Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has said that reports that schools across 40 Local Government Areas (LGAs) in the country have been shut as a result of insecurity raise questions about the ₦144.86 billion earmarked for financing the Safe School Project between 2023 and 2026.

Atiku, in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, stated that this is particularly concerning as the schools the programme was designed to protect are still being forced to close because of the activities of terrorists, bandits and other armed groups.

The former Vice President described the reported closure of schools in the 40 LGAs as a damning indictment of the President Bola Tinubu administration’s failure to protect Nigerian children and guarantee their right to education.

Atiku, who is also the 2027 African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, demanded that the Federal Government publish a comprehensive account of the Safe School programme.

According to him, the account should include how much has been mobilised and released, the agencies and contractors that received funds, the schools covered, security infrastructure delivered and measurable outcomes achieved.

He noted that “at a time when Nigeria is already battling a severe out-of-school crisis, insecurity is driving even more children from the classroom. If schools across about 40 local government areas cannot operate because government cannot guarantee the safety of pupils and teachers, Nigerians are entitled to ask a simple question: where is the ₦144.86 billion Safe Schools programme in all of this?

“Budgeting money is not the same thing as securing schools. Announcing programmes is not the same thing as protecting children. The true measure of a Safe Schools programme is whether our children can actually go to school safely. By that elementary test, the present approach is failing.”

The ADC candidate stated that it was indefensible that Nigeria, after repeated attacks and abductions involving educational institutions, could commit enormous resources to a Safe Schools programme and still reach the end of its implementation period with armed groups determining whether schools open or close.

According to him, “the situation in Borno makes the failure even more intolerable. Reports indicate that 36 students and a staff member of Government Day Secondary School, Lassa, in Askira/Uba Local Government Area were abducted by gunmen during examinations in late June, while 42 pupils reportedly remain missing following the May 15 attack in Mussa.”

Furthermore, Atiku posited that “what Nigeria requires is a completely different security philosophy. Under my administration, school security will not be treated as another Abuja contract-awarding programme. It will be integrated into a decentralised, intelligence-led security architecture built around the communities where these schools actually exist.

“We will establish functional early-warning and rapid-response systems around vulnerable schools, strengthen intelligence sharing between schools, communities and security agencies, and ensure that identified high-risk schools have clearly defined security and emergency-response plans.

“Local communities know their terrain. They know when unfamiliar people enter their communities and often see the warning signs before Abuja does. Our security architecture will make that local intelligence part of the national response rather than leaving communities helpless until an attack has already occurred.

“We will also insist on measurable outcomes for every naira committed to school security. Nigerians will know which schools have been protected, what infrastructure has been provided, who is responsible for maintaining it and which security formations are accountable for responding when threats arise. Safe Schools will be measured by children in classrooms, not billions in government documents.” (The Sun)

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