NSCDC Releases Update on Safe School Initiative Amid Surge in School Abductions

The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), says the National Safe Schools Initiative programme is still on course.

The NSCDC Public Relations Officer (PRO), Babatunde Afolabi, disclosed this during an interview on Monday in Abuja.

The programme was initiated by the Federal Government in 2014 after the abduction of the some Chibok girls from their school.

Afolabi, responding to recent surge in abduction of school children from their schools in some parts of the country, said that delays by communities in reporting early warning signals to the National Safe Schools Response Coordination Centre (NSSRCC) could slow down physical response times of operatives.

According to him, the NSSRCC remains fully operational, highly active and functional 24/7 as an integrated intelligence hub with dedicated desk officers from several security agencies.

He however said that citizens were the absolute cornerstone of the entire safe school programme as adequate school security could not solely rely on physical presence of personnel at every school.

“This is because perpetrators live within host communities, and community leaders, traditional rulers and other citizens hold the key to early indicators,” he told NAN in the interview.

The PRO added that when citizens actively utilise the, ”see something, say something” protocol, it bridges the gap and allowing security agencies mobile patrols to intercept threats before they reach school gates.

He clarified that the NSCDC played host to the NSSRCC which is situated at the NSCDC National Headquarters in Abuja as protection of schools remained a top national priority.

He also clarified that the NSSRCC programme had been decentralised successfully from the Abuja headquarters down to sub-centres across all 36 states and 774 local government areas.

“The NSSRCC manages the National Safe School Integrated Command & Intelligence System (NSS-ICIS), which registers, maps, and calculates the School Vulnerability Index (SVI) for schools nationwide.

“Till date, the system has mapped and registered over 169,000 schools into its data infrastructure and has successfully averted dozens of active security threats and pre-emptive interventions, particularly in high-risk zones.

“Many of these operational victories are kept quiet to protect active intelligence lines,” he said.

Afolabi said that in spite of the strong progresses recorded by the centre, several structural and situational hurdles remained a challenge as vast majority of registered schools lacked basic security infrastructure.

He said such security infrastructure include proper perimetre fencing, gated access control, or electronic surveillance.

“However, the unpredictable nature of non-state actors requires extensive, continuous intelligence rather than static guard deployment,” he said.

He also said that there was an existing active and ongoing partnership across multiple tiers to ensure schools in Nigeria were adequately protected.

“State Ministries of Education and school administrators are actively on-boarding their profiles onto the NSS-ICIS registry to receive risk scoring.

“The NSCDC continuously engages with teachers associations and local school-based management committees to conduct security awareness and emergency drills,” he said.

He further disclosed that the corps was working closely with Private Guard Companies (PGCs) nationwide to ensure proper protection of schools.

Since the introduction of the programme in 2014, the Federal Government has released not less than N144 Billion Naira to ensure the safety of schools nationwide.

Meanwhile, Nigeria has recorded a significant increase in the abduction of students from schools in several parts of the country in recent times.

However a visit by NAN to some public schools around the FCT showed perimetre fencing and gated access control.

At the LEA Primary and Secondary School, Area 1, Garki; Government Secondary School (GSS), Garki, Area 10, and Festival Road Primary School, Area 10, Garki, the schools were fenced and gated.

At the Government Secondary School (GSS) Kubwa, the Publicity Secretary, Nigeria Confederation of Principals of Secondary Schools (ANCOPSS) FCT chapter, Anderson Oseh said that though the school was well fenced, maintenance was carried out by the school authority from time to time.

Oseh also said that it was very important to have trained security personnel posted to the school for security purposes, adding that such measure would boost the confidence of teachers, students and parents who were having security concerns due to recent happenings in the country.

He added that under the safe school initiative, officers of the NSCDC could mobilise to various schools to boost security.

He revealed that most public schools within the area engage the local vigilante group through personal arrangements to help boost security.

He also revealed that it cost a lot to engage personal security, adding that there was more confidence in well trained officers on civil matters such as the NSCDC especially when dealing with students and pupils.

Similarly, the Principal, Government Day Secondary School (GDSS) Dutse Alhaji, Mr Balogun Ayodeji said that though the school was fenced and gated, there was the challenge of inadequate presence of security personnel.

He also revealed that the school authority engage the local vigilante group from time to time for security purposes.

In the same vein, the Principal of Government Girls Secondary School (GGSS) Dutse Alhaji, Dr Fatima Mohammed said that the school is well fenced, but still needed security personnel.