A group, Civil Society Organisation clusters, have called on the North-Eastern governors of Bauchi, Yobe and Borno states to expedite the implementation and domestication of the National Policy on Safety, Security and Violence-free schools (NPSSVS).
Ms Noadiah Babas, Communications and Knowledge Officer, Young Leaders Network, made the call on behalf of the group in Bauchi on Monday.
The group, Babas said, also advocated for increased budgetary releases and performance in education for infrastructure and training on school safety and disaster risk reduction (DRR) by the year 2025.
According to her, one of the goals of the project embarked upon by the CSO’s cluster ‘Enhance Safe & Secure Education 4 All (ESSEA), was to enhance basic, inclusive and safe quality education in North-east Nigeria through advocacy for increased investments in education.
“A key focus of the project will be to demand accountability of the state education budget by advocating for increased budgetary releases and performance in education for infrastructure, training on school safety and disaster risk reduction across the focal states.
“The team will initiate a series of capacity enhancement initiatives to enhance the capacity of Clusters for advocacy and collaboration towards effective advocacy deliveries.
“Cluster’s members would also build capacity in budget analysis skills, development of factsheets around budget allocation, releases, and performance.
“The Project will strategically build relationships with education stakeholders in the Project States and create opportunities for decision makers to learn and engage around the adoption and implementation of NPSSVS.
“The project will leverage on learning and awareness raising in policy engagement by creating platforms to empower citizens to know the NPSSVSs, empower them to be involved in the implementation of the policy and build ownership of the policy implementation,” she said.
Babas explained that the project is being sponsored by USAID and Palladium.
Also speaking, Mr Nicholas Oshojah from Leadtots Development Initiative, Bauchi State, said schools must be safe as they represented spaces where learners were comprehensively educated and developed.
“This development, however, can be guaranteed only if learning takes place in a safe and secure environment
“Therefore, a holistic school safety and security plan is critical to ensure that all learners, staff members and school property as well as school communities are protected from human-induced and natural hazards,” he said.
He called on the media practitioners in the three selected states to disseminate information about the policy to the public so as to raise awareness.
In his address, the Bauchi state Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Mr Umar Sa’idu, promised that the partnership between the Union and the group would be effectively justified.
The cluster organisations in the group are; Bauchi State Network of CSOs; Thamani for Women and Youth Development Initiative, Innovative Childcare and Women Empowerment Initiative, Borno.
Others included; Northeast Youth Initiative for Development, Yobe; Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Yobe and Bauchi State Council.
