Minister of Interior Encourages Security Agencies to Prioritize Intelligence for Safeguarding Schools
During the Safe Schools National Summit in Abuja on Thursday, Minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo emphasized the need for security agencies to focus more on intelligence gathering to combat the growing threat of school attacks in Nigeria.
Tunji-Ojo highlighted that stationing personnel in schools, particularly in regions prone to violence, is insufficient. He stressed the importance of proactive measures over-reactive responses, emphasizing the necessity of leveraging intelligence in securing educational institutions.
The minister underlined, “The NSCDC cannot single-handedly execute this initiative for safe schools. Intelligence is crucial in ensuring school safety, enabling precise planning and direct actions.”
“With the number of schools that we have across the country, it is not possible to deploy men to secure the environment. Though there are some critical infrastructures, such as perimetre fencing, among others, we must invest more in intelligence.
“We want the security personnel attached to our schools to be more proactive than reactive. At every point in time, the security agencies must be ahead of the criminals. If we are creative, we must always give the criminals a hard time for them to figure out what our strategies are.
“Being proactive has a lot to do with intelligence. I want to see schools in the most turbulent places secured as those in the Federal Capital Territory.”
The minister further called for a full implementation work plan for the Safe Schools program to reduce the rate of out-of-school children, pledging full support to the initiative.
He added, “The Safe Schools initiative is one of the best initiatives of the government in recent times. As the Minister of Interior, I want to assure you that I assign myself 100 percent to this initiative.
“The question is not about the rationale of the initiative, but it is about the effectiveness and implementation of strategies of the initiative.
“For me, as a country, we are not short of fantastic and brilliant ideas but we are short when it comes to effectiveness.”
In his remarks, the Commandant General, NSCDC, Ahmed Audi, said despite the multiplicity of interventions by stakeholders and security agencies, Nigeria was still grappling with the ugly challenge of school attacks and their consequent rising rate of out-of-school children.
Audi said the summit would attempt to “address perceived threats militating against the successful implementation of the Safe Schools project in Nigeria.”
“It is also intended to facilitate actions and to equip relevant stakeholders on the implementation of the Safe Schools Project,” he added.
Also, the Minister of Education who was represented by the Director, of Support Services of the Ministry, Giginna Ifeyinwa, said, “The stark reality is that all these attacks on schools would have been prevented and the impact mitigated with collaboration, emergency preparedness and prompt response by relevant authorities by committing to the Safe School Declaration Guidelines.”
