Health
IG assures parents of children’s safety
Solomon Odeniyi
The Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Disu, has assured parents that their children are safe in schools across the country.
Disu gave the assurance during the flag-off of the Police Community Relations Committee’s Safe School Initiative in Abuja on Thursday.
The committee also mobilised 10,000 volunteers and commenced the deployment of CCTV cameras to schools across the country.
Representing the IG at the ceremony, the Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Anietie Iniedu, said the police had taken responsibility for strengthening security around schools nationwide.
He said the Force had also developed internal warning and response mechanisms to enable schools to quickly alert security authorities to emerging threats.
Disu said, “I want to assure parents that our children are safe. The Nigeria Police Force has taken responsibility for strengthening the security of schools across the country. We have developed internal warning and response mechanisms to enable schools to quickly alert security authorities to emerging threats. ”
He said the programme was particularly important against the backdrop of the increasing targeting of soft targets, including schools and places of worship, by criminal and terrorist elements.
Speaking on the initiative, the PCRC National Chairman, Ibraheem Olaniyan, said the programme was a practical demonstration of community policing under Disu.
Olaniyan said the IGP had directed the committee to move beyond supporting police formations and become more actively involved in securing communities.
“He directed us to go out. You are in charge of your community. You represent the villages and communities. Together, we want to partner with him to say: never again in this country should there be an attack on our teachers and our schools,” he said.
He disclosed that the PCRC would deploy 10,000 volunteers across the country under the programme, working with the police, community leaders, vigilante groups and other stakeholders.
The PCRC chairman said the initiative would focus particularly on schools in rural and remote communities, which he described as potentially vulnerable to attacks by criminal elements.
Olaniyan also disclosed that the committee had commenced the deployment of CCTV surveillance cameras, with the national body providing three cameras to support the programme in the Federal Capital Territory.
He added that the FCT PCRC would provide three additional cameras, with the objective of expanding surveillance coverage to schools across the six area councils of the territory before extending the model nationwide.
He appealed to individuals and organisations to support the initiative through the provision of CCTV cameras and other resources required to enhance surveillance around schools.
According to him, the cameras would enable security authorities to monitor activities around schools, including when the facilities were not occupied, and facilitate the early detection of suspicious movements.
Olaniyan said the programme would also prioritise the protection of teachers, while efforts would be made to address social vices among young people through sustained engagement with pupils and students.
He said the PCRC would establish stronger links between schools and former students who had become professionals, including lawyers and judges, to serve as mentors and role models for pupils.
He added that the committee had commenced engagements with community leaders, vigilante groups and other stakeholders ahead of the resumption of schools.
“We are not working in isolation. We are engaging community leaders, vigilantes and other stakeholders. If you see something, say something,” Olaniyan said.
He said the Safe School Programme had come to stay and would remain a priority of the PCRC in partnership with the Nigeria Police Force.
The police had earlier raised concerns over possible attacks on schools and other vulnerable locations following intelligence on the movement of armed elements from Katsina through Kaduna towards Plateau State.
In a security alert circulated to police formations nationwide, the Force said intelligence available to the Department of Operations indicated an “increased mobilisation of terrorist elements for possible coordinated attacks” on places of worship, schools, NYSC orientation camps and other vulnerable locations.
The police also said suspected Islamic State West Africa Province operatives and their local collaborators were conducting surveillance and reconnaissance of potential targets, with the planned attacks possibly coinciding with the resumption of the 2026/2027 academic session.
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