By Aideloje Ojo
In peaceful environments, parents drop their children in school without the fear of any danger to them. In the same vain, many parents believe that sending their wards to boarding school is even more secured under the school’s authority and the government if the school is a public one.
However, in recent years this confidence has been eroded by constant fear and security threats to their wards at day and boarding schools due to escalating terror attacks where educational facilities and pupils/students are used as soft targets.
In Niger State, the story is the same, with most of the tragedies occurring in Niger East Senatorial District, known as Zone B, where several attacks on schools have resulted in the closure of dozens of them.
Concerned citizens and security experts have expressed the need for stakeholders to address the negligence and lapses in the security of education facilities by going beyond paying lip service to the lingering issue.
The Safe School Initiative and the Niger State situation report
The Safe School Security Initiative is one of the very first projects embarked upon by the Commandant General of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Dr Ahmed Abubakar Audi, on assumption of office a few years ago.
According to reports, Dr Audi, determined to stop the menace of the terrorists using schools as soft targets, mandated all state commands, especially those in areas infested by terrorists/ bandits, to establish units of the Safe School Initiative. It was learnt that in order to give effect and enforcement to the initiative, he approved the establishment and training of an elite women squad in all state commands.
However, checks revealed that the Safe School Initiative hit a brick wall and went into comatose almost immediately after its conception, with only a few state commands being able to showcase the presence of the safe units in the states.
Meanwhile, in Niger State, the narrative is slightly different. Investigation revealed that the state command put in place the unit to provide security to schools with a standby armed women squad.
The state’s Commandant of NSCDC, Adamu Abdullahi Kambra, spoke with NEXTER on the operational capability of the Safe School Unit and its activities in the state. He explained that lack of logistics was hampering the unit from performing optimally, especially transportation.
He said that the unit had been engaging in advocacy and sensitisation visits to schools and stakeholders, especially traditional rulers, on the imperative of having a secured environment for the schools and students.
According to the commandant, “We ensure that we give full security cover by patrolling the institutions in the state in all the local government areas.”
He dismissed claims in some quarters that his command abandoned the responsibility of providing security to schools on the mandate of the Safe School Initiative.
Security experts expected that the squad should be located in areas close to boarding schools instead of hibernating at the state command headquarters. However, NEXTER gathered that NSCDC has a road map of security measures to put in place for the safeguarding of schools, but that there is hindrance in terms of implementation with regards to finance and support from host governments.
A senior officer of the NSCDC in Niger who spoke on condition of anonymity explained that the government was not taking the security situation in schools seriously, adding that, “You will be surprised to know that almost all the public schools, including those that are called boarding, are not having perimeter fences in addition to not having security guards.”
He said that there was a visible breakdown of synergy between the Niger State Ministry of Education and the NSCDC in the implementation of the Safe School Initiative.
He, therefore, advised the state government and security stakeholders to emulate Nasarawa State’s model which had in place a situation room and highly mobile civil defence squad capable of responding to security issues within minutes.
Also, checks revealed that schools in Niger lack infrastructure to support the Safe School Initiative, making it difficult for the NSCDC unit to function effectively.
Where is the NSCDC Female Squad?
There was a media hype on the formation of the Civil Defence Female Squad more than a year ago, but as the ovation that greeted the lofty idea died down, the squad also went underground for lack of motivation and operational facilities.
Reports have it that the special female squad consists of well-trained female elite of the NSCDC on combat duties. Members are said to be more rugged than their male counterparts and battle-ready at all times. However, the squad which also performs covert operations and intelligence surveillance duties has become very invisible in public eye. Not a few are asking about the existence of the squad, especially as it appears to have been docile or missing in action.
However, the Niger State commandant cleared the doubt over the existence and combat readiness of the squad in an interview with NEXTER.
He said, “Yes, we have a Special Female Squad. We call them female squad. They are specially trained to combat any type of criminality. Mostly, we use them in safe-school patrols.”
Explaining the reason for the establishment of the female squad, the commandant said that the decision came against the background of terrorists using women to get easy access to soft targets in suicide bombing.
He said, “So, that’s why our commandant general thought about that and also gave out the special squad to be controlled by women. And they are doing their best, honestly. I have that unit in this command. Most of the time when the OC Safe School Unit is going out, the special female squad provides the armed backup.”
While emphasising the importance of the female squad, the commandant said, “The unit is very important and they are doing their best.”
He said that the squad could be seen everywhere; not only in schools, but also in all the areas where there are security threats.
He further said, “They are always deployed if there is an emergency to assist in combat operations. In such a situation, you see them dressed up and marching into action. If they are in action, you may think or be convinced that they are even better than the men. This is because of the type of training they receive.”
We are addressing the issues – Commissioner
The Niger State Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Hajiya Hadiza Mohammad, responded to the issues surrounding the porous condition of government schools, explaining that the administration was making progress in addressing the security challenges.
Speaking in an interview with NEXTER, the commissioner said the state government had earmarked 27 secondary schools and 27 primary schools to fortify them against security threats.
She said, “The former Governor of Niger State, Mohammed Umaru Bago, graciously approved the construction of fences in several schools for the safety of government education facilities and our students.”
She explained that the issue of safety of schools in the state was s paramount to the state government, adding that, “We are also carrying out complete renovation of our schools to provide a conducive and secured environment for our students.”
However, stakeholders said it is pertinent to urge government and other stakeholders to pay deserved attention to the safety of students by supporting the
NSCDC and other security agencies with necessary combat logistics.
s without fears of any danger to them. In the same vain, many parents believe that sending their wards to boarding schools is even more secured under the school authority and government where the boarding school is a public one.
However, in recent years this confidence has been eroded by constant fears and security threat to their wards at day and boarding students due to escalating terror attacks where educational facilities and pupils/students are use as soft targets.
In Niger state, the story is the same with most of the tragedies occurring in Niger East senatorial district known as zone B, where several attacks on schools have now resulted in the closure of dozens of boarding schools.
Concerned citizens and security experts have expressed the need for stakeholders to address the negligence and lapses in the security of education facilities by going beyond paying lip service to the lingering issue.
The Safe School Initiatives and the Niger situation report
The Save School Security initiative is one of the very first project embarked on by the Commandant General of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC) Dr. Ahmed Abubakar Audi on assumption of office few years ago.
According to reports, the Commandant General determined to stop the menace of the terrorists using schools as soft targets, mandated all state commands especially those in areas infested by terrorists/ banditry activities, to establish units of Safe School in their commands. It was learnt that in order to give effect and enforcement to the initiative, the Commandant General approved the establishment and training of an elite women squad in all Civil Defense state commands.
Checks revealed that the Safe School Initiative has hit the brick wall and gone into comatose almost immediately after its conception. Only few state commands of NSCDC can showcase the presence of the safe school’s unit in the states. However, in Niger state, the narrative is slightly different. Investigation revealed that the state command has put in place a unit to provide security to schools with a standby armed women squad ready for rapid response to security challenges.
The state Commandant of NSCDC, Adamu Abdullahi Kambra spoke with NEXTER on the operational capability of the Safe School unit and its activities in the state. He explained that lack of logistic is hampering the unit from performing optimally, especially in transportation challenge. He said that the safe school unit has been engaging in advocacy and sensitization visit to schools and critical stakeholders especially traditional rulers on the imperative of having secured environment for their schools and students.
According to the commandant, the safe school initiative has the objective of providing full security to students in school at all times, adding that, “we ensure that we give full security cover by patrolling the institutions in the state in all the local government areas”.
He dismissed claims in some quarters that his command has abandoned the responsibility of providing security to schools on the mandate of the Safe School initiative.
According to security experts, it is expected that the squad should be located in areas close to boarding schools instead of hibernating at the state command headquarters. However, NEXTER gathered that NSCDC has a road map of security measures to put in place for the safeguarding of schools but there is hindrance in terms of implementation with regard to finances and support from host government.
A senior officer of the NSCDC in the state who spoke on condition of anonymity explained that the government is not taking the security situation in schools seriously, adding that, “you will be surprised to know that almost of the public schools including those that are called boarding schools are not having perimeter fences in addition to not having security guards”.
He observed that there is a visible breakdown of synergy between the Niger state Ministry of Education and the NSCDC in the implementation of the Safe School initiative. He advised the Niger state government and relevant security stakeholders to emulate Nasarawa state model which has in place a situation room and highly mobile Civil Defense Squad capable of responding to security issues within moments.
Checks revealed that schools in Niger state lacks infrastructures to support the save school initiative
making it difficult for the NSCDC unit to function effectively. It was gathered that for effective monitoring, security posts and towers should be constructed by government and manned by NSCDC operatives for the security of students.
Where is the NSCDC Female Squad Combatant?
There had been media hype on the formation of the Civil Defense Female Squad more than a year ago but as the ovation that greeted this lofty idea died down, the squad also went underground for lack of necessary motivations and operational facilities.
Report has it that the special female squad consist of well-trained female elite of the NSCDC on combat duties. Members are said to be more rugged than their male counterparts and battle ready at all times. However, the squad which also performs convert operations and intelligence surveillance duties has become very invisible in public eye. Not a few are asking about the existence of the squad especially as it appeared to have been docile or missing in action.
However, the Niger state Commandant Kambra has cleared the doubt over the existence and combat readiness of the squad in an interview with NEXTER. He said, “Yes, we have a Special Female Squad. We call them female squad. They are specially trained to combat any type of criminality. Mostly, we use them in this safe-school patrol”.
Explaining the reason for the establishment of the female squad, the commandant said that the decision came against the background of terrorists using women to get easy access to soft targets in suicide bombing. “So that’s why our commandant general thought about that and also gave out the special squad to be controlled by women. And they are doing their best honestly. I have that unit in this command most of the time when the OC Safe School Unit is going out, the special female squad provides the armed backup,” he said.
While emphasising the importance of the female squad, the commandant said, “The unit is very important and they are doing their best. They are always deployed if there is an emergency to assist in combat operations. In such a situation, you see them dressed up and marching into action. If they are in action, you may think or be convinced that they are even better than the men. This is because of the type of training they received.”
We are addressing the issues – Commissioner
The Niger State Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Hajiya Hadiza Mohammad, responded to the issues surrounding the porous condition of government schools, explaining that the administration was making progress in addressing the security challenges.
Speaking in an interview with NEXTER, the commissioner said the state government earmarked 27 secondary schools and 27 primary schools to fortify them against security threats.
She said, “The former Governor of Niger State, Mohammed Umaru Bago, approved the construction of fences in several schools for the safety of government education facilities and our students.”
“We are also carrying out complete renovation of our schools to provide a conducive and secured environment for our students.”
Furthermore, stakeholders said it was pertinent to urge the government and other stakeholders to pay more attention to the safety of students by supporting the NSCDC and other security agencies with combat logistics.
