By Mercy Gadia Adi
The Senate on Wednesday launched a sweeping investigation into the Safe School Initiative (SSI), expressing alarm that despite huge investments and global backing, Nigerian schools remain prime targets for terrorists and kidnappers.
At the committee’s inaugural sitting, Chairman of the 18-member ad hoc panel, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, vowed that lawmakers would “track every naira and every dollar” allocated to the programme since its launch in 2014. He described the continued abductions of schoolchildren—over 1,680 kidnapped and 180 learning facilities attacked—as a national failure.
“It is unacceptable that our schools remain soft targets,” Kalu said. “Nigerians deserve to know why, despite enormous investment, our children are still unsafe.”
The committee is expected to conduct a full financial and operational audit of the SSI, scrutinising fund utilisation, security deployments, emergency response mechanisms, infrastructure upgrades, and partnerships with international donors.
Kalu stressed that the probe is not a witch-hunt, but a necessary step to restore public trust. “We owe Nigerian parents the responsibility to ensure their children can learn without fear. We will not rest until we get answers,” he said.
The investigation follows renewed outrage over the 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, Senator Yahaya Abdullahi (APC, Kebbi North), who moved an urgent motion on the incident, 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,” he warned.
Former Senate President and Defence Committee Chairman, Ahmad Lawan, also backed the inquiry, insisting the Senate must establish how SSI funds were deployed.
The Safe School Initiative, launched after the 2014 Chibok abduction, was conceived as a government–UN–private sector partnership. It received $10 million in initial funding, grew to more than $30 million by 2021, and has a federal allocation of ₦144 billion between 2023 and 2026—yet attacks on schools have only intensified.
Senator Kalu said the committee’s work would “re-engineer” the programme to deliver real protection.
“Our goal is simple: to make Nigerian schools safe and conducive for learning. Nothing short of genuine accountability will suffice.”
The committee has four weeks to submit a comprehensive report, expected to shape future national security policy for the education sector.