$30m School Safety project : Senate questions finance, education, defence ministers

Senate

The Senate on Wednesday intensified its probe into the collapse of the Safe School Initiative by summoning key government officials to explain why the $30m scheme failed to protect Nigerian schoolchildren from relentless attacks.

Among those invited were the Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Wale Edun, the Education Minister, Tunji Alausa, and the Defence Minister, Gen Christopher Musa.

The summons was issued by the Senate ad hoc committee on the Safe School Initiative, chaired by Senator Orji Uzor Kalu (Abia North), following the adoption of its work plan during its maiden sitting.

Edun and the other officials are to appear before the committee next Tuesday.:01

Conceived in 2014 at the peak of Boko Haram’s school attacks, the Safe School Initiative was expected to fortify learning environments nationwide.

But more than a decade later, and after millions of dollars and billions of naira in funding, schools across the country remain vulnerable, with kidnapping cases surging.

Addressing journalists after the committee’s inauguration, Kalu said the Senate was determined to uncover why the initiative collapsed despite substantial domestic and international backing. Punch