Abia State Government has reaffirmed its commitment to partnering with the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) to strengthen the Safe Schools Initiative, maintaining that the protection of pupils, students and educational facilities remains a top priority.
Governor Alex Otti gave the assurance on Wednesday, when the Commander of the National Safe Schools Response Coordination Centre (NSSRCC) of the NSCDC, Abuja, Dr Umanah Aniedi, and his delegation paid him a visit, in Nvosi, Isiala Ngwa South LGA.
Governor Otti said that the state government had prioritised the safety of schools through deliberate investments in infrastructure and security.
The Governor further stated that his administration has made perimeter fencing, security gates and deployment of security personnel, minimum requirements in all rehabilitated and newly constructed public schools.
He added that collaboration with security agencies would further safeguard pupils and students across the state.
“So we are fixing virtually all the schools, but as a minimum standard, the schools must be fenced.
“In fact, the first few that they did without fencing, we had to go back to fence them properly, introduce gates, and then have security men man the gates.
“Those are minimum standards. And then we also have security men there, we have homeland security that we have empowered to ensure 24-hour protection of the schools in the state.
“All that is required now is for us to work together to ensure that our children are protected. So the government would work with the security agencies to ensure that our children are protected”, he said.
Governor Otti noted that insecurity and the increasing incidence of school abductions in parts of the country underscored the need for proactive measures to secure educational institutions.
While noting that his government had consistently allocated 20 per cent of its annual budget to education over the past three years, the governor said that the allocation covered teachers’ salaries, school renovation, curriculum improvement and students’ welfare.
On the NSCDC’s proposal for the establishment of a state command and control centre, the governor said Abia already operates an emergency response centre and would integrate the Corps into the existing system.
Earlier, in his speech, Dr. Umanah Aniedi, who is also an Assistant Commandant General of NSCDC, disclosed that 4,150 schools in Abia had been registered on the National Safe School Platform.
According to Dr Aniedi, the figure comprises 2,710 nursery and primary schools and 911 junior and senior secondary schools across public and private institutions.
He said that part of the reason for the visit was to formally present the four-year statutory work plan for the domestication and implementation of the Safe School Initiative in Abia.
Aniedi who also invited Governor Otti to visit the NSSRCC in Abuja to deepen collaboration, praised his administration’s infrastructure development, describing the quality of roads and ongoing projects as evidence of purposeful and result-oriented leadership.
“Having recently assumed office as the Commander of the National Safe School Project, I am impressed by the remarkable infrastructure transformation across your state.
“As someone from Akwa Ibom who frequently uses this route, the quality of the road is so outstanding that I nearly missed my way. This is a testimony to your focus and result-driven leadership,” he said.
Also, the State Commandant of the NSCDC, Mr Chukwuemeka Odimba, expressed confidence that the Safe Schools Initiative would achieve its objectives in the state, noting that the command had already begun engagements with tertiary institutions and designed specialised security training programmes for personnel involved in the project.
Odimba, thanked Governor Otti for providing operational vehicles, saying they would be deployed to support the initiative as well as protect critical national assets.
He added that the Command was collaborating with the Abia State Homeland Security and Fire Service to strengthen emergency preparedness and response.
Contributing, an Information and Communication Technology official of the National Safe Schools Response Coordination Centre (NSSRCC), Mr Felix Ikor, said the initiative had deployed a digital platform for nationwide school safety monitoring, with more than 169,000 schools already registered in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Education.
He explained that the platform evaluates schools using key security indicators, including perimeter fencing, surveillance systems, access control, emergency facilities and vulnerability levels, enabling rapid emergency response.
Ikor added that Abia ranks among the states with high school registration on the platform and disclosed plans to establish a command and control centre and a dedicated emergency response corps to strengthen school safety across the state’s 17 local government areas.
In his remarks earlier, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Security, Navy Comdr MacDonald Ubah (Rtd), said the recent establishment of the state’s emergency call centre had enhanced security response and would complement the Safe Schools Initiative.
He described the visit of the National Safe Schools project team as a significant boost to Abia’s school security architecture, particularly in view of the growing threat of insecurity and school-related kidnappings in parts of the country.
