…As Education Ministry seeks control of funds

The Federal Government, on Friday, unveiled stronger measures to secure schools nationwide, with a renewed push for the involvement of security agencies to protect teachers and pupils across the 774 local government areas.

The Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, disclosed this after an interface with the Senate Ad-hoc Committee on the Safe Schools Initiative in Abuja.

Alausa also formally requested the transfer of the management of funds for the scheme from the Ministry of Finance to the Ministry of Education to ensure effective implementation.

He noted that the ministry was working with security agencies to develop a comprehensive national framework for school safety.

“We are collaborating closely with the Office of the National Security Adviser, the Department of State Services, the Armed Forces, the Nigeria Police and other security agencies to develop a comprehensive Safe Schools framework. School safety cannot be handled in a fragmented manner,” he said.

According to him, the initiative goes beyond physical security, saying, “Safe Schools is much broader than physical security. It includes perimeter fencing, solar-powered lighting, water and sanitation facilities, recruitment of school security personnel, deployment of technology and the establishment of effective monitoring systems”.

The minister stressed the need for central coordination of the programme, assuring, “there are many components of the Safe Schools Initiative, and they require a central command-and-control structure. While the security agencies will continue to perform their constitutional duties, the Federal Ministry of Education will provide policy direction, coordinate implementation with states and ensure that every school benefits from the programme”.

In his presentation to the committee chaired by Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, Abia North, Alausa said since he assumed office, the only disbursements made for the initiative were targeted interventions to the Nigeria Police Force and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps through the Ministry of Finance.

He said the Education Ministry had now established a full-fledged Safe Schools Department, which necessitated direct management of the funds.

“We have now established a full-fledged Safe Schools Department within the Federal Ministry of Education. Previously, there was only a small unit, but we felt that was inadequate considering the importance of school safety, which is why we are seeking to domicile the management of the fund in the Education Ministry,” he said.

Speaking at the session, Senator Anthony Ani said: “The present minister inherited what happened before his appointment. Nevertheless, the government is continuous, and institutions must account for past actions so that future public officials will understand the importance of transparency and responsibility.”

In a separate interview, the Minister of Finance, Mr Taiwo Oyedele, said the dispute over control of the funds was not a major issue and would be resolved.

“For us it’s not so much who is controlling the budget; that’s not even very important. Government policy has, for example, that if you have service-wide votes or interventions, by law it’s the Ministry of Finance that will manage it because the Minister of Finance acts as the accountant for the country. Under that we also have the Office of the Accountant General. So, between us we’ll sort out those issues,” he said.

Oyedele added that the priority should be adequate funding and timely releases, saying, “What is even the priority for us is how do we ensure that the funding is adequate and the monies are released on time so that some of these crimes can be prevented, rather than us trying to do damage control”.

The Senate Committee adjourned to a closed session to continue deliberations on the administration of funds for the Safe Schools Initiative.

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