NCYP Faults Safe Schools Initiative, Says Recent Attacks Expose Security Gaps
The Northern Christian Youth Professionals (NCYP) has criticised the Safe Schools Initiative (SSI) over what it described as “weak visibility and poor impact” despite more than $20 million reportedly raised to secure schools.
The group expressed its concerns in a statement issued on Friday and signed by its Chairman, Isaac Abrak.
The NCYP said recent attacks on schools in northern Nigeria had reignited doubts about the SSI’s ability to protect vulnerable communities.
“The Northern Christian Youth Professionals (NCYP) expresses concern over the renewed wave of attacks on schools across northern Nigeria, resulting in tragic killings and mass abductions of innocent students. $20m raised, schools still under attack. These heartbreaking incidents call into question the effectiveness and visibility of the Safe Schools Initiative (SSI) and its partnership with the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC),” the statement partly read.
The group recalled that after the 2024 abduction of more than 200 students from Government Primary and Secondary School, Kuriga, Kaduna State, it urged President Bola Tinubu to recruit forest-side community members into the Forest Guard to protect schools.
It noted that the SSI later announced a partnership with the NSCDC, a move the NCYP accepted but considered different from its initial proposal.
However, the group said the continued attacks raised urgent questions.
“What role did the Safe Schools Initiative–NSCDC partnership play in protecting the schools that were attacked?” the association asked.
NCYP highlighted concerns over the management of funds donated to the SSI since its creation after the 2014 Chibok abduction.
