62,000 schools nationwide prone to attacks – Civil Defence CG

The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has said the vulnerability survey it conducted revealed that 62 schools across Nigeria are prone to attacks.

The Commandant General of the agency, Ahmed Audi, stated this at the maiden commandant general’s conference, the roll out of operational vehicles and inauguration of 200 housing units for junior and intermediate officers in Abuja, on Tuesday.

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He said the survey became necessary to enable the corps to devise strategies that would secure the schools nationwide.

“As part of the achievements of the corps from March 1 till date, we have carried out vulnerability survey of all schools in the country to enable us to work out strategies to effectively secure our school environment as part of efforts towards achieving the Safe School Initiative of the federal government.

“From the survey, we discovered that the nation has over 81,000 schools, but it was very surprising and disturbing that out of this figure, over 62,000 schools are very insecure.

“They have no presence of physical security and there is no fence, which shows how vulnerable our children are to any attack. Most of these schools are public schools,” he said.

Audi noted that the agency was making arrangements to deploy technology solutions for surveillance and monitoring of critical national assets and infrastructure across the country.

“Nigeria is going through a new phase of insecurity conflict, which is otherwise known as asymmetric conflict.

“We are not conversant with this conflict but I think we are getting over it.

“We have realised that the only strategy to nip this in the bud is that we must return to the basics and work assiduously to use critical intelligence and strategies properly,” he said.

He also called for holistic approach that include synergy among security agencies in the country and citizens to contain the rising insecurity in the country.