The Nigeria Union of Teachers and The National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools have urged the Federal Government to fully put in place the Safe School Initiative in order to tackle the frequent kidnappings of teachers and students across the country.
In an interview on Thursday, the National President of NUT, Mr Audu Titus-Amba, expressed his dissatisfaction with the way education stakeholders are often taken captive in schools. He mentioned that this often leads to the death of some staff and a lack of interest from parents in sending their children back to school.
He was responding to the abduction of LEA Primary School and Government Secondary School, Kuriga, Kaduna State, schoolchildren on March 7, 2024.
The kidnapping of these 287 children in Kaduna State was one of the largest school abductions since the 2014 kidnapping of schoolgirls in Chibok village, Borno State.
The Chibok girls' kidnapping led to the introduction of the Safe School Initiative by the FG to ensure that children in conflict areas or affected by insecurity can continue their education.
Furthermore, President Muhammadu Buhari signed the safe school declaration ratification document in December 2019.
Additionally, in December 2022, the Federal Government launched a N144.8 billion Safe Schools Financing Plan to protect schools from terrorist attacks across the nation.
However, a report indicated that the Initiative, mainly carried out by the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, had only covered 21,000 schools out of the 80,000 identified as vulnerable to attacks by bandits, terrorists, and kidnappers.
Amba emphasized that the government needs to intensify efforts to implement the Safe School Initiative to protect the children. He highlighted the lack of perimeter fencing in many schools and the need for security personnel for each school.
He expressed concern that the frequent abductions would lead to an increase in the number of out-of-school children, as parents whose children had been abducted would be reluctant to send them back to school.
Amba urged the government to include teachers as members of the forum and emphasized that they are in the best position to provide the government with ideas and suggestions on how to make the schools more secure.
In addition, the abduction on March 24, 2024, saw only 137 of the 287 children reportedly released.
When asked about his thoughts on the whereabouts of the remaining 150 children, Amba commented, “All the children kidnapped have reunited with their parents and no single parent has come forward to say they did not find their children. This means the real figure kidnapped was actually 137 not 287.”
Additionally, National President of NAPPS, Mr Yomi Odubela, urged the government to build trust by allocating more budget to the Safe School policy to ensure proper and national implementation.
He recommended that the government provide sufficient technological safety equipment for both private and public schools.
Otubela said, “We can eliminate the constant kidnappings of teachers and students if the government can allocate funds for advanced safety equipment for both private and secondary schools. All children in our country deserve to be secure. Since the government does not cover the fees of children in private schools, they should provide security measures such as CCTVs, solar energy for power, and toll-free lines for both stakeholders to use in case of any incident.”
