By Comfort Olayinka
The Nigerian Senate has launched a sweeping investigation into the Safe School Initiative (SSI), expressing outrage that despite years of funding, schools remain prime targets for terrorists and kidnappers.
Presiding over the ad-hoc committee’s inaugural sitting on Wednesday, Chairman Senator Orji Uzor Kalu vowed that the Senate would “track every naira and every dollar” spent since the programme’s launch in 2014.
Kalu lamented that more than 1,680 children have been kidnapped and over 180 schools attacked within a decade—figures he described as “unacceptable for a nation committed to the future of its children.”
“It is unacceptable that our schools remain soft targets. Nigerians deserve to know why, despite enormous investment and global support, schools are still unsafe,” Kalu declared.
“This is not a witch-hunt. We owe parents accountability.”
Committee to Audit Funds, Security Measures, Donor Partnerships
The 18-member ad-hoc committee will conduct a full audit of SSI operations, examining:
Utilisation of over $30 million mobilised between 2014–2021
Federal allocations totalling ₦144 billion (2023–2026)
Deployment and efficiency of school security personnel
Early warning and emergency response systems
Infrastructure upgrades in vulnerable schools
Collaboration with international donors and private-sector partners
Federal ministries, security agencies, state governments, and civil society groups will be invited to testify.
Triggering Incident: 25 Girls Abducted in Kebbi
The probe follows national outrage over the recent abduction of 25 female students from Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School, Maga, Kebbi State, where bandits also killed the school’s vice principal.
During plenary, lawmakers questioned the fate of SSI funds.
Senator Yahaya Abdullahi (APC, Kebbi North), who raised the motion, described the attack as “a dirty slap on the face of the nation.”
“A nation that cannot secure its children is not worth living in. This is a wake-up call,” he said.
Former Senate President Ahmad Lawan also demanded full accountability.
Four Weeks to Submit Findings
Senate President Godswill Akpabio constituted the committee, which includes Senators Tony Nwoye, Yemi Adaramodu, Harry Ipalibo, Ede Dafinone, Mustapha Saliu, and others.
They have four weeks to deliver a comprehensive report and recommendations to overhaul the initiative.
Launched in 2014 after the Chibok schoolgirls’ abduction, the Safe School Initiative was designed as a government–UN–private sector partnership. Despite an initial $10 million fund and subsequent allocations, attacks on schools have increased, prompting renewed scrutiny.
Kalu: “We Will Re-engineer the Programme”
Senator Kalu assured Nigerians that the probe would not end in rhetoric.
“Our goal is simple: to make Nigerian schools safe, secure, and conducive for learning. Nothing short of genuine accountability will suffice.”
The Senate’s findings are expected to significantly influence Nigeria’s security framework for protecting schoolchildren in high-risk areas.
