The ₦144.86 billion Safe Schools programme has come under fierce political attack as former Vice President and African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, challenged President Bola Tinubu to explain why terrorists and bandits are still deciding whether Nigerian children go to school despite billions of naira committed to protecting educational institutions.
Atiku described reports that schools across about 40 local government areas have been forced to close because of insecurity as a damning indictment of the administration, asking a blunt question: where is the Safe Schools money when the schools it was meant to protect are being shut down?
In a statement issued Tuesday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku demanded a full account of the National Plan on Financing Safe Schools for 2023–2026, including funds released, beneficiaries, schools covered, infrastructure delivered and measurable results.
“Budgeting money is not the same thing as securing schools. Announcing programmes is not the same thing as protecting children. The true measure of a Safe Schools programme is whether our children can actually go to school safely. By that elementary test, the present approach is failing.”
Atiku said the situation was particularly disturbing because Nigeria was already battling a severe out-of-school crisis, warning that insecurity was now driving even more children away from classrooms.
The former Vice President said the continued abduction of schoolchildren had exposed a deeper failure of government authority.
He cited reports that 36 students and a staff member of Government Day Secondary School, Lassa, in Askira/Uba Local Government Area of Borno State, were abducted during examinations in late June, while 42 pupils reportedly remain missing following the May 15 attack in Mussa.
Atiku said the figures should not be treated as mere statistics.
“When terrorists can decide whether Nigerian children go to school, they are exercising authority that belongs to the Nigerian state. That is not merely an education crisis. It is a surrender of state authority.”
He challenged Tinubu to explain why terrorists allegedly known to security agencies remain capable of operating freely and holding children captive.
“Nigerians do not need another assurance that the government knows where the terrorists are. They want to know why the terrorists are still there — and why our children are still with them.”
Atiku urged the President to deploy security forces to the forests and other locations where terrorists and kidnappers are believed to operate, rescue the abducted children and bring their captors to justice.
Atiku said the government must publish a comprehensive breakdown of the ₦144.86 billion Safe Schools programme, including how much has actually been mobilised and released, who received the funds, which schools benefited and what security infrastructure was provided.
But he warned that an audit alone would not solve what he described as the fundamental weakness of the programme.
“What Nigeria requires is a completely different security philosophy. Under my administration, school security will not be treated as another Abuja contract-awarding programme.”
He proposed a decentralised, intelligence-led security model built around vulnerable communities and schools.
Under his proposed system, he said, communities would be integrated into national intelligence gathering, while schools in high-risk areas would have early-warning mechanisms, rapid-response arrangements and clearly defined emergency security plans.
“Local communities know their terrain. They know when unfamiliar people enter their communities and often see the warning signs before Abuja does.”
He said such local intelligence would be connected to security agencies so that threats could be detected and neutralised before attacks occur.
Atiku warned that the consequences of allowing terrorists to empty classrooms would extend beyond education.
“Every school that closes creates another opening for poverty, child labour, early marriage, exploitation and radicalisation.”
According to him, protecting schools must therefore be treated as part of Nigeria’s counter-terrorism strategy because children excluded from education become more vulnerable to criminal and extremist recruitment.
He said it was indefensible for government to spend billions on school security while armed groups continued to determine whether children could attend classes.
“Safe Schools will be measured by children in classrooms, not billions in government documents.”
The ADC candidate promised that every naira spent on school security under his administration would be tied to measurable outcomes, with Nigerians able to identify the schools protected, infrastructure provided and agencies responsible for responding to threats.
He said his proposed approach would combine community intelligence, rapid response, school protection and financial accountability.
Atiku said Nigeria could not defeat poverty, unemployment and insecurity while children remained outside classrooms because of fear of abduction.
“Budgetary allocations are not achievements. Press conferences do not protect children. The only result that matters is that a Nigerian child can leave home for school and return safely.”
He accused the Tinubu administration of presiding over a situation in which enormous budgetary commitments had failed to translate into the basic outcome Nigerians expected — safe schools.
Atiku said his administration would make school security a measurable national-security objective rather than another government spending programme.
“Under our government, criminals will not determine when Nigerian schools open.”
The intervention comes as insecurity, school abductions and the protection of children are increasingly becoming political issues ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
For Atiku, the contradiction is stark: billions have been earmarked to make schools safe, yet armed groups are still closing classrooms and keeping Nigerian children in captivity.