A report by the Education in Emergencies Working Group in Nigeria has stated that schools in every part of the federation are afflicted with one safety and security hazard or another.

The research, ‘Scoping Study for the Development of the National Policy on Safety and Security in Schools (Nigeria),’ led by founder of the Women Advocates Research & Documentation Centre, Dr Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi, explained that the study was conducted in six locations in Nigeria with support from The Nigeria Foundation for the Support of Victims of Terrorism.

Speaking on Thursday at a media roundtable meeting held on SSD accountability with key media partners in Lagos State, Akiyode-Afolabi added that the study aimed to gather data to support the development of a national policy on the safety and security of schools in Nigeria. The roundtable was organized by WARDC in collaboration with UNDEF and FNUD.

She advised that Nigeria should activate SSD and implement the National Policy on Safety, Security, and Violence-Free Schools.

The Safe Schools Declaration outlines a set of commitments to strengthen the protection of education from attack and restrict the use of schools and universities for military purposes. It seeks to ensure the continuity of safe education during armed conflict. The Declaration was opened for countries to endorse at the First International Conference on Safe Schools in Oslo, Norway, in May 2015 and Nigeria also adopted the declaration in May 2015.

The SSD project supports the enhancement of citizen-led initiatives to hold governments accountable for the effective implementation of the Safe School Declaration in Nigeria and its domesticating policy, the National Policy on Safety, Security, and Violence-Free Schools.

Also, a report by Voice of America stated that at least 1,400 students have been kidnapped from Nigerian schools since 2014 when Boko Haram militants seized hundreds of schoolgirls from Borno State’s Chibok village.

The study, conducted in six states across Nigeria’s geo-political zones; Adamawa, Anambra, Benue, Cross River, Katsina, and Osun, said it visited over 350 stakeholders in and around schools across these zones.

Akiyode-Afolabi narrated, “This report details the contexts, methodology, and findings of the scoping study for safety and security in schools undertaken in Benue, Anambra, Osun, Cross River, Adamawa, and Katsina states between October 2019 and January 2020. The report highlights the peculiar security and safety challenges confronting different regions of Nigeria and provides recommendations to tackle these challenges for a safer and hazard-free school environment in Nigeria.”

Based on the data and information obtained from the field research, she said the following conclusions were reached, “Nigerian schools are mostly unsafe and insecure. Schools in every part of the federation are afflicted with one safety and security hazard or another. While there are commonalities in these hazards such as the absence of perimeter fencing, inadequate security facilities and arrangements, and porous access, the safety and security challenges faced by schools differ according to whether the schools are public or private, located in urban or rural areas, or are tertiary or non-tertiary institutions, or are located in conflict or non-conflict zones.”

Akiyode-Afolabi maintained that evidence suggested that private schools fared much better than public schools in making provisions for basic security and safety facilities.

She said, “Tertiary institutions also fare much better in making provisions for basic security facilities and arrangements compared to non-tertiary institutions.”

Akiyode-Afolabi revealed that respondents interviewed offered various suggestions to address the security and safety challenges facing schools across Nigeria.

Suggestions included adequate government funding for the school system; regular security and safety training for staff and students; curriculum review to include safety and security subjects; comprehensive perimeter fencing and adequate security personnel; sensitisation on security awareness.

Others were, the provision of male and female counselors; provision of ID cards for students; construction of boreholes for adequate water supply; construction of inclusive WASH facilities; introduction of community policing; development of minimum standard policy/documents for schools; installation of panic alerts and scanners; and maintaining security books/registers for visitors.

In her presentation, titled, ‘Effective implementation of safe schools’ policies in Nigeria,’ National Safe Schools Project Coordinator, WARDC, Jennifer Nwokedike, explained that there was low awareness among the public, and a lack of capacity and strong network among stakeholders regarding the SSD. She insisted that Nigeria had no legal framework to realise the SSD.

She said the objectives of the Safe School Project were to “Increase public awareness of SSD by communities, school administrators, media, and civil society; formulate and advocate for the adoption of a legally binding framework for SSD implementation; establish effective partnerships between government, policymakers, media, and CSOs on the implementation of state costed plans for safe schools in Lagos and Bauchi states, Nigeria.”

Statistics provided by Media and Communications Manager, WARDC, Wemimo Adewuni, revealed that 200,000 students stopped attending school in Kaduna State during the 2022/2023 session, and according to UNICEF, 11,536 schools have closed since 2020. She appealed to media organisations to support the safe school campaign, emphasising that the Nigerian media, backed by the constitution, plays a crucial role in shaping public perceptions, challenging stereotypes, and promoting awareness about issues.

“By accurately depicting the realities of insecurity and its consequences on education, media outlets can lead citizens to own these issues,” she said. (The PUNCH)

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