IGP Olukayode Egbetokun says the police will continue to prioritise schools’ safety and security nationwide.

Mr Egbetokun said this in Abuja at the inauguration of training on Safe Schools for State Coordinators and Divisional Police Officers.

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

Mr Egbetokun said the training was designed to equip state coordinators and DPOs nationwide with comprehensive knowledge and strategies on national plans for the safe school initiative.

According to him, it aims to craft a definitive strategy for collaboration between the police and other vital stakeholders to ensure a more protected learning environment for school children.

He said the inauguration of the equipment was to optimise the human and material resources of the 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 unwelcomed 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 police chief urged the participants to embrace the training with utmost seriousness, adding that the knowledge and skills to be acquired would directly impact the quality of services to be rendered.

Halima Iliya, the national coordinator of the Financing Safe Schools Secretariat, said though the Nigerian educational system has always been in deep crisis, the kidnapping of school children represented a major extensional threat to the system.

She said the crisis had contributed to Nigeria’s huge population of out-of-school children.

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

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

(NAN)