How to keep Nigeria’s schoolchildren safe

Before the next school term begins in mid-January, there is an urgent need to upgrade vulnerable schools’ security infrastructure by erecting more perimeter fencing, installing surveillance equipment, and identifying secure entry points and emergency exits.

Hundreds of Nigerian children remain in captivity or unaccounted for after being abducted from their schools in November. Even the recent rescue of 100 students has done little to restore confidence. In many areas of northern and central Nigeria, school attendance has plummeted – either because schools are closed or because parents are keeping their children at home.

This should come as no surprise: Unicef’s Minimum Standards for Safe Schools Monitoring Report, released in 2024, found that only 17% of monitored schools across ten Nigerian states were implementing at least 70% of the basic standards.

This situation must be remedied before the next school term begins in mid-January. To that end, a series of school-safety proposals has been presented to the Nigerian government and international funders. These were prepared by Unicef’s on-the-ground team, business leaders who helped finance the last Safe Schools Initiative, and local and national administrators.

Nigeria’s education system struggles with low enrollment, but the problem is particularly acute in the states where abductions are most common. According to the 2023 MICS-EAGLE Nigeria Education Fact Sheets, 67% of girls and 62% of boys in Kebbi – where 25 students were recently kidnapped – are not enrolled in primary school, with rates remaining mostly unchanged in secondary school.

Many of the hundreds of thousands of primary-school-age children who are out of school instead receive an informal Islamic education at Tsangaya and Islamiyya schools. Only 4% of Kebbi’s three- and four-year-olds attend early childhood education, compared to 10% in Katsina, 16% in Jigawa, and 32% in Kaduna (other northern states).

Over the years, the federal and state ministries of education and the National Safe Schools Response Coordination Center have made significant efforts, with support from local and international partners, to build the capacities of communities and schools to resist not just terrorists but also gangs of bandits, who now see the ransom demanded for the return of abducted children as a moneymaker.

Security measures have included training school-based management committees and teachers in safety procedures, installing alarms and fencing, and creating telecommunication links through community-based steering committees to identify, mitigate, and develop response plans for potential threats.

But if parents are to send their children back to the classroom in the new year, there is an urgent need to upgrade vulnerable schools’ security infrastructure by erecting more perimeter fencing and boundary walls, installing cameras and other surveillance equipment, and identifying secure entry points and emergency exits. In some cases, basic provisions such as lighting and alarm systems are also required.

These changes should be complemented by the development and implementation of clearer communication protocols between schools, local authorities, and security agencies. It will also be necessary to revive the programme that trains teachers in evacuation procedures and provides guidance on how best to respond if faced with an attack.

If abductions continue, there may be a case for redirecting students enrolled in secluded or high-risk schools to safer ones. And where teaching cannot be resumed, it may be necessary to introduce online or radio lessons. Nor can we afford to underestimate the profound impact of lost classroom time on children, who may need help coping with trauma.

But the top priority is to provide strengthened security at and near schools. Unicef, in partnership with the federal and state education ministries, has proposed a US$2.6 million support programme that is currently unpublished but has been shared with relevant stakeholders.

The first action item would be to meet the psychosocial needs of the students and teachers affected by the abductions, as well as their families. The second would be to provide continuity of learning for the children suffering from school closures through the Nigeria Learning Passport, an online e-learning platform with mobile and offline capability. The third task would be to equip the education ministries with rapid assessment tools to determine a school’s safety level.

But the most immediate need is for funders to ensure that there are sufficient safeguards so that Nigerian children can safely return to school in January. With relatively limited financing, we can provide federal and state governments with the technical and logistical support needed to implement an early-warning system, create action plans for the most vulnerable schools in northern Nigeria, and distribute safe-school kits that include internet routers for high-speed communications in times of crisis.

The latest abductions remind us that far too many Nigerian students have had their schooling interrupted by terrorism. It is time to show children and parents that armed gangs will never again have the upper hand, and that school safety and security can be transformed, even in at-risk areas. Only then can every child have the chance to gain a decent, uninterrupted education. - FMT

Gordon Brown, a former prime minister of the UK, is World Health Organization ambassador for global health financing.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.