Nigeria: Senate Extends Panel's Deadline for $30 Million Safe Schools Programme Probe

What the report says

AllAfrica, carrying a Premium Times report from Abuja, says Nigeria’s Senate has given an ad hoc committee two more weeks to complete its inquiry into the use of more than $30 million under the Safe Schools Programme. The federal initiative was created in 2014 after the abduction of the Chibok schoolgirls and is meant to support protection for students and school facilities amid attacks.

According to the report, senators also widened the panel’s assignment beyond the Safe Schools Programme. The committee is now expected to review education-linked funds handled by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund, the Nigerian Education Loan Fund and the Universal Basic Education Commission, as well as support funds overseen by the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation and the National Social Investment Programme Agency.

The motion was presented by the committee chairman, Orji Kalu, who argued that school safety, education infrastructure, student welfare and social intervention programmes overlap and should not be examined separately. He also said party primary elections had disrupted oversight visits to some locations. Senate President Godswill Akpabio put the request to a voice vote, after which the chamber approved the extension and expanded mandate.

The committee was set up on 27 November 2025 after Abdullahi Yahaya of Kebbi North raised concerns about kidnappings and attacks on schools and places of worship. Premium Times cited recent incidents in Kebbi, Kwara, Niger and Oyo states as part of the insecurity backdrop, including mass abductions of students and worshippers. The probe matters because it links questions about public spending to continuing demands for stronger protection of children and schools.