Commandant of National Defence College, Rear Admiral Oladele Daji, has called for activation of a national emergency response plan that will provide a step- by-step action guide to be taken in the event of an emergency in schools across the country.
He said this in Abuja on Thursday at the pre-conference briefing towards the 4th International Conference on Safe Schools Declaration and launch of the SSD security manuals.
He said there was also the need for comprehensive mapping of schools in order to end the scourge of kidnapping.
Daji said mapping is critical to proper assessment of all schools for a good understanding of security risk that each school is exposed to.
“The plans should also include self-defence and personal safety drills for pupils and children in our schools,” he said.
“A centralised channel of information destination among the schools, security agencies and stakeholders should be put in place. This I believe will provide schools with the prerequisite frameworks required to send out distress calls or to relay vital intelligence to law enforcement agencies.”
Minister of Defence Bashir Magashi said the education sector is the worst hit by Boko Haram insurgency since it began in 2009 in North east Nigeria.
The insurgency in the North East has caused over 3 million deaths, and displaced over one million people, now in internally displaced people camps populated by children and women.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), in its recent statistics, had said that 2,295 teachers have been killed and about 1,400 destroyed in the 12 years of insurgency in the region.
It also said over 300,000 children have been killed, while 5,129 out-of-school children are currently battling mental health challenges as a result of Boko Haram, whose ideology is against western education.
However, the minister said the military would do all within its power to ensure a peaceful learning environment.
Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, represented by the director, education support service, Giginna Ifeyinwa, said the insecurity in the North East and North West have created fears and worries among parents and children.
