The Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning has committed to creating adequate budgetary allocation for financing the federal government initiated safe schools programme.
Permanent secretary, Finance (Special Duties) Shehu Aliyu Sinkafi made the promise at the financing safe schools stakeholders’ engagement forum held at the NAF conerence centre in Abuja yesterday. He said the federal government is committed to ensuring a safer teaching and learning environment. In the same vein, the ministry.
This newspaper did a report on failure of the federal to implement provisions of the Safe Schools Declaration Ratification documents three years after Nigeria signed to it. The target is to ensure the safety of Nigerian schools for safe teaching and learning.
President Muhammadu Buhari signed for the programme on 31 December 2019, with a promise to implementing the intergovernmental commitment in Nigeria. Three years down the line, the government is yet to give effect to an emergency programme that was meant to increase access and quality of education of over 40 million school children.
Nigeria’s current insecurity has gravely affected the nation’s education sector, with the country having the highest out-of-school children, following series of terror attacks on the schools, especially in the north.
Hajia Halima Iliya who is the head of the steering committee and secretariat for the financing safe schools that was created to engage critical stakeholders in the quest to develop and launch a national plan for financing safe schools urged participants to come up with ideas on how to better secure the Nigerian schools.
Her committee is expected to produce a document that will outline how the Nigerian government can address the challenges of insecurity in the education sector and ensure a safer and more secured teaching, learning and living environment in all its schools and learning centers.
The roles expected from various stakeholders, including national and sub-national governments, schools communities, host communities, local and international, non-governmental organizations, international agencies and donor partners.