FG to set up Presidential Steering Committee on Safe Schools

As part of Nigeria’s Safe Schools Project, the Federal Government will establish a Presidential Steering Committee.

Declared this in a benevolent speech at the one-day National Summit on Safe Schools, with the topic “Tackling identified threats in Nigeria,” Secretary to the Government of the Federation SGF, Senator George Akume.

In order to guarantee that important stakeholders collaborate effectively under a single framework, he said, the government is determined to improve the coordination of the Safe Schools project.

In the person of Professor Bolaji Bernard Babatunde, his Senior Special Assistant (Technical), he clarified that the objective is to guarantee a more successfully coordinated execution of the Safe Schools Declaration SSD, foster greater synergy, and optimize resource allocation.

Akume praised the Ministry of Education, Finance, and Interior for their efforts, as well as the contributions of Development Partners and Civil Society Organizations like Save the Children International. Notable among these groups are the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), which is in charge of overseeing the Safe Schools project.

Minister of the Interior Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo also spoke, reiterating how important the effort is to the growth of the country and how parents’ trust in sending their children to school must be ensured.

According to him, safe schools are an excellent government policy, and everyone who has anything to do with them should take it seriously when putting it into practice.

We all share responsibility for ensuring the safety of our schools, not just the government. To provide our kids with the safe learning environment they deserve, collaboration between communities, law enforcement, parents, and educators is essential. Tunji-Ojo continued.

During his inaugural speech, Dr. Ahmed Abubakar Audi, the Commandant General of the National Safe Schools Response Coordination Center (NSCDC), stated that the center has been functioning admirably well by utilizing a whole-of-society approach in cooperation with security agencies, civil society organizations, schools, host communities, federal, state, and local government bodies, as well as local and international partners and donor agencies.

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Audi clarified that the Schools Security program that his government launched gives NSCDC staff members the chance to visit schools and raise awareness among students through lobbying.

The center arranged the meeting in an effort to dispel rumors that the Safe Schools Project in Nigeria wouldn’t be implemented successfully.

As the head of the NSCDC, he clarified that the purpose of the summit was to equip relevant stakeholders and facilitate actions related to the implementation of the Safe Schools Project. He also invited participants, who included education and security specialists, development partners, civil society, and strategic stakeholders, to contribute their voices in order to guarantee that the summit’s intended outcome was realized.