The Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC), newspaper editors and stakeholders in the newsroom have called on the National Assembly to pass the Safe School Declaration Bill into law and follow up with its implementation.
They also called on state governments to implement it and make it a working document.
They gave the charge in Ikeja, Lagos, at the weekend, during a high-level roundtable meeting for media executives on advocacy for safe and secured schools in Nigeria, organised by WARDC, in continuation of its advocacy for safe school in the country.
Head of Programme, WARDC, Emmanuella Azu, said the group brought together stakeholders in the newsroom to get them into full conversation on school safety and what to do next.
She said that WARDC believes that the media could amplify the conversation, hold the government accountable and push the relevant authorities to take necessary actions.
“The National Assembly does not see education as a national issue because if they understand the impact of education and how it impacts development and growth in the country and how safe school could impact the development of Nigeria, it will take it more seriously,” she added.
On his part, Editorial Page Editor of The Guardian, Kunle Sanyaolu, said that the duty of the newsroom does not end with reporting, but also analysing news, writing editorials and taking a position, as well as publishing informed and analytical articles by stakeholders.
“These can go a long way to guide governments and complement the efforts to secure schools. Very importantly, the newsroom should put pressure on the government to implement the laws that it enacted on terrorism and other crimes causing insecurity in schools. The failure of governments at various levels to abide by their own rules is a major reason for the new perpetual festering of factors responsible for insecurity in schools.”
Also speaking, Acting Editor-in-Chief of Daily Trust Newspapers, Hamzat Idris, lamented that most newsrooms are lagging in bringing out the existential problems around safety and security in schools.
“Education is the future of Nigeria; it remains the future of humanity. If we don’t have schools that are secured, we are doomed.”
Idris, who is also the Chairman, Editorial Board of the newspaper, added: “Where is the missing link? As a reporter and an editor, I think the missing link is that we are yet to get it right in our newsrooms. Most education pages in our newspapers are placed from Page 30 while politics stories take the front page. Some of us only carry report on education once in a week. So, we are also culprits. Reporters, editors and other stakeholders in newsrooms should get involved in safety of schools.”
