Persistent terrorists’ attacks on schools in various parts of the country signify a serious lack of effectiveness of the Safe Schools Initiative of the federal government, 12 years after the scheme rolled out. It is a sad commentary that much of the government’s projections on the initiative are more rhetoric than pragmatic. So far, the terrorists have operated seamlessly as if there were no safety mechanisms in place, while the government, unfortunately, keeps to its common reactive responses.

The present situation is a challenge to the government to go back to the drawing board on the Safe Schools Initiative with a view to preventing the abduction of students and teachers, or any form of disruption to schooling. Until leaders sincerely give priority to the safety and well-being of Nigerians in obedience to constitutional mandate, terrorists, kidnappers and other hardened criminals would continue to gain the upper hand over security activities.

The surge in attacks on schools nationwide in recent times is largely due to the failure to effectively implement the Safe School Initiative, which was meant to deter attacks on learning institutions. Sadly, leaders appear to be busy but give inadequate priority to protecting life and property.

Although security is a shared responsibility, it nevertheless remains the primary mandate of the government, which must do everything possible to end the fear of insecurity that is fast enveloping schools and communities as a result of attacks by terrorists and kidnappers.

In the wake of the abduction of the Chibok school girls in Borno State in 2014 and similar incidents in other places thereafter, the Safe School Initiative was launched. It was introduced by the United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education, Gordon Brown, in partnership with the Nigeria Global Business Coalition for Education and private-sector leaders during the World Economic Forum for Africa. Basically, the initiative was designed to focus on a range of safety measures, including school-based interventions, community protection efforts, and targeted support for schools in high-risk areas. It aims to improve the safety and protection of students, teachers, and other school workers by rehabilitating school security infrastructure, establishing community-oriented security concepts, transferring students from high-risk areas to safer schools, and providing complementary trauma counselling and education for internally displaced persons in camps and communities. Under the arrangement, budgetary contributions from the Federal Government and the private sector were to be complemented by the establishment of the Nigeria Safe Schools Initiative Multi-Door Trust Fund (MDTF) for UN support, co-financing, and implementation of activities related to the initiative.

Initial activities of the initiative suggested that it was on course to achieve the objectives. By March 2015, it had moved a total of 750 pupils from high-risk areas to safer schools in other parts of the country, where they could continue their education. In 2019, the then-President Muhammadu Buhari signed the Safe Schools ratification documents, while the Federal Government in 2022 launched a N144 billion Safe Schools Financing Plan with a view to protecting schools from terrorist attacks.

But as time went by, and apparently due to neglect and possibly sabotage, the impact of the Safe Schools Initiative waned considerably, compelling Nigerians to raise questions about how the funds were utilised and the strategy being adopted, especially as terrorists’ attacks and kidnappings, which the money was meant to curb, were escalating across the geo-political zones.

The Federal Government’s subsequent plan to review the project’s implementation is instructive. Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, who revealed the planned review when he visited the Commandant-General of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Ahmed Audi, in Abuja, said the government would move from reactive approaches to school attacks to a structured and sustained security strategy, particularly in the vulnerable communities. Alausa told the nation that as part of the new strategy, a dedicated Safe School Department had been created in the Federal Ministry of Education, while technology would be integrated into the security framework, including the deployment of panic buttons and alert systems directly linked to security command centres to enable rapid emergency response.

Before Alausa revealed the planned overhaul in February this year, the National Assembly had also announced a plan for an operational review that would include a full-scale investigation following the escalating attacks on schools. Chairman of the Senate Ad hoc Committee, Uzor Kalu, said the inquiry would leave no stone unturned. “It is unacceptable that schools remain soft targets despite years of funding and frameworks. Since 2014, more than 1,680 children have been kidnapped and 800 schools attacked,” the lawmaker lamented. It was learnt that the panel was to conduct a thorough financial audit and summon ministers, state governors and civil society actors to explain operational lapses.

But Nigerians are yet to see these plans executed as terrorists intensify attacks on more schools, kidnapping pupils and teachers, killing some of the victims and frustrating the academic ambition of thousands of children. The situation casts doubt on the political will of the leaders to end terrorism that has made Nigeria a terrible country to live in. It is unfortunate that a project meant to guarantee the safety of children in their schools could be handled with such timidity. If the implementation was not perfect at inception and the goal is not being achieved, it is disappointing that 12 years later, it has not been reviewed to make the initiative work. It now takes public outcry after many more attacks on more schools for the government that voted N144.8 billion for the intervention to begin to realise the need to make it work, and still, little is seen to be done in this regard. The situation remains deeply lamentable as the consequences are dire.

At the celebration of this year’s Children’s Day, the Director for Women and Children at the United Nations POLAC, Prof. Cynthia Amaka Obiorah, and former Minister of Education, Obiageli Ezekwesili, criticised the political leadership over the poor state of child welfare and security in Nigeria. Obiorah lamented the harsh realities confronting many children across the country, including girls forced out of school, those displaced by conflicts, and minors struggling to survive on the streets. Ezekwesili said the political leadership lacked moral authority to celebrate children while many remain victims of abduction, violence and deprivation, referencing the recent kidnapping of pupils and teachers in Oyo State.

Nigerian children should not be living and schooling at the mercy of terrorists, kidnappers and other criminals as if there is no government in place in the country. At this frightening point in Nigeria’s governance, nothing should be more important to the government than making the country safe for all citizens. To allow insecurity to fester as it is doing is an indictment of the government’s capacity to govern.

The government must move beyond speeches and take practical actions to protect Nigerian children. By all means, the Safe Schools Initiative must be made to work, and children must be safe and become fearless in their learning environment. Every obstacle to achieving this goal should be removed, and any person whose activity or behaviour works against the initiative should be treated as a terrorist and dealt with accordingly. No Nigerian child should be denied the basic right to safety and education. It is the only way to show the world that the Nigerian government has not lost control of the country to criminal elements.