 million earmarked for measures intended to secure students, teachers and school infrastructure had been utilised since the inception of the programme.

The committee, chaired by Orji Uzor Kalu, has yet to submit the outcome of its findings.

In the statement, Mr Bamidele’s media office quoted him as saying that while the proposal for state police is still under consideration, both the federal and state governments should implement the Safe School initiative as an immediate alternative.

“Before the state police became effective, the leader of the senate challenged both federal and state governments to embrace and implement the safe school initiative as a stop-gap measure to address the number of out-of-school children, currently standing at 18.3 million across the federation,” the statement read.

Student’s abduction

Suspected gunmen abducted 45 students and teachers from Baptist Nursery and Primary School, Yawota; Community Grammar School; and L.A. Primary School in Esiele, Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State, on Friday.

Similarly, within the same period, suspected Boko Haram insurgents attacked Mussa Primary and Junior Secondary School in Askira/Uba Local Government Area of Borno State, an invasion that reportedly culminated in the abduction of 42 students.

Mr Bamidele, who represents Ekiti Central Senatorial District, expressed concern over the abductions, noting that the National Assembly condemned the incidents.

“The incessant abduction of students and teachers is a tragic national concern that negates our national development indices. We cannot and must not allow it to continue. At the National Assembly, we will rise against this trend and put an end to it through the instrumentality of legislation,” he said.

He added that once the chamber resumes plenary next month, lawmakers would deliberate on outstanding measures aimed at addressing insecurity, including the introduction of state police and the amendment of the Terrorism Act.

“As soon as the National Assembly resumes plenaries on June 2, we will perfect all outstanding legislative initiatives that have been introduced to decisively address security challenges in the federation.

“One of such initiatives is the ongoing review of the 1999 Constitution that seeks to establish state police, which is now at an advanced stage. Another is the amendment of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022 aimed at strengthening the system of consequence in the country’s justice sector and discouraging heinous crimes nationwide.”