The Senate has intensified its investigation into the collapse of the Safe School Initiative, summoning Finance Minister Wale Edun, Education Minister Tunji Alausa, and Defence Minister Lt-Gen Christopher Musa (retd.) to explain why the $30 million programme failed to protect Nigerian schoolchildren from persistent attacks.
The summons was issued Wednesday by the Senate Ad-hoc Committee on the Safe School Initiative, chaired by Senator Orji Uzor Kalu (Abia North), following the adoption of its work plan at its inaugural sitting. The ministers are expected to appear before the committee next Tuesday.
Launched in 2014 at the height of Boko Haram’s assaults on schools, the initiative was designed to secure learning environments nationwide. More than a decade later, despite millions of dollars and billions of naira in funding, schools remain vulnerable, with abductions and attacks surging.
Speaking after the committee’s inauguration, Kalu said the Senate was determined to uncover why the programme collapsed despite substantial domestic and international support. “It is unacceptable that our schools remain soft targets for terrorists and kidnappers,” he declared, noting that over 1,680 schoolchildren have been kidnapped and 180 schools attacked since 2014.
Kalu vowed to trace all funds allocated to the initiative, including the $30 million mobilised between 2014 and 2021 and the N144 billion recently released by the federal government. “Nigerians deserve to know why, despite enormous investment and global support, our schools remain unsafe,” he said, adding that the committee would conduct a comprehensive financial and operational audit involving ministries, state governments, security agencies, and civil society partners.
He stressed that the probe was not a witch-hunt but an effort to restore accountability and rebuild public confidence. “The committee owes Nigerian parents the responsibility to guarantee that their children can pursue education without fear,” Kalu noted.
The Senate will examine how funds have been utilised since 2014, assess security deployments, review early-warning and emergency-response systems, evaluate infrastructure upgrades in vulnerable schools, and scrutinise partnerships with international donors and private-sector contributors.
Beyond ministers and security chiefs, school proprietors and other stakeholders are also expected to testify.
The renewed legislative scrutiny follows public outrage after the recent abduction of 25 female students from Government Girls’ Comprehensive Secondary School, Maga, in Kebbi State, and the kidnapping of more than 200 pupils from St Mary Catholic School in Niger State. Both incidents have reignited concerns over why, ten years after its launch, the Safe School Initiative has failed to deliver on its promise of ensuring Nigerian children can learn without fear of abduction or violence.
