Police design training on national plans for the Safe Schools initiative

By Abiodun OBA

The Police have designed training to equip state coordinators and divisional police officers (DPOs) nationwide with comprehensive knowledge and strategies on national plans for the Safe Schools initiative.

At the inauguration in Abuja, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr Olukayode Egbetokun, says the police will continue to give priority to the safety and security of schools nationwide.

Egbetokun said the training was aimed at crafting a definitive strategy for collaboration between the police and other vital stakeholders to ensure a more protected learning environment for schoolchildren.

He said the inauguration of the equipment was to optimise the human and material resources of the Nigeria Police in combating crimes, particularly those targeting educational institutions.

“We are committed to implementing measures and utilising our resources to diminish the threats facing students, staff, and educational facilities across the country.

“The current police administration has established the Special Intervention Squad to swiftly address and counteract criminal activities nationwide.

“This squad will operate in support of the School Protection Squad to ensure that the country’s educational facilities remain free from danger and unwelcome incidents,” he said.

He said the police would continue to work harmoniously with relevant security agencies and stakeholders, including host communities, to confront those attacking schools.

The I-G urged the participants to embrace the training with the utmost seriousness, adding that the knowledge and skills to be acquired would directly impact on the quality of services to be rendered.

Also speaking, Mrs Halima Iliya, the National Coordinator, Financing Safe Schools Secretariat, said that though the Nigerian educational system has always been in deep crisis, the kidnapping of schoolchildren represented a major extensional threat to the system.

She said the crisis had contributed to the huge population of out-of-school children in the country.

The coordinator called for a policy framework to provide sustainable funding to address the challenges.

Iliya said the absence of funding mechanisms from budgetary allocations by the federal and subnational governments was a challenge to attaining safe schools in the country.

The event also featured inauguration platforms, vehicles, and equipment for the safe school programme.