From Uche Usim, Abuja

The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, is currently talking with states and relevant stakeholders to work out sustainable means of financing the Safe School Programme.

To this end, she will be hosting a meeting tagged; ‘Financing Safe Schools: Creating safe learning communities on Tuesday’, with a view to deepening education and creating safe learning communities across the country.

At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, international projections estimated that children missing out on five months of education would collectively result in $10 trillion in lost future incomes. 

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The Minister noted that a number of critical issues need to be addressed in comprehensive strategies to facilitate sustained safe schools, safe education and a sustained future for Nigeria’s next generation.

The dialogue will bring together state governors, the Nigerian Governors Forum, National Economic Council, National Assembly members, National Security Adviser and Security Chiefs, Ministry of Education, multilateral institutions, donors, civil society and private sector representatives, including Nigerian Economic Summit group (NESG); to address the urgent issues which are stopping the safe education of children.

Among others, the dialogue aims to re-engage senior policy makers including State Governors, National Security Advisers, the Ministry of Education and others to take a stand, acknowledge the emergency and commit to taking actions to reverse the current trend in numbers of out of school children. The meeting demands that stakeholders, especially security agencies and human rights organisations, develop cross-sectoral strategies to implement the Safe Schools Declaration.