The Bauchi and Gombe state governments have initiated the implementation of the National Safe School Plan, which was introduced by the federal government.
This action follows a series of school attacks in different parts of the country.
The National Safe School Plan aims to establish secure learning and teaching environments for students. In December 2022, the federal government unveiled the National Plan on Financing Safe Schools, with a budget of N145.8 billion, to be executed from 2023 to 2026.
It also allocated N15 million to support the program’s implementation in 48 schools across 18 states in Nigeria.
The states have the flexibility to allocate additional funding to enhance the program beyond the federal government’s contribution. The report indicates that Bauchi and Gombe states are at different stages of implementing the project.
In Bauchi, the state government has identified 48 schools for participation in the program.
Ali Gar, the director of planning, research, and statistics at the Bauchi State Ministry of Education, reaffirmed the government’s dedication to the initiative.
He mentioned that provisions have been made in the proposed 2024 budget to expedite the program’s implementation.
The ministry has also established a Safe School desk officer and formed a technical committee to raise awareness and engage communities.
What he said
We have gone to 15 local government areas where 48 schools had been selected to benefit from the initiative, sensitizing people with regards to a safe school,” he said.
- “An Assessment team came from Abuja where they also went to see these 48 schools and went back.
- “What we are waiting for now is whether they will release the funds for its commencement in earnest or if it is the federal ministry of finance that will come and execute the work.”
Ibrahim Gabdo, the public relations officer for the Bauchi state command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), has stated that the corps is actively working with key stakeholders to ensure the program’s effective implementation. He emphasized the NSCDC’s dedication to enhancing security in schools.
- “We are to collaborate with co-stakeholders in the Safe School Initiative such as the ministries of finance and education, the Nigeria Police Force, the Department of State Service (DSS), National Orientation Agency (NOA), among others,” he said.
The corps in concert with the state government will establish a center for the Safe School program for proper coordination.
- “We are also embarking on advocacy and sensitization of some of the stakeholders and ministries on the safe school initiative in the state.”
He mentioned that the corps had conducted training for its personnel, equipping them with the methods of the initiative. Gabdo encouraged the state’s residents to back the program.
Furthermore, the NSCDC called upon the Gombe government to consider erecting perimeter fences around some of the schools that lack them. Mohammed Muazu, the corps’s commandant, emphasized the importance of this request.
