Nigeria’s N144bn safe school plan fails to calm security fears as pupils return
42,000 primary, secondary schools remain unfenced
758 students, teachers kidnapped between May 2023 and June 2026
The resumption comes after two of the deadliest academic years for schools in recent memory, marked by mass abductions, attacks on school facilities, and the killing of students and teachers in several states.
Despite billions spent on the federal government’s Safe Schools Initiative (SSI), a Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) audit revealed that 78 per cent of public schools lack perimeter fencing and 65 per cent operate without security guards, leaving the majority of the country’s classrooms exposed as soft targets for mass abductions.
The Federal government itself admitted that the SSI, born after the Chibok abduction in 2014, has consumed billions, yet schools remain soft targets.
The government promises access, learning and human capital development with the initiative, supported by a National Plan on Financing Safe Schools for 2023 to 2026. But insecurity has continuously made attending school dangerous in parts of the country.
The plan projected an investment of about N144.8 billion, including N119.83 billion from the Federal Government and N224.93 billion from states
Yearly allocations were projected at N32.59 billion in 2023, N36.99 billion in 2024, N37.16 billion in 2025 and N38.03 billion in 2026, while actual capital releases fell significantly short of targets.
In 2024, the Federal Government’s direct appropriation for Safe Schools dropped by 67.8 per cent (from roughly N30.7 billion to N5.01 billion), resulting in a single-year funding shortfall of N25.7 billion.
Of the 36 states expected to contribute 17 per cent (N24.93 billion) of the total plan and establish localised Safe School Coordination Centres, less than 10 states have fully operationalised their counterpart structures or disbursed matching funds.
In 2023, the government released N15 billion, allocated as follows: Nigeria Police Force, N6.2 billion; National Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), N3.3 billion; Defence Headquarters, N2.2 billion; and the Federal Ministry of Education, a smaller share.
The National Coordinator of Financing Safe Schools, Halima Iliya, told the Senate that the scheme had no budget for 2024 and 2025, explaining that her request to include it in the 2024 fiscal year was submitted to President Bola Tinubu too late. Zero budget allocation in 2024 and 2025, and funding is needed to carry out activities.
The Senate committee that probed the funding on December 10, 2025, scrutinised the N15 billion, asking why police took the largest share and why outcomes are invisible.
The government has registered about 200,000 schools under the project, launched school-based interventions, community protection efforts, and special measures for high-risk areas, and called on governors to domesticate the Safe School Transition Plan.
The National Plan promised perimeter fencing, closed-circuit television (CCTV), early warning systems, and deployment of 24-hour armed NSCDC and police to high-risk schools. On the ground, parents in Zamfara, Kaduna, Katsina and Niger said they saw no fence, guards, or lights.
The government’s own budget tells the story. According to the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) report, education’s allocation grew from N2.36 trillion in 2024 to N2.59 trillion in 2025, a 9.8 per cent increase, yet capital expenditure dropped from N1.15 trillion to N938.58 billion, reflecting an 18.1 per cent decline. So, recurrent expenditure swallows capital, and classrooms remain dilapidated.
As the new academic session begins, parents and guardians are concerned about whether the journey to school, to the classroom, and back home can be made safely.
Between May 2023 and June 2026, 758 students, teachers and school staff were held hostage in mass school-related attacks.
