Insecurity: FG Earmarks N144.8bn For Safe School Project

Federal government has said it would need N144.8 billion to finance its Safe School Initiative that was introduced in 2014 to protect public schools and ensure that children affected by conflict and insecurity are able to continue with education unhindered.

The National Plan will be implemented between 2023-2026. The plan proposes N32.58 billion in 2023, N36.99 billion in 2024, N37.15 billion in 2025, and N38.03 billion in 2026, respectively. The federal government launched a four-year national plan on financing safe schools in December, 2022 with a total investment size of N144.8 billion.

Addressing a press briefing yesterday in Abuja, national coordinator, financing safe schools in Nigeria, Halima Illya Ibrahim said a N15 billion provision has been made the national budget for implementation of the programme.

Funding of the plan is done through annual budgetary provisions from federal, state and local governments, government interventionist agencies, foreign government and multilateral institutions, businesses and philanthropists, donor partners and others.

The plan aims to cover 50 per cent of the most at risk public schools over the medium term 2023-2026.The plan will focus on achieving the following milestone: building and integrating security resilient host communities in the protection of education; strengthening the detection, deterrence, and response capabilities of the security agencies and equipping the school security, response and coordination centres in Abuja and states respectively.

According to madam Ibrahim, implementation of the plan commenced in January 2023 with flag-off of the national school security and coordination centre by the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) being the lead agency for the protection of schools and government critical assets.

Also, head of education at the Nigeria Governors Forum Dr. Leo Ebenezer said the subnational states are very much committed to the initiative, with a hope that all the states are included to address all the issues and make provision for, especially in the 2024 budget in addressing the safety of schools.

“We assure that the funds released will be used rightly. Subsequently, we will have all the 36 states and the FCT covered in addressing the safety of schools.

“Safety of school is very important for us to achieve sustainable development goals, 2030. It is also important for our children to get the best quality of education. Safety of school is the responsibility of all,” Ebenezer said.