[JUST IN] Schools Attack: WARDC blames FG, says response to terrorists poor

Renowned gender rights organisations, under the aegis of Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre, raised concern on Wednesday over the attacks on schools and learning facilities in Nigeria by terrorists, kidnappers and bandits, saying responses by the governments have been poor and inadequate.

The organisation, therefore, recommended the implementation of the Safe School Declaration in order to ensure full compliance and safety of children in schools across the country.

The Founder/Executive Director of WARDC, Dr. Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi, raised the concern during an inception meeting with stakeholders on the effective implementation of safe school policies in Nigeria organised in collaboration with the United Nations Democracy Fund.

The PUNCH reported that Nigeria had adopted the Safe School Declaration in 2018 to combat the problems of a lack of safety and security in schools.

In the closing days of 2022, the government signed and launched a N144.8 billion Safe Schools Financing Plan, which, it said, would be implemented between 2023 and 2026.

The plan would complement the National Policy on Safety, Security and Violence-Free Schools with its implementing guidelines, adopted in 2021, the government had earlier mentioned.

Akiyode-Afolabi stated that the safe school declaration was yet to be fully implemented in the country, observing that schools have been under severe attack from non-state armed groups and were also susceptible to bulleting by the armed forces while responding to security issues.

She stated that the problem appeared intractable due to the lack of adequate responses by the government.

“This is despite the country’s signing of the Safe School Declaration, a legally binding law domesticating the SSD that will promote effective implementation, enforcement and accountability”, she stated.

Akiyode-Afolabi identified three problems hindering full implementation of the SSD in Nigeria.

These, according to her, included a lack of awareness, capacity and network among the stakeholders and the public on the SSD, an absence of a legal framework to realise the SSD, and a lack of a roadmap to implement the SSD.

The gender advocate said, “School security is beyond bombing and abduction of school children; some schools are built close to filing stations, some in remote areas difficult to access, while in some, their only form of security can be best described as a gateman, as he can do little or nothing at the time of crisis.

“Schools and learning facilities across the country have been severely under attack from non-state armed groups and are also susceptible to bulleting by the armed forces while responding to security issues.”

“The problem appears intractable due to the lack of adequate responses by the governments, despite the country’s signing of the Safe School Declaration, a legally binding law domesticating the SSD that will promote effective implementation, enforcement and accountability.”

“Over the years, public knowledge of the SSD is still near zero. The SSD is yet to be fully implemented, and schools do not comply with the standard protocols in line with the SSD.,” the WARDC director lamented.

Akiyode-Afolabi said the lack of an effective and coordinated partnership between the government, CSOs, and other relevant stakeholders on implementing the SSD programmes has been limited, with low budgetary allocations, leading to low demand for accountability from the government, adding that “there is no way we can have a secured school, if it is not appropriately financed,”.

The Federal Lead, Partnership for Learning for All in Nigeria Education, Abiola Sanusi, expressed disappointment at the lack of data on attacks in schools, saying that this poses a great difficulty for accountability.

Sanusi said, “Some schools in Ondo were attacked recently and most people are not aware, so also some students in Niger states have been away from school and no one is asking questions.

”We need to begin to hold government accountable, as the insecurity has made many refuse to send their children to school. We need to safeguard our schools as they are catalysts to drive educational outcome and development.”

The WARDC Senior Programmes/Grant Officer, Jennifer Nwokedike, said the project embarked on by the organisation would raise awareness about the SSD among key stakeholders in order to raise their voices and actions towards the implementation of the SSD.

She said that the project would also enhance stakeholders’ capacity to demand the adoption of a legal framework to promote the implementation of the SSD, as well as push the government to adopt a state-level costed /financing implementation plan for the SSD.