The Senate on Tuesday extended by two weeks the deadline for its ad hoc committee investigating the spending of more than $30 million on Nigeria’s Safe Schools Programme, a federal security initiative launched in 2014 to protect students and schools from attacks.
The upper chamber also broadened the committee’s mandate to include an investigation into education-related funds managed by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), and the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC).
The committee will further examine how education support funds administered by the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation and the National Social Investment Programme Agency (NSIPA) were utilised.
The Senate adopted the resolution after considering a motion moved by the committee chairman, Orji Kalu, seeking an expansion of its terms of reference and additional time to conclude its investigation.
The 13-member ad hoc committee was constituted on 27 November 2025 after the adoption of a motion by Abdullahi Yahaya (APC, Kebbi North), who raised concern over the rising cases of student kidnappings and attacks on schools and worship centres across the country.
At the time of its constitution, the Senate directed the committee to submit its report within four weeks. However, nearly eight months later, the committee is seeking additional time to complete its assignment.
The Safe Schools Programme was introduced in the wake of the Chibok schoolgirls’ abduction. It was designed to operate at different levels, including state-led efforts and national coordination through agencies such as the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and the Safe School Parents Watch Network. Reasons for the extension
Mr Kalu, who represents Abia North Senatorial District, said the investigation into the Safe Schools Programme would be incomplete without examining the activities of federal agencies responsible for education funding, student welfare, humanitarian assistance, and social intervention programmes.
“The issues surrounding student security, educational infrastructure funding, and social intervention schemes for vulnerable learners across the country are deeply interwoven. Investigating the Safe Schools Initiative without reviewing these complementary bodies will result in fragmented legislative oversight,” Mr Kalu told his colleagues.
He also said the recent primary elections held by political parties prevented committee members from conducting oversight visits to some of the locations they were expected to inspect.
“There are some areas we haven’t covered. Party nominations have affected us, and it made it impossible for us to go to places we’re supposed to go,” he added.
Responding, the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, put the motion to a vote, and a majority of the senators supported it through voice votes. Mr Akpabio subsequently approved it and granted the ad hoc committee additional weeks to submit the report, as well asd expanded its scope. Rising insecurity
Nigeria has continued to battle persistent insecurity marked by frequent kidnappings, armed attacks, and violent assaults on communities, schools, and places of worship. All of these are happening despite the huge amount the government budgets for the nation’s security each year.
On 17 November 2025, terrorists, armed with sophisticated weapons, stormed Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School, Maga, in Kebbi State, on motorcycles, abducted 25 schoolgirls from their dormitory, killed the school’s vice principal, and injured a local security guard, Ali Maga.
The students were freed on Sunday, 23 November.
On 19 November 2025, terrorists attacked the Christ Apostolic Church, Oke Igan, in Eruku, Kwara State, killing three worshippers and abducting 38 others. All the worshippers were subsequently freed.
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On 21 November 2025, armed men invaded St. Mary’s Catholic Primary and Secondary Schools, Papiri, in Agwara Local Government Area of Niger State, and abducted 303 pupils, students, and staff, triggering widespread outrage and renewed calls for improved security in the state and the country.
On 15 May, gunmen raided three schools—Baptist Nursery and Primary School, L.A. Primary School, and Community Grammar School in the Yawota and Ahoro-Esiele communities of Oriire Local Government Area—abducting dozens of pupils and three teachers.
Two of the three teachers abducted by the kidnappers were killed in captivity. One of them, Michael Oyedokun, was beheaded days after his abduction, while the other, John Olaleye, a pastor, was also killed while being held by the abductors.
The abducted schoolchildren and their teacher were rescued last week in a coordinated operation involving the military and other security agencies after spending 56 days in captivity.
