Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
• 2,400 students to enjoy scholarships in unity schools
Ndubuisi Francis
The first component of the Safe Schools Initiative, a nationwide intervention programme designed to make the school environment safe for children and their teachers, is set to take off with the transfer of 2,400 students from Yobe, Borno and Adamawa States to about 42 unity schools across the country, on full scholarships.
The three North-east states currently under emergency rule are the worst hit by activities of Boko Haram, which has waged a bloody war against some states in the northern part of the country.
Briefing journalists after a meeting of the steering committee of the Safe Schools Initiative in Abuja yesterday, the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said for the first year, the programme, which is purely voluntary, would gulp about N435 million.
At the briefing were stakeholders in the implementation of the initiative, comprising the donor community, federal and state governments and agencies, the army, as well as the private sector, including the Chairman/Editor-in-Chief of THISDAY Newspapers and Arise Television Network, Mr. Nduka Obaigbena.
Also at the briefing were the Minister of Women Affairs, Hajiya Zainab Maina; representatives of USAID, DFID, UNICEF; African Development Bank (ADB); German Embassy; the Deputy Governor of Borno State, Alhaji Umar Zanna Mustapha; and representatives of Adamawa and Yobe States.
“The people you see around are stakeholders in the implementation of the Safe Schools Initiative of the federal government. They comprise the private sector, both Mr. Obaigbena and members of the donor community, who are present here.
“You see them around from the German Embassy, US Embassy, the UN family (UNICEF), they are all here. We also have other donors who are not here. We also got on the ground key state stakeholders here. The Deputy Governor of Borno State and representatives of Adamawa and Yobe as well,” the minister said.
She said the stakeholders were ready to start the implementation of the first component of the Safe Schools Initiative with the active support of President Goodluck Jonathan, adding that the component involved the transfer of students from the three states under emergency rule – Borno, Yobe and Adamawa.
According to her, the transfer of students desirous of pursuing their education in other parts of the country was purely voluntary.
“Parents who have said they will want their children from JSS1 and above to SS3 to go to unity schools in other parts of the country in the north and elsewhere have made themselves known and we have identified 800 students per state with a total of 2,400 students. And their parents have indicated interest and participated in choosing the schools they want their children to go.
“This initiative is going to support the commencement of the studies of those children in those schools. There are about 42 schools or so to receive them and the principals, and everybody has been sensitised and they are going to commence the launch of this immediately.
“They will go on full scholarship, and all their needs will be provided. Their parents will also be able to see them. We have provided stipends for this. They can see them once a month or so; the children can also come back at very critical holidays.
“We are working closely with the states in order to have this in a very organised manner. They will receive support and counselling before they go and when they are in the school,” Okonjo-Iweala added.
She stated that additional teachers might be needed in the schools, adding that provisions would be made to accommodate this.
In this regard, the schools the students are going to will also receive the necessary support to be able to absorb them, she said.
“We are very grateful to the Federal Ministry of Education for helping us make these things work. For the 2,400 students, the initial cost in the first year will be about N435 million and we are going to determine every year what it will take to fund these students until they finish school,” the minister added.
On other components of the Safe Schools Initiative, the minister said students who are displaced have not been neglected, adding: “We are going to work with them. We have identified pilot schools in the areas where they are; where security is fairly strong where we are going to upgrade and enhance the schools there.”
The minister also stated that the initiative is meant to cater to internally displaced persons (IDPs) by ensuring that they have food and medical supplies.
“You know we have more and more IDPs streaming into the camps; we cater for their needs first through NEMA (National Emergency Management Agency) and State Emergency Management Agencies (SEMAs) and through UNICEF, and then follow it up with the children in the camps to make sure that once they are there, they will be able to go to school,” she said.
On children in the communities, the minister assured the audience that the initiative would provide temporary facilities to make sure they no longer stay at home.
A representative of a civil society organisation, Society for the Protection of Women Against Abuse, Ngozi Nwankwo, said the students in the unity schools where the 2,400 students would be going were already being sensitised on psycho-social support to prevent stigmatisation.
“We are starting psycho-social support for the students they are going to meet. We have actually done part of the job and the students are very receptive. The principals and the teachers have also been sensitised and they know what to expect.
“So we expect the best for these children. What we are setting out to achieve is to use the negative experience they have had to an advantageous one.
“One of them who had received psychosocial support is actually in the US and is looking forward to the future and coming back to help Nigeria. At the end of the day, we want to achieve good results for what was a negative experience,” Nwankwo said.
Also, the UNICEF country representative, Jean Gough, said the organisation was supporting the communities and those in the IDP camps with psycho-social support.
Meanwhile, a representative of the Adamawa State Government at the briefing said the state capital, Yola, was safe and not under any form of threat from the insurgents.
He said the only problem in the state capital was the fleeing of hundreds of IDPs from communities under Boko Haram occupation, adding that such people ended up in Yola.
The Safe Schools Initiative is the brainchild of the UN Special Envoy for Global Education and former British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, Obaigbena and other Nigerian business leaders.
No fewer than 500 schools located in the troubled North-east region would benefit from the initiative, which is meant to ensure the safety of schools within the region.
Nigerian business leaders had put down $10 million, followed by another $10 million by the federal government.
The ADB is supporting the initiative with a $1 million grant; DFID has committed 1 million pounds in technical assistance; the World Bank, $3 million; and the US, $15 million.
The Norwegian government has already disbursed $1.5 million to UNICEF in support of the initiative while the German government is processing a grant of 2 million euros for the initiative.
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