• 42,000 primary, secondary schools remain unfenced
• 758 students, teachers kidnapped between May 2023 and June 2026
• How we are securing our schools, by NAPPS, AFED

More than 45 million pupils in basic and secondary schools across Nigeria will resume academic activities today as school owners and administrators ramp up security measures amid growing concerns about learners’ safety.

The resumption comes after two of the deadliest academic years for schools in recent memory, marked by mass abductions, attacks on school facilities, and the killing of students and teachers in several states.

Despite billions spent on the federal government’s Safe Schools Initiative (SSI), a Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) audit revealed that 78 per cent of public schools lack perimeter fencing and 65 per cent operate without security guards, leaving the majority of the country’s classrooms exposed as soft targets for mass abductions.

The Federal government itself admitted that the SSI, born after the Chibok abduction in 2014, has consumed billions, yet schools remain soft targets.

The government promises access, learning and human capital development with the initiative, supported by a National Plan on Financing Safe Schools for 2023 to 2026. But insecurity has continuously made attending school dangerous in parts of the country.

The plan projected an investment of about N144.8 billion, including N119.83 billion from the Federal Government and N224.93 billion from states.

Yearly allocations were projected at N32.59 billion in 2023, N36.99 billion in 2024, N37.16 billion in 2025 and N38.03 billion in 2026, while actual capital releases fell significantly short of targets.

In 2024, the Federal Government’s direct appropriation for Safe Schools dropped by 67.8 per cent (from roughly N30.7 billion to N5.01 billion), resulting in a single-year funding shortfall of N25.7 billion.

Of the 36 states expected to contribute 17 per cent (N24.93 billion) of the total plan and establish localised Safe School Coordination Centres, less than 10 states have fully operationalised their counterpart structures or disbursed matching funds.

In 2023, the government released N15 billion, allocated as follows: Nigeria Police Force, N6.2 billion; National Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), N3.3 billion; Defence Headquarters, N2.2 billion; and the Federal Ministry of Education, a smaller share.

The National Coordinator of Financing Safe Schools, Halima Iliya, told the Senate that the scheme had no budget for 2024 and 2025, explaining that her request to include it in the 2024 fiscal year was submitted to President Bola Tinubu too late. Zero budget allocation in 2024 and 2025, and funding is needed to carry out activities.

The Senate committee that probed the funding on December 10, 2025, scrutinised the N15 billion, asking why police took the largest share and why outcomes are invisible.

The government has registered about 200,000 schools under the project, launched school-based interventions, community protection efforts, and special measures for high-risk areas, and called on governors to domesticate the Safe School Transition Plan.

The National Plan promised perimeter fencing, closed-circuit television (CCTV), early warning systems, and deployment of 24-hour armed NSCDC and police to high-risk schools. On the ground, parents in Zamfara, Kaduna, Katsina and Niger said they saw no fence, guards, or lights.

The government’s own budget tells the story. According to the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) report, education’s allocation grew from N2.36 trillion in 2024 to N2.59 trillion in 2025, a 9.8 per cent increase, yet capital expenditure dropped from N1.15 trillion to N938.58 billion, reflecting an 18.1 per cent decline. So, recurrent expenditure swallows capital, and classrooms remain dilapidated.

As the new academic session begins, parents and guardians are concerned about whether the journey to school, to the classroom, and back home can be made safely.

Between May 2023 and June 2026, 758 students, teachers and school staff were held hostage in mass school-related attacks.

The police command in Oyo State, in partnership with the Police Community Relations Committee (PCRC), said it has unveiled an initiative to ensure a safer and more secure learning environment as schools resume.

The spokesperson, Olayinka Ayanlade, said the command was also deepening engagement with the PCRC Safe School Club, school proprietors, administrators, Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs), and students.

The engagements aimed to establish a collaborative security framework for early identification, reporting, and prevention of threats within and around schools.

Other states are filling the security vacuum in their own ways. The Katsina government has localised the national ‘Safe, violence-free schools policy’.

Basic Education Commissioner, Yusuf Jibia, said security at boarding schools has been strengthened by deploying mobile police, community patrol teams, and vigilante groups.

Jibia added that each school has been assigned six to 10 community patrol personnel to work alongside other security agencies.

The Enugu government is extending its network of CCTV cameras, drones, and command-and-control centres into schools. The Commissioner for Education, Ndubueze Mbah, said traditional institutions, community chairmen, and local government chairmen have been given active responsibility for school security in their respective political wards.

The safe schools promise
The Safe Schools Initiative was designed to protect schools against attacks, improve emergency response and strengthen coordination among education and security authorities.

The current financing plan is broader than the original initiative. It envisages spending on security equipment, training, operations, school infrastructure and monitoring. Of the projected N144.8 billion, N82.91 billion was earmarked for security agencies to procure arms, ammunition, platforms and equipment, and to fund training and operations.

The plan also identifies physical vulnerability. More than 42,000 primary and secondary schools across northern Nigeria lack perimeter fencing. In addition, 4,270 secondary schools in 21 northern states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) were listed as unfenced.

That figure is significant because a school without a perimeter fence is not merely an institution without a wall. It may lack a controlled entry point, a clear boundary, lighting and the ability to detect or delay an attack. In rural areas, schools can be isolated from nearby settlements and security posts, leaving pupils and teachers exposed during opening, closing and overnight periods.

Some progress has been made in building a national picture of risk. The National Safe Schools Response and Coordination Centre’s monitoring platform listed 11,550 schools in November 2025.

By September 2026, the number had risen to 169,478 as more schools sought registration and protection amid renewed insecurity.

Registration, however, is not the same as protection. A school appearing on a monitoring platform does not necessarily mean that it has fencing, trained guards, an emergency plan, rapid-response access, working communication equipment or regular security patrols.

However, there are calls that the government should publish, school by school or at least state by state, what the plan has delivered. That should include the number of schools fenced, the number equipped with alarms or communications systems, the number covered by patrols, the number of teachers trained in emergency procedures, the amount released to each implementing agency and the number of schools still assessed as high-risk.

Stakeholders noted that the SSI cannot be judged by budget size alone, but by whether children are safer.

For the 2026/2027 academic year, schools need reliable systems to report suspicious activity, verify visitors, secure pickup points, and communicate with parents during emergencies.

Back-to-school cost crisis
Another potential barrier to school resumption is the back-to-school cost crisis. Students are returning to school under severe financial pressure, often borne by their parents and guardians.

Private school proprietors have defended fee increases of up to 30 per cent ahead of the new session, citing higher fuel costs, rent and teachers’ salaries. Transport fares have soared, nearly doubled in major urban areas after repeated fuel price increases.

The pressure reaches every part of the school budget. Families must pay tuition fees or levies, uniforms, textbooks, examination charges, meals, transport and sometimes technology fees.

For households with more than one child, the total amount payable can consume a substantial share of monthly income before food, rent, electricity and healthcare are considered.

Inflation has moderated from its recent peak, but that does not mean prices have returned to earlier levels. Nigeria’s headline inflation stood at 15.43 per cent in July 2026, down from 15.91 per cent in June, according to figures reported by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

Food inflation, however, rose to 20.31 per cent in July from 17.52 per cent in June. A slower rate of price increase is not a fall in prices. Families still pay the higher prices accumulated over previous years, while transport operators and school proprietors adjust charges to cover fuel, maintenance, wages, rent and power.

Higher petrol prices increase the costs of school buses, public transport, staff commuting, generator use, and the movement of food and educational materials.

The result is a squeeze on both sides of the education spectrum. Parents struggle to pay, while schools struggle to operate. If fees rise sharply, households may move children to cheaper, potentially less-resourced schools, delay payment, reduce attendance, or withdraw children altogether. If schools absorb the increases, they may cut staff, maintenance or security spending.

Other costs
The Federal Government has censured practices that increase families’ financial burden without improving learning.

Public debate has raised issues such as the compulsory purchase of single-use textbooks and workbooks, and expensive graduation ceremonies for nursery pupils.

These practices continue in many schools. Parents are often required to buy books or workbooks that younger siblings cannot reuse, even when the content changes little from one year to the next. Some schools also organise elaborate graduation ceremonies for children leaving nursery classes, requiring families to pay for gowns, photography, decorations, gifts and parties.

Based on market surveys and NBS inflation data, The Guardian estimates that if a nursery graduation costs N40,000 per child and there are one million nursery pupils in private schools, this amounts to N40 billion extracted from parents in a term, with inflation at 21.88 per cent.

If a combined textbook-workbook costs N8,500 and is discarded after one year, while a separate workbook costs N1,500 and a textbook can be reused for four years, each family with three children loses about N21,000 yearly. Multiply by 10 million families, and it is N210 billion.

How we are securing schools, by proprietors
Meanwhile, the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS) said members have put in place enhanced security arrangements to protect pupils and staff as the new academic session kicks off.

The National President of the association, Chief Yomi Otubela, said security remains a priority for private schools.

According to him, beyond deploying security personnel, schools are expected to strengthen access control, perimeter security, surveillance, lighting, secure gates, and controlled entry and exit points.

Otubela said schools have also been encouraged to assess the security situation in their immediate environment and adopt preventive measures to identify vulnerabilities early rather than waiting to respond after an incident.

Otubela called on government and security agencies to strengthen security around schools, while urging private school operators to remain proactive.

On his part, the President of the Association for Formidable Educational Development (AFED), Mr Orji Kanu, said schools must ensure that perimeter fencing is intact and gates are properly manned, and that access is granted only to those with legitimate reasons to be on the premises.

He said AFED, through its development partners and trainers, has provided training on safeguarding and emergency response, and expects member schools to comply with the guidelines.

He added that members have been told to identify with local and community security personnel and groups within their communities for support in case of emergency.

Kanu disclosed that AFED is already collaborating with many state governments that recognise the need for mutual support in securing schools.