Secure schools, CDS tasks Northeast stakeholders, security agencies

The Chief of Defense Staff (CDS), General Christopher Musa, has urged security agencies, parents, civil society organisations (CSOs), traditional and religious leaders to synergize in protecting schools in the Northeast.

Addressing participants at a one-day workshop on Thursday at the Command Guest House, Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, Musa disclosed that protecting children from terrorist attacks and kidnappings should not be left alone to the military.

He said: “The protection of people’s lives and property is a collective responsibility of all.

“All our hands must be on deck to ensure security in the nooks and crannies of the affected states of Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe.”

It could be recalled that many secondary schools in Kaduna, Niger, Sokoto, Katsina, Zamfara, including the Chibok girls, were attacked and kidnapped by terrorists and bandits.

Declaring the workshop open, with the theme: “Providing Secured and Safe Learning Environment for the Advancement of National Development,” the CDS said the event was in line with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.

The General stated that the stakeholders’ workshop was to protect both public and private schools from terrorists and bandits’ attacks and kidnappings.

Also, the workshop, established last March, has operationalized the Armed Forces of Nigeria in protecting many schools in the country.

He noted that this will enable pupils and students to learn in a safe and secure environment.

Besides the mobilisation of troops, he added: “I am happy that the programme, which has moved to the second stage of mobilising military units and formations across the country, is geared towards securing schools.”

The CDS, therefore, enjoined participants to feel free and committed to ensuring fruitful deliberations to overcome the challenges of insecurity in schools.

Stakeholders, including the police, Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC), traditional and religious leaders, commended the military for organising the workshop on security.

They said it will address insecurity in schools and improve educational development in the region.