In a bid to improve security in schools around Lagos, the Nigeria Police yesterday inaugurated the IGP’s Safe School Initiative and the Lagos Schools Protection Squad. The Squad which is a special effort of the Inspector General of Police, IGP Kayode Egbetokun to ensure safety and security in and around schools in Lagos and across the Country was also inaugurated during the 2-day IGP stakeholders’ forum on security of schools in Lagos. The event was held at the POWA Hall, Ikeja GRA, Lagos State, National Association of Online Security News Publishers, NAOSNP can report.
The IGP Kayode Adeolu Egbetokun who was represented at the event by the Assistant Inspector General of Police, AIG in charge of Zone 2 Police Command, AIG Adegoke Fayoade noted that ‘School insecurity is not only a breach of the right to education. It is a direct threat to global peace and human capital development. It challenges the international commitment to Sustainable Development Goal 4 (Ensuring Quality Education) and Goal 16 (Promoting Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions. Other global actors such as Israel, and the United States of America, like Nigeria scale up protection and are demonstrating proactive models that combine law enforcement, police, innovation and community engagement to fortify schools safety.’
‘It is imperative that our educational authorities and community leaders work hand in glove with the Police and other security agencies, to ensure that our schools are fortified against any potential threats and as we launch the Schools Protection Squad, we mark a significant stride towards an all-inclusive approach to school safety. As part of this initiative, training program will be instituted for Educators, Administrators and Security Personnel who will in turn leverage on the acquired skills to recognize and respond to security threats. We will also make use of modern technology and intelligence led Policing to ensure proactive law enforcement presence around our schools. It is worthy to mention that perimeter fencing of schools, especially in isolated areas, or in proximity to creeks and lagoon, including provision of CCTV camera or monitored by surveillance drones will go a long way in securing our schools’, IGP Kayode Egbetokun said.
The IGP urged Schools, parents, and communities to work in consonance with security agencies so as to champion the cause of security, safety and well-being for all our children while encouraging everyone to invest our efforts, resources, and our hearts into fostering a culture of safety in our schools.
The Lagos Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Jamiu Alli-Balogun indicated that the Safe Schools Initiative is integral to the Renewed Hope agenda of His Excellency, the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his wife, Senator Oluremi Tinubu as a result of the imminent security challenges in the country, where the life and properties of pupils, students, and schools personnel have to be protected. He added: ‘The safe school declaration document is a policy put in place to ensure that our school space is secured to protect the pupils, students, staff personnel and properties. It is our core duty and responsibilities to entrenched full protection that arise from external threats such as kidnapping, child trafficking and communal clashes, and the internal threats such as child abuse, cultism, bullying, and drug abuse etc.’
‘It is imperative that we should all be our brothers keepers, by imbibing the native and social intelligent, and having a watch over our schools, by building a bridge of relationships between the school and the communities, and by having a synergy of cooperation and collaboration with the security agencies, ost especially the Nigeria Police’, Jamiu Alli-Balogun said.
The Commissioner of Police, Lagos Command, CP Olohundare Moshood Jimoh said: ‘At the Lagos State Command, we recognize that the protection of our schools is not just a responsibility but
a fundamental obligations that are foremost and of highest priority in our day to day operations and security services. Our Schools must remain safe havens where learning thrives
without fear. This forum, coupled with the training of the Schools Protection Squad (SPS), marks a proactive step
toward achieving this goal.’
‘The SPS initiative is designed to equip dedicated personnel with the skills, knowledge, and strategies to
prevent, respond to, and nip in the bud security concerns and threats in our schools. To achieve this we must cooperate with critical stakeholders most of whom are here present, we must also go beyond this, to ensure that our vision
extends to fostering collaboration, building resilience, and integrating the invaluable contributions of our host
communities.’
The National Coordinator on Financing Safe Schools at the Federal Ministry of Finance, Abuja, Hajiya Halima Iliya noted that the Safe Schools Initiative is a National Plan which ‘has incorporated a multi-level approach to providing responsive security coverage for host and schools communities, and other learning places adopting Whole Society Approach in the protection of education.’
‘The National Plan has component of skills acquisition, support to survivors of attacks on education such as psychosocial support and also aim at reducing the number of out of school children through transfer program moving students from volatile location to safer locations for enrollment inti unity colleges. The states that have not key into the Safe Schools Program are required to do so, to enhance effective and measurable outcomes which will improve Nigeria’s rating in Human Capital Index (HCI) in the long run’, Iliya said.
The National Commissioner of Police Schools Protection Squad (SPS) Force Headquarters Abuja, CP Abayomi Shogunle recalled how the Safe Schools Initiative came to light. ‘The National Policy on Safety, Security and Violence-Free Schools in a 2021 report indicated that between 2012 and 2016, more than 600 teachers were killed in attacks, while more than 19,000 were displaced.
The Nigerian government, recognizing its responsibility to create a safer and more secured learning environments formally signed the safe school declaration documents on 31st December, 2019 to signal the country’s commitment to its implementation alongside 118 member countries.’
‘To further demonstrate the resolve to address the serious challenges posed by conflicts and insecurity to safety of schools, the Federal Ministry of Finance, in consultation with local and global stakeholders, conveyed a high-level forum on 20th April 2021 to address the menace of attacks on education on a holistic and sustainable basis by creating innovative sources of funding through federal, state and local governments. Also, between 25th and 27th October 2021, Nigeria hosted the 4th international Conference on Safe Schools Declaration in Abuja to rally support for the program and assess the progress in achieving various commitments to protect schools and Students from incessant attacks. Furtherance to these activities, the Federal Government through the Federal Ministry of Finance, in active consultation and collaboration with states, local governments and critical agencies of government developed a mid-term national plan on Financing Safe Schools for the period, 2023 to 2026.
In December 2022, the Ministers of Finance and Education formally introduced key policy documents, including the National Policy on Safety, Security, and Violence-Free Schools as well as the Minimum Standard for Safe Schools. In 2024, the Federal Government launched the Safe School Initiative to enable children affected by conflicts and insecurity to continue with their education unhindered. The comprehensive plan which adopts a ‘whole-society approach’ began full implementation in 2023 with the establishment of the first Safe Schools Response Coordination Centre, which is being replicated across all states and local governments for rapid response and information dissemination. I am delighted to inform this gathering that the Nigeria Police Force now have a 24/7 functioning Emergency Centre dedicated to responding to Schools Emergencies – the contact detail is as shown on the back page of this Event Programme booklet.’
On his implementation plans, Shogunle said: ‘The implementation of the plan is in phases with eighteen (18) States selected as Pilot states, and we have launched this initiative in those states. Considering the strategic importance of Lagos state in Nigeria’s educational and economic development, the Inspector-General of Police, IGP Kayode Adeolu Egbetokun, Ph.D., NPM, approved that Lagos state be also included in this first phase. The right to education is central to social and economic progress, and investment in education is an investment in human capital development.’
