Mr. Laban Onisimus:

Prior to 2021 the country had no policy on school safety and security. I am sure members will know that in October last year, we hosted an international conference on the safe school declaration. Nigeria is a member country having signed the declaration which means that we have a policy in place. It is one thing to have a policy and another for us to really popularise it and know what it entails and thereby implement it. It is a question of our popularising the safe school declaration policy and continuous sensitisation to the community on school safety because the solution lies in the community in terms of early-warning signals for schools. The attacks, not just the Chibok, have happened in so many areas of the country. In May around 300 or 400 children were abducted at the same time. These terrorists do not come unnoticed. There are key areas in the community and we will have to sensitise each and every member of the community on early warning signals.

Then there is the need for strong political will to stop this. We know it is a security issue but there is a political aspect to it too. There is a need for the government to ensure that it deploys a strong political commitment to stopping abduction in schools. The list of abductions in Nigeria goes on and on. I believe that once the safe school declaration is popularised and that the community is sensitised and you train teachers and children on early warning signals, it would be one way to prevent cases of abduction and attacks on schools in Nigeria.