By Joshua Elekwachi, Abuja
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed has revealed that Nigeria at the moment sits on the brink of a socio-economic disaster and a full education crisis.
She stated that the federal government has brought to the fore financing critical sectors to a successful implementation of any proposed interventions.
In her remarks at “High Level Dialogue: Financing Safe Schools: Creating Safe Learning Communities” on Tuesday in Abuja, the Minister, said that the country might face a dire calamity if government does not act in a coordinated manner to stop the current wave of systematic attacks on the fundamental rights of the children.
According to her, “considering an urgent call to renew and reimagine, our commitment to Safe Schools in Nigeria, today’s dialogue recognises the need for decisive action and for a coordinated approach to the financing and implementation of an integrated safe schools programme across the country, which is government-led and is tailored to the current realities on ground.”
She explained further that, “Nigerians are looking to the government, institutions and well-meaning Nigerians to lead the way, and we must heed the call to action, and we must all work together to realise the promise of safe school environments.”
She stated that the programme is aimed at initiating a process towards renewing and reimagining the commitment to maintaining learning environments that are safe, secure and that protect the dignity of the children, teachers, and school administrators.
Accordig to her, “We in government recognise that to make the critical investments necessary to sustainably secure our schools and ensure a holistic and community-centered approach to safe schools programmes, we must address the longstanding challenge of domestic revenue mobilisation.
“This process is already ongoing through the implementation of fiscal reforms, including Finance Acts 2019 and 2020.”
She noted that the event was an opportunity for Nigerians to come together to renew and re-imagine the country’s commitment to ensuring safe schools for the children.
“This process must be government-led, it must be strategic, and it must result in a multi-stakeholder framework and plan of action that ensures that any planning we do today is sustainably financed.
“While much progress has been made through the safe schools initiatives (SSI) and other programmes, (which many of your organisations are supporting), we have a long way to go, and there is need to reimagine, institutionalise, and scale our safe schools programmes. Even before the pandemic, Nigeria accounted for approximately 20 per cent of the global out-of-school population.”
Expressing how alarming the incident of kidnapping school children has become, she lamented that with an estimated 13 million children currently out of school in the country, parents are increasingly more nervous about sending their children, and particularly their young girls to school, with some choosing to withdraw existing students.
She noted further that COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting economic crisis have posed unprecedented challenges globally and in Nigeria.
She added that, “While the country has been proactive in its response to the pandemic, and has established and are implementing the Economic Sustainability Plan (ESP) and other interventions (including the scaling up of social safety net programmes, and increased investments in health and education), the pandemic has deepened insecurity across the country and resulted in an alarming spate of school attacks and mass kidnappings.
“These actions are a direct attack on our children’s fundamental human rights to ‘an education without fear of violence or attack,’ as described in the Safe Schools Declaration, to which Nigeria is a signatory. In fact, we were among the first 37 United Nations (UN) Member States to endorse the Declaration.”