Rising abductions fuel need for security gadgets to ensure safe schools punchng.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from punchng.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
· Demands audit of $30m Safe School Initiative
Gboyega Akinsanmi
No fewer than 939 students have been kidnapped from different secondary schools and tertiary institutions across the federation between December 2020 and May 2021, a new survey that tracks kidnapping incidents in schools has revealed.
With the rising incidents of students’ abduction, Global Rights, a Washington-based human rights organisation, asked the federal government to audit the Safe School Initiative, a $30 million project initiated under the Goodluck Jonathan administration to protect schools nationwide.
The organisation yesterday released the report of its study to THISDAY, graphically showing the trajectory of mass abduction that occurred in secondary schools and tertiary institutions from December 2020 and May 2021.
As Nigeria joins the rest of the world to celebrate children, stakeholders have appealed to government to address issues of insecurity in the north and bridge learning gaps among school children in the zone.
She said that the USAID had invested about 122 million dollars in different activities including primary healthcare, immunisation, education, agriculture and empowerment programmes since 2015. The ambassador explained that possibilities of streamlining supports to channel on specific crops or items per section are been considered in order to boost peculiar production to international standards. According to her, expert were engaged in the promotion of varieties of agricultural value chains toward enhancing food sufficiency, employment and others. Leonard noted that USAID future interactions would aim at improving agriculturalists’ capacity towards engaging the right agricultural practices for growth and enhanced food production. She added that the Safe Schools Initiative and other educational support were given priority.
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Adeniyi Olugbemi, Sokoto
Adeniyi Olugbemi, Sokoto
Published 20 May 2021
Plans are in place by the American government to supply drones to Nigeria as part of her commitment to overcome security challenges in the country.
The American ambassador to Nigeria, Mary Beth Leonard, stated this in Sokoto at a round table discussion with selected newsmen in the state.
She said the drones would help Nigeria to end the activities of bandits, kidnappers, and Boko Haram in the country.
The American ambassador said, “insecurity has shortchanged the development of the country in many areas of human endeavour.
“America is concern about the security situation of the country.”