Senate Extends Safe Schools Initiative Investigation

The Nigerian Senate has expanded its investigation into the Safe Schools Initiative (SSI) by granting its ad-hoc committee a three-week extension to scrutinize five additional federal bodies involved in educational funding, student loans, and social intervention schemes. The expanded mandate now includes TETFund (Tertiary Education Trust Fund), NELFUND (Nigerian Education Loan Fund), UBEC (Universal Basic Education Commission), the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, and NSIPA (National Social Investment Programme Agency).

This decision followed a motion presented on Tuesday by Senator Orji Uzor Kalu (APC, Abia North), who chairs the ad-hoc committee. Senator Kalu indicated that initial inquiries revealed significant financial and operational overlaps between the SSI and other major federal education and welfare agencies.

He warned that investigating the SSI in isolation would lead to incomplete legislative oversight, stating, “Investigating the Safe Schools Initiative without reviewing these complementary bodies will result in fragmented legislative oversight.”.