Showing posts with label Safe School Initiative. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Safe School Initiative. Show all posts

Friday 4 July 2014

Boko Haram: Nigerian Government Has Adopted Three-Pronged Approach to Tackle Sect - Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

The Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has said that the federal government has adopted a three-pronged approach to ensure the safety and security of lives and property particularly in the North-east states where Boko Haram attacks have been prevalent.

Making this known in London when she briefed the British parliament on the Safe Schools Initiative, the minister said: “We are taking a three-pronged approach to dealing with the various dimensions of crisis, and this includes security, political and economic solutions.

“On the security front, our military men and women are confronting an unprecedented challenge that they were not really trained to confront and so we thank them for their courage and bravery. The President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, has increased the number of troops that are in the North-east from 15,000 to 20,000.

“Regional cooperation on security has gotten better following a decision by neighbouring countries: Chad, Cameroun, Benin, and Niger, to each contribute a battalion of soldiers, to fight Boko Haram alongside Nigeria.

“President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has accepted offers from the international community for more surveillance, aircraft cover, and equipment that enhances our ability to locate, fight and root out insurgents.”

These efforts, she assured the UK parliament, were beginning to make a difference, intimating them that Nigeria’s security forces busted a Boko Haram intelligence unit only two days ago.

“More of these counter-insurgency actions will be forthcoming. We are prepared to do whatever is necessary today, tomorrow and in the future to secure the country,” she added.

“On the political front, we are working with state governments, traditional and religious leaders within the most affected regions of the country, to encourage dialogue with the sect.

“The president set up a Dialogue Committee that is working behind the scenes and also a fact finding committee on the Chibok girls in particular.

“And finally on the economic front, given some linkages between the insurgency and high youth unemployment, we are trying various schemes to assist the youth in the region where possible.

“Using monies from our Subsidy Reinvestment Programme (SURE-P), we are implementing a Community Services Scheme that engages the youth in public works (we have so far recruited 11,500 youth into this programme – 4000 in Borno, 3500 in Adamawa and 4000 in Yobe State).

“We also have YouWin, which is supporting hundreds of young entrepreneurs with grants so they can start up a business or expand existing ones to create jobs for their fellow youth.

“Over the longer term, the government will vigorously pursue economic empowerment in the region through a Presidential Initiative for the North East (PINE) which is currently being developed,” the minister said.

She, however, told the British legislators that the president had instructed her to work with the international community, led by former British Prime Minister and UN Special Envoy for Global Education, Gordon Brown, and the Nigerian business community, led by the Chairman of the Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, and President of the Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN) and Chairman/Editor-in-Chief of THISDAY Newspapers, Mr. Nduka Obaigbena, in an initiative to make our schools safer.

“Every child is special, every child precious, every child unique. While we will never give up on the effort to locate the Chibok girls, we must also assure parents, pupils and teachers that schools are safe. Children and teachers must be again free to go to school unharmed and unafraid.

“So the Safe Schools Initiative is designed as a nationwide intervention programmes that will prioritise schools in states under emergency rule like Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe.
“To this effect, the Nigerian private sector has set aside US$10 million for this initiative and the Nigerian government has immediately matched that with another US$10 million.

“We are aiming for a fund of US$100 million and we have received indications of support from the World Bank, the African Development Bank, DFID, and the Norwegian and German Governments towards the initiative,” she stated.

Okonjo-Iweala stressed that schools must never be instruments of war, nor battlefields for terror campaigns, noting: “While we do not aim to turn our schools into fortresses, the Safe Schools Initiative will rely on needs assessments to deploy measures that will either upgrade existing security systems in schools or put in place new systems where they currently do not exist.

“These measures could range from the basic, such as perimeter fences, toilet facilities for girls, use of fire retardant materials in reconstructing schools, housing for teachers, community policing and school guards, to more sophisticated measures like alarm systems, communication equipment, and solar power panels to ensure schools are well lit,
"Whatever needs to be done to make all our schools safer and more secure we will consider. We will work with state governors, community leaders, teachers and parents to achieve the objectives of this initiative.”

She thanked the former British prime minister for his support in setting up the Safe Schools Initiative, and for his leadership of the international community on education for children, and indeed his efforts to get all of Nigeria’s 10.6 million “out of school” children, into schools.

She informed the parliament that the Safe Schools Initiative is just one of a three-part effort the federal government recently launched to deal with the crisis in the short term.

The other two, she said, are the Emergency Relief Initiative that will step up support by our National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to over 3 million displaced persons and communities through the provision of emergency accommodation, food, basic healthcare and other relief items as needed; and the Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Initiative, that will help rebuild public infrastructure that have been destroyed by the insurgents.

Courtesy:
ThisDay Newspaper

Wednesday 18 June 2014

#BringBackOurGirls: Gordon Brown, President Jonathan Meet As Nigerian Government Flags Off 'Safe School Initiative'

The Nigerian government’s 'Safe School Initiative' has received a boost of N3.2 billion.

The sum is made of two parts of N1.6 billion released by the federal government and another N1.6 billion donated by the private sector.

Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala made the disclosure on Tuesday after a meeting of stakeholders of the initiative with President Jonathan in Abuja.

The Safe School Initiative is expected to accommodate children displaced from their schools due to the present insurgency rocking the country. The over 200 girls who were kidnapped in Chibok two months ago are to benefit from these funds.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said, “We are intent on trying to make sure that our children in the states have an environment in which they can come back to school and not have their education truncated.”

Special Envoy to the UN Secretary General for Global Education, Gordon Brown said the reconstruction of the secondary school in Chibok is paramount to the United Nations.

“I am here to say that we wish as an international community to do everything we can to back up the efforts of President Goodluck Jonathan and the governors of the states to make sure these girls are returned to their families and at the same time to make sure, that every parent feels that they can send their children to school knowing that they will be safe in the future.”

Yobe and Borno governors said they are committed to making the initiative a huge success.

Ibrahim Geidam, Yobe state governor, said, “I promise to give him all the necessary cooperation to ensure that the programme succeeds.”

Kashim Shettima, Borno state governor, said, “Times like this calls for sobriety, for maturity, for unity of purpose. At the appropriate time we are going to play politics, but this is not time to play politics with the lives of the people.”

The federal government and the international community are bent on encouraging displaced students back to school.

Africa Independent Television