The Federal Government (FG) has allocated the sum of N15 billion for the implementation of the Safe School Initiative for 2023. This was made known in Abuja on Wednesday by the National Coordinator of the Initiative, Halima Illiya Ibrahim, stating the Initiative is designed to improve the safety and security of students, staff and infrastructures of educational institutions in Nigeria.
According to her, “A Technical Committee or Technical Working Group which constituted critical agencies, Ministry of Education, Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF), Nigeria Police Force (NPF), Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Department of State Services (DSS) and Defense Headquarters, were saddled with the responsibility to develop a plan, which was launched will be implemented between 2023-2026 with a total investment size of N144.86 billion. The plan proposes N32.58 billion in 2023, N36.98 billion in 2024, N37.15 billion in 2025 and N38.03 in 2026.
“The implementation strategy aims to cover 50% of the most risk public schools over the medium term 2023-2026, disclosing that, the implementation of the National Plan has kick-started with Eighteen (18) high-risk states and forty-eight (48) schools, hoping it will spread across states by 2024.”
In a related development, the Acting Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun on Wednesday, launched the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) manual for the Schools Protection Squad (SPS), a specialized unit of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) tasked with the protection of educational institutions in the country.
According to a statement signed by the Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), Olumuyiwa Adejobi, the SOP “spells out the organizational framework of the Unit, procedures for mobilization and code of conduct for officers assigned to the Unit. It equally provides procedures for collaboration with other security agencies to ensure a coordinated approach in tacking threats to schools and educational institutions.
“The IGP enumerated some of the strategies to be employed by the NPF in the achievement of the mandate of the SPS to include the generation of information and development of intelligence, community policing partnerships, police-public cooperation, inter-agency collaboration, security and administration of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), deployment of logistic assets, humanitarian services, as well as training for school managers/teachers and members of the host communities on their roles in emergency situations.”
According to the IGP, the Initiative would begin with 18 pilot states including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), he also advised all stakeholders to be supportive with the view of ensuring the success of the Safe School Initiative.