The recent mass abductions targeting schools, especially schools in Kebbi and Niger states, have triggered a searchlight on operations of ‘Safe School Initiative’. It was launched in 2014 to protect students and educational institutions from attacks. Concerns have been raised over billions spent on its implementation, operations and effectiveness. Experts have called for its rejig, cost-effective funding with application of modern security architecture, Assistant Editor Bola Olajuwon reports.
THE future of thousands of school children in Northern states remains uncertain, as many schools have been closed indefinitely due to rising insecurity, kidnapping and abductions, according to child rights activists and security experts. This is more so as hundreds of children were targetted in the surge orchestrated by bandits and religious militants like Boko Haram, ISWAP and other jihadist groups in the course of a few weeks.
The country is already weighed down by 18.3 million out-of-school children nationwide, which is driven richly by insecurity and poverty. According to United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), about 69 per cent of the out-of-school children are in the northern region.
It is, therefore, argued that more children in the region will abandon education due to the psychological trauma of witnessing violent attacks or living in captivity.
Kebbi and Niger abductions
With the latest wave of horrific attacks on schools in Kebbi and Niger states, the Federal Government is facing intense pressure, both domestically and internationally, to address the crisis.
The current kidnapping intensified after the United States (U.S.) Donald Trump administration ramped up pressures on Nigeria, designating it a “Country of Particular Concern” (CPC), which has sparked significant debate and political reactions.
Incidentally, mass abductions occurred in both Kebbi and Niger states after the CPC’s designation, raising questions of correlations. While the school girls kidnapped in Kebbi have been rescued, most of the students and teachers taken in Niger State remain captive.
Kebbi State abduction at Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School, Maga town, Danko-Wasagu Local Government Area occurred after armed assailants attacked the school on November 17.
Initially, 25 female students were abducted, but one escaped on the same day. The school’s vice-principal was killed and a security guard was injured during the raid. The remaining 24 school girls were rescued through a non-kinetic operation and have been handed over to the state government.
Niger State abduction took place at St. Mary’s School in Papiri with armed gunmen abducting over 300 students and staff on November 21.
Initial reports indicated that 303 students and 12 teachers were affected. But 50 students escaped captivity on their own and have been reunited with their families.
Following the incident, the Niger State government ordered the closure of all schools in the state until 2026. The Federal Government also shut down 47 Federal Unity Colleges across Nigeria.
Pope, rights group, others weigh in Pope Leo XIV, global human rights organisation, Amnesty International, and others have lent their voices against the attacks.
The National Parents Teachers Association of Nigeria (NAPTAN), the umbrella body of parents of all public and private primary and secondary school students, called for an immediate review of all the programmes of the federal and state governments regarding the security of their children in school, warning the government against playing with the lives of their children.
Specifically, the association berated the closure of some unity schools in the country as a result of the threat of attack by bandits, calling on the government to proffer a permanent solution to banditry rather than closing the schools.
The National President of NAPTAN, Alhaji Haruna Danjuma, in a statement issued by his National Publicity Secretary, Dr. Ademola Ekundayo, bemoaned the way in which the Federal Government handles the security of students in recent times.
The association called for an urgent dialogue with the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, to find a lasting solution to the security challenges confronting the education sector, especially secondary schools.
Reacting on the abduction in an interview with The Nation, the National Coordinator, Education Rights Campaign (ERC), Hassan Taiwo Soweto, said he had argued repeatedly since the Chibok school girls abduction under President Goodluck Jonathan’s regime that “a govt that cannot fund public education appropriately, such that classrooms and other basic infrastructures in a majority of primary and secondary schools across the country are in dilapidated condition, cannot be expected to do anything significant in the area of keeping pupils and staff safe while in school.”
On foreign dimension to the abductions, a former Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University Oye-Ekiti, Prof. Kayode Soremekun, warned that the spate of kidnapping and the consequent closure of schools, albeit temporarily, would not augur well for the country’s foreign image.
The professor said: “We should remember here that the outside world is watching and taking due note of these untoward developments. It is instructive to point out that the Abuja-based diplomatic missions routinely send in reports on the country to their various and respective parent governments.
“The hope here is that, in the not too distant future, sanity will prevail and our school system will regain its usual rhythm. Otherwise, and as things stand, we will continue to contend with this bad image.”
Chibok girls abduction and Safe School Initiative
Following the Chibok girls’ abduction, the “Safe School Initiative” was launched in 2014 to protect students and educational institutions from attacks. It was spearheaded by the Federal Government, the United Nations, and the private sector leaders. The goal was to enhance human security in schools through measures like relocating students from high-risk areas, rebuilding schools with enhanced security, and establishing community-led protection groups.
The initiative aimed to achieve its goals through several components. School-based interventions included building new schools and reinforcing existing ones with extra security measures.
Community interventions involved creating community security groups to help protect schools. Another component was dedicated to moving students from the most dangerous areas to safer schools in other parts of the country. The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and the Police have established a National Safe School Response Coordination Centre and response squads. NSCDC thereafter embarked on registering 50,000 schools to improve emergency response.
States like Ondo have also launched their own “safe school” portals for schools to register and enhance their emergency response capabilities.
Safe Schools Initiative and poor impact of N122b budget, $20m security donations
However, the initiative has faced challenges, opaque implementation of its core components and questions about the use of allocated funds amid continued attacks on schools.
Eleven years after the idea was mooted, it resurrected last week 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 Kebbi school.
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 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 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.’
Regarding the probe of the SSI, the Upper Chamber 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.
Also, the Northern Christian Youth Professionals (NCYP) has criticised SSI over what it described as “weak visibility and poor impact” despite more than $20 million reportedly raised to secure schools.
The group expressed its concerns in a statement issued on Friday and signed by its Chairman, Isaac Abrak. The NCYP said recent attacks on schools in northern Nigeria had reignited doubts about the SSI’s ability to protect vulnerable communities.
“The Northern Christian Youth Professionals (NCYP) expresses concern over the renewed wave of attacks on schools across northern Nigeria, resulting in tragic killings and mass abductions of innocent students.
“$20m raised; schools still under attack. These heartbreaking incidents call into question the effectiveness and visibility of the Safe Schools Initiative (SSI) and its partnership with the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC),” the statement indicated.
The group recalled that after the 2024 abduction of more than 200 students from Government Primary and Secondary School, Kuriga, Kaduna State, it urged President Bola Tinubu to recruit forest-side community members into the Forest Guard to protect schools.
It noted that the SSI later announced a partnership with the NSCDC, a move the NCYP accepted but considered different from its initial proposal. However, the group said the continued attacks raised urgent questions.
“What role did the Safe Schools Initiative–NSCDC partnership plays in protecting the schools that were attacked?” the association asked.
Military is under fire
With the outcry generated by alleged withdrawal of troops before Kebbi School attack, the military has said it is reviewing the alleged withdrawal of soldiers from the Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School, Maga, in Kebbi State, before bandits attacked and abducted 25 schoolgirls.
In a statement by the Defence Headquarters, it also assured that it would take immediate corrective action to prevent a recurrence if the ongoing review identifies any lapse or gap.
Security experts and others intervene
The Group Managing Director/CEO of Transworld Security and a physical security and counter-terrorist expert, Dr. Victoria Ekhomu, in an interview with The Nation, said due to rising insecurity in parts of Nigeria and school abductions, schools face risks such as more kidnapping and abductions, armed intrusion, theft and vandalism, community unrest and terrorist threats in high-risk areas.
Dr. Ekhomu, who is also President of AISSON (Association of Security & Safety Operators of Nigeria), stressed that safe school architecture should focus on designing schools that naturally prevent, detect, and delay threats.
According to her, principles of safe school architecture use Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) principles: natural surveillance, natural access control, territorial reinforcement and defensible space design.
These principles, according to her, make it harder to attack and easier to detect threats early.
She added that the principles also emphasised on secure school layout design, clear perimeter design, building design for security, Visitor Management Architecture, Safe Drop-Off and Pick-Up Zones, Technology-Integrated Design with architectural plans including built-in infrastructure for CCTV cameras and mounting points, alarm wiring conduits, panic buttons, public address and emergency bells, and solar backup power rooms.
Dr. Ekhomu noted that Emergency and Evacuation-Friendly Design, Landscaping for Security, Community-Focused Architectural Safety, Cost-Effective Security Architecture for Nigerian schools and compliance and standards must be considered in alignment with Nigeria Safe Schools Declaration, National Security Architecture guidelines and State Ministries of Education requirements.
For budget-friendly schools, she advocated the use of locally-made strong fencing, concrete blocks instead of fragile panels, solar-powered lights, basic alarm systems and high-visibility layouts.
“Safe school architecture in Nigeria must deter attackers, delay intruders, detect threats early, protect children through smart design. Buildings should act as silent security guards,” she said.
A Texas, United States-based security and investigation expert, Ambassador (Dr) Oamien Roy Okhidievbie, in an interview with The Nation, said every structure or building where valuables are kept must have a commensurate security processes: access control, perimeter fence protection, accessibility protection, and external accessibility protection.
“So, if you really look at this kind of schools now, the valuables we have in our schools, they are the highest valuable anyone can have, which are the children. So, a government school also tells about where we put our taxpayers money together.
“So, the calibre of that state government or that federal government that is what you replicate in that public school. So, you must look at all the necessary and external physical security measures.
“You must look at the standby team to intervene anytime there is armed incursion, and armed attack in that school. And there must also be safe zones inside the school, where the children can run into and lock, just like a vault, with its own light system, from solar and everything for the children and teachers to survive for a certain period of time before government rescue will come.”
He added: “So, most of these things, there are devices too that you use that will do a total shutdown. So, even the perpetrators cannot come. So, we have a lot of structures to put in place, but physical security is key; deployment of technology is key, early warning systems, along the route path to that place and the equipment to send SMS to the police, to the army and the DSS.
He regretted that the country’s public schools are poorly secured because government officials do not know that the most important value that a country has are the children in school.
Soweto said to keep pupils and staff safe, government should invest more in the funding of public education alongside upliftment in school infrastructures.
“Specific measures govt can take include provision of perimeter fencing with watch towers, armed guards to secure school gates, provision of school buses with armed escort to ensure safety of day students to and fro, school hostels to have dedicated night time security, deployment of security cameras all around schools manned 24hrs by a rotating staff. Govt should also liaise with NUT and the parent/teachers association and host communities to establish early warning mechanisms to prevent any threat in future,” he said.
The NCYP appealed to President Tinubu to fully implement the Forest Guard programme and ensure it operates as a grassroots security model driven by residents.
It said community members were the most reliable defenders of their schools and that “there is no substitute for the vigilance, courage, and determination of parents protecting their children.”
The group urged the President to “avoid creating a bureaucratic institution” detached from the communities it should protect.
