Bauchi inaugurates safe school committee

… approves risk assessment in six LGAs

The Bauchi State Safe School Steering Committee, constituted under the Nigeria National Policy on Safety, Security and Violence-Free Schools 2021, has been formally inaugurated.

The inaugural meeting was held at the Medical and Health Workers’ Union (MAHWUN) Secretariat, Bauchi, and was chaired by the Chairman of the Committee, who stressed the importance of the Committee in ensuring a safer school environment.

At the inauguration, the Chairman charged members on their terms of reference, including development and review of school safety policies, guidelines and frameworks; guiding and monitoring implementation of safe school programmes and interventions; and overseeing school risk and vulnerability assessment.

Also included were establishing indicators and reporting frameworks, reviewing progress reports and recommending improvements, and any other duty that may be assigned by the Chairman.

He emphasised that a safe school is not about fences alone but about values, community ownership and early warning, and called for synergy among members to ensure no child in Bauchi State is denied education due to fear, violence or insecurity.

Speaking at the meeting, the Acting State Director, National Orientation Agency, Bauchi State Directorate, Mallam Adamu Umar Sarkinyara, who is a member of the Committee, congratulated the state government for domesticating the National Policy and for constituting the Steering Committee at a time when issues of bullying, Sara Suka thuggery around schools, cultism, drug abuse, exam malpractice, SGBV, child marriage leading to drop-out and infiltration of strange persons around schools require urgent attitudinal response.

Sarkinyara presented the position paper of NOA Bauchi, titled “Suggested Roles and Functions of NOA Bauchi in Safe School Steering Committee Using Structures, Platforms, Strategies and Coordination Mechanisms Including CLHEEAN Interventions Project Technology.”

He said NOA is not a security agency but the bridge between government and the grassroots, and is the only federal agency with a permanent structure from federal to state, to 20 LGAs, 323 wards, village, community and school level.

He unveiled NOA’s 7-point support plan aligned to the Committee’s terms of reference, which includes policy popularisation, as NOA will translate the National Policy on Safety, Security and Violence-Free Schools into simple Hausa, Fulfulde and Pidgin for SBMCs, PTAs, students and traditional rulers, and integrate the National Values Charter — 7 for 7.

For term of reference 2 — guide and monitor implementation — NOA will deploy 20 LGA Community Orientation and Mobilisation Officers (COMOs), 323 Ward Development Committees, State WAI Brigade and vigilantes as Safe School Ambassadors to guide implementation, form CLHEEAN Safe School Clubs in 50 pilot schools and mobilise communities for fencing and community watch.

For term of reference 3 — risk and vulnerability assessment — he said NOA will conduct community-based perception mapping on social risks, including drug joints near schools in Bauchi metropolis, Sara Suka hideouts, cultism, SGBV hotspots, farmer-herder tension, environmental risks such as flooding, and infrastructural risks, through focus group discussions with Emirs, FOMWAN, CAN, PFN, Miyetti Allah and youth groups, and report to security agencies without exposing the source.

For term of reference 4 — indicators and reporting framework — there will be deployment of CLHEEAN (Crime, Lawlessness, Health, Education, Environment, Abuse and Nationalism) technology, where the Abuse category covers narcotics and drug abuse as part of the same family of social vice, with a Safe School Window for anonymous reporting.

Issues to be curtailed include bullying, assault, kidnapping threats, intrusion by Sara Suka, cultism, exam malpractice, truancy, vandalism, drug abuse in school, poor WASH, teacher absenteeism, dilapidated structures, lack of fencing, flooding, unsafe routes, SGBV, child marriage forcing girls out, child labour, narcotics and drug abuse in and around schools, and disrespect to the flag and hate speech.

He said reports via the CLHEEAN app will be auto-routed to relevant agencies, and a dashboard will be available to the Chairman for real-time viewing per LGA.

On reviewing progress reports, NOA will submit a monthly “Pulse of the Nation — Safe School Edition” report on what communities say about safety, not just what government does, and conduct a quarterly perception survey among 1,000 students and 500 parents on “Do you feel safe in school?”, disaggregated by gender and disability, and recommend improvements based on findings.

NOA will serve as Secretariat for the Community Engagement Sub-Committee, lead town halls in high-risk LGAs — Alkaleri, Pali/Gwana, Toro, Ningi, Misau and Katagum — to secure written commitment from Emirs that “No school shall be attacked in my domain”, coordinate with PCRC Zone 12 for community policing in schools, work with the judiciary’s Family and Child Court, CIGF/FAWOYDI and SUBEB, and produce a radio programme.

On value reorientation, NOA will institutionalise the National Values Charter and national symbols — the flag and the anthem, “Nigeria We Hail Thee” — and run the campaign “Do the Right Thing: Protect School, Protect Future. No Values, No Safe School.”

At the end of the inaugural meeting, members resolved to adopt the National Policy on Safety, Security and Violence-Free Schools 2021 and its Implementation Guidelines as the working document for Bauchi State.

It was also resolved that three sub-committees be constituted: the Policy and Guidelines Sub-Committee, the Risk Assessment and Implementation Monitoring Sub-Committee, and the Community Engagement, Reporting and Feedback Sub-Committee, to be coordinated by NOA Bauchi.

There was also approval for immediate risk and vulnerability mapping in six pilot LGAs — Bauchi, Toro, Alkaleri, Ningi, Katagum and Jama’are — covering senatorial zones and high-risk corridors, to be led by NOA with support from the Police, DSS, NSCDC and SUBEB.

Also approved was the establishment of the CLHEEAN Safe School Window for anonymous reporting as the official reporting framework for Bauchi State, to be managed by NOA in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and security agencies.

Another resolution was the scheduling of monthly Steering Committee meetings, with the next meeting coming up in the first week of November 2026, and quarterly stakeholder reviews with SBMCs, PTAs, NUT, ANCOPSS and traditional institutions.

The meeting also mandated NOA Bauchi to produce 1,000 copies of Safe School 10 Commandments in Hausa and English for distribution to 500 schools, and to commence jingle production.

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The Acting State Director thanked the Chairman and members for the confidence reposed in NOA and pledged that NOA Bauchi, under his leadership and with permission of the DG NOA, Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu, will deploy its structures in 20 LGAs, 323 wards, the WAI Brigade, CLHEEAN technology and traditional platforms to ensure no school in Bauchi State becomes unsafe due to ignorance, drug abuse or violence.

He said: “Safe School is everybody’s business. Justice must not only be done in school, it must be felt safe. No Values, No Progress. No Values, No Safe School.”

Membership of the Committee was drawn from the Ministry of Education, State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Women Affairs and Child Development, Nigeria Police Force, Department of State Services (DSS), Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), All Nigeria Confederation of Principals of Secondary Schools (ANCOPSS), School-Based Management Committees (SBMCs), Parent Teachers Association (PTA), traditional institutions, civil society organisations, development partners and the National Orientation Agency (NOA) Bauchi State Directorate.