NSCDC Set For Safe School Initiative Take-off

For a smooth take-off of the federal government’s Safe Schools Initiative, the Financing Safe School Secretariat/Technical Working Committee has expressed satisfaction with the level of preparedness of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).

The commandant-general of NSCDC, Dr Ahmed Abubakar Audi, who hosted the Committee on National Schools Security yesterday in Abuja, said he was impressed with the level of team work demonstrated by security agencies involved in the task.

He said, “To protect schools, the corps introduced the School Community Security Vanguard, established the Special Female Squad, Integrated Electronic Arrest Reporting System (I-EARS) amongst others.”

According to Audi, two locations have been proposed to be developed as permanent control rooms for the programme by the NSCDC.

He said, “Two permanent sites are also allocated for the building of national schools’ security and emergency response centres readily available within the premises.

“There is a national centre design for the construction of the safe school and will be made available for viewing if you decide to site the safe school here.”

He reiterated that as the lead agency in the protection of critical national assets and infrastructure, NSCDC is ready to deliver on the assignment.

The CG also tasked Private Guard Companies (PGC) on timely grassroots intelligence gathering to ensure adequate protection of schools in the country.

He affirmed that the corps had trained well over 3.5 million guards and advised that since they are close to the grassroots, that relationship could be exploited to attract credible intelligence.

The head of Financing Safe Schools Secretariat and Technical Working Committee, Ministry of Finance, Mrs Halima Iliya, appreciated the corps’ donations and promised to utilise the infrastructure provided.

After inspecting the donated office workspace and control room, Mrs Iliya said that the committee will remodel the office as it lacks funds for construction of the undeveloped donated sites.

She said that a lot of advocacies will be carried out in rural areas and harped on the importance of community response.

She stressed the need for all stakeholders most especially, security agencies to continue to evolve proactive measures that would yield results in response to the nation’s security challenges.