AKURE, Nigeria — The Ondo State Government has officially inaugurated a Safe Schools Steering Committee tasked with deploying local intelligence and physical countermeasures to protect students and teachers.
The specialized security task force was unveiled on Friday, June 12, 2026, during a strategic stakeholder session presided over by state cabinet officials in Akure.
Okay News reports that the new security initiative directly aligns with the Federal Government’s National Plan for Safe Schools, which was expanded following recent spikes in student abductions across regional corridors. The steering committee is chaired by the State Commissioner for Education, Science, and Technology, Professor Igbekele Ajibefun, who emphasized that sustainable learning can only take place when classrooms are legally and physically insulated from external violence.
Reflecting a unified community approach, the newly formed committee integrates top security chiefs with representatives from the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), the Muslim community, and regional Parent-Teacher Associations (PTA). To guarantee fast, localized tactical responses, the state’s security template will also integrate licensed local hunters and civilian vigilante networks who possess deep geographical knowledge of the rural border communities housing vulnerable learning centers.
The steering committee has been handed an immediate operational mandate to execute six critical defensive strategies across the state. These priority directives include conducting swift vulnerability mapping to identify high-risk schools along forest borders, aggressively promoting the construction of perimeter fencing, and deploying CCTV surveillance infrastructure. Furthermore, the committee will formalize early-warning partnerships with local trackers, mandate up-to-date school censuses, and implement strict administrative controls to document and track unfamiliar persons within immediate school vicinities.
