Jonathan meets Brown, Shettima, Geidam on Safe Schools Initiative
President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday met with the former UK Prime Minister, Gordon Brown; Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno and Governor Ibrahim Geidam of Yobe State on efforts being made to make schools, especially in troubled parts of the country, safe for students.
The Safe Schools Initiative came into being after the abduction of over 200 schoolgirls in Chibok, Borno State by members of the Boko Haram sect.
Briefing State House correspondents at the end of the closed-door session, Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said Jonathan had directed her to open a trust fund with N1.6bn for the programme.
She added that while the private sector will add N1.6bn to the fund, Brown would raise some resources and the governors will also put in commitments.
She said government’s intention was to ensure that school environments are safe for students.
She said, “We met with the President who has kicked off the Safe Schools initiative and Brown former UK’s Prime minister is here, the envoy of the Secretary-General of the United Nations bringing the wishes and support of the intentional community to back Mr. President’s initiative.
“We have got their excellencies the governors of Borno and Yobe States and we will be joined by the governor of Adamawa State tomorrow, who are going to be working with us to make the communities safe and the schools safer so that our children who are in these areas can come back to school.
“And Mr. President has kicked off this initiative by opening and instructing that I open a trust fund which we have already put N1.6bn. The private sector is also putting N1.6bn.
“His Excellency, Gordon Brown is going to be raising some resources and the governors are also putting in commitment. We are intent on trying to make sure that our children in the states have an environments which they can come back to school and not have their education truncated.”
Brown said the international community would support Jonathan in his government’s efforts aimed at rescuing the kidnapped Chibok girls.
He added that the initiative was meant to make schools safer so that parents would easily release their children to learn.
Part of the efforts, he explained, is to rebuild the Chibok school where the girls were abducted.
She said, “Every child is special, precious and unique. I have come here with the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon giving me his support to do so, to send our sympathies and our solidarity and our support to the children of Chibok who have been crudely kidnapped and abducted and to give our support to the families of these girls and to the whole communities in Borno State.
“And 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 they will be safe in future.
“That is why we are launching the Safe Schools Initiative and that is why the President has decided to set up this fund that will allow the international community as well as local donors to contribute to making our schools in this country safer.
“This is a programme for the whole country, but it is starting in the states which have the greatest problem with terrorism over recent months. It is our determination as an international community to help the families feel secure about their boys and girls going to school with the hope that they will be safe.
“That is why we are looking at security for the schools and how we can help the governors and how we can help the Nigerian people with fortifications, telecommunications, guards, safety equipments that will enable people feel more secured about the schools.
“We also want to help in the rebuilding of Chibok schools because we want parents of that area to be sure that when their girls are released, they can come home to a school that is rebuilt and safe.
“And we want to help in rebuilding the schools in other areas where schools have either been demolished or burnt down or vandalised. And we want over the long run to help Nigeria which is a great country with a great future and wonderful potentials to enable it so that the ten and half million boys and girls who don’t go to school today are able to go to school.
“And I can assure you that round Europe, Asia, America and Latin America, there is massive support for Nigeria in this hour of difficulty facing terrorism and also in its ambition to be such a great country with great educational standards.”
Geidam promised that the governors in the three states where the initiative will start from would give the necessary cooperation to ensure that the programme succeeds.
Shettima welcomed the development, saying terrorism boils down to education, poverty and empowerment.
He said, “By the grace of God, we want to give you our commitment that we are going to pursue this thing with vigour, with all the resources human and materials in our disposal and please it will be completely devoid of politics.
“Times like this call for sobriety, maturity, for unity of purpose. At the appropriate time, we are going to play politics but this is not time for playing politics with the lives of people.”
Source: PUNCH