FG Committed To Eradicate Attacks On Schools -Ojo

The present administration under the leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has placed a high premium on eradication of all forms of attacks on schools in the country.

Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo stated this at the graduation ceremony of the Safe Schools Response Coordination Course One, held at Karu in the Federal Capital Territory.

Dr Olubumi Tunji-Ojo commended the NSSRCC for playing the response coordination role and urged all stakeholders to consider school protection as an all-responsibility affair and not the government alone.

He also applauded the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) as a host agency of the NSSRCC for developing more strategies for preventing school attacks.

The Minister who was the special guest of honour at the occasion stressed that the protection of schools is a task which must be carried out by all and commended the Defence Intelligence College and Ministry of Defence for the collaboration in the training of the participants.

The Commandant General of NSCDC, Dr Ahmed Abubakar Audi, informed the audience that the centre which is a product of the vulnerability survey carried out in 2021 by the Corps under his administration is saddled with the responsibility of coordinating safety and security responses against violence on schools and host communities.

He maintained that so far, the centre has through collaboration, thwarted no fewer than 48 planned attacks on schools stating that the Corps remains resolute in the discharge of its mandate of protection of critical national assets and infrastructure.

The CG charged NSCDC and other participants to go back to their formations and put their experiences into practice as he also urged them to cascade the training to their colleagues for maximum results.

Earlier in an address, Commandant of the Defence Intelligence College, Rear Admiral Julius Nwagu admonished the 238 participants who are members of Course One in the year 2024 to be good ambassadors of the college, the Corps and Nigeria.

Some areas the participants were exposed to during the week-long training according to the Commandant include surveillance, intelligence circuits and military drills amongst others.

Part of the objective of the Programme include developing critical forensic and psychological competencies and skills to support safer learning environments, strengthening the capacity of security agencies for joint operations and building the capacities of security agencies on emergency preparedness in response to issues of attacks and violence around Nigerian schools.

The rest are to strengthen the capacity of vigilante groups, retired officers and host community members, build capacities of the communities to better understand the human dimension of security, build resilience against attacks or Violence and strengthen schools and communities against violent criminals and related attacks.

By Nkiru Njemanze, Edited By Grace Namiji