JOLTED by the death of 22 students during the collapse of a secondary school building in Jos, Plateau State, recently, the Plateau State government has embarked on frenetic efforts to assuage the fury and anguish of the families of the victims and members of the public over the tragedy. There was spontaneous outrage in the wake of the disaster, as the roof of the two-storey building had caved in at the time students were writing their third term examination. It was a gory sight at the school, Saint Academy, as victims were left trapped under the debris, with volunteers using their bare and hammers to rescue the victims even as excavators were being deployed. Terribly shocked by the horrific sight, the UNICEF Nigeria Representative, Cristian Munduate, wrote on her X handle: “Everyone is helping out to see if we can rescue more people. Devastated by the tragic loss of young lives at Saint Academy. Children full of dreams were writing exams when the school building collapsed. Deepest condolences to families affected.”
Recounting their ordeals, some survivors of the tragedy said they thought that it was the apocalypse that had occurred following the deafening noise they heard as the building caved in. Instructively, the Director- General, Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute (NBRRI), Professor Samson Duna, said preliminary investigations into the tragedy showed that the building looked distressed while weak materials were used for the construction. Governor Caleb Mutfwang ordered the closure of the school and declared three days of mourning during which the national flag flew at half mast in honour of the departed souls. He warned the people to always comply with building rules and regulations to avoid a recurrence of such calamities. The governor also ordered all developers and property owners in the state to submit their building plans to the Jos Metropolitan Development Board (JMDB) for verification and revalidation, as part of the enforcement of Executive Order 003 proclaimed by the government.
On its part, the Federal Government, in a trend that has become a recurring decimal across the country, also ordered an investigation into the tragedy. Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Ahmed Dangiwa, in a statement, blamed the incident on the “negligence and “unscrupulous behaviour” of certain individuals. He said: “This is unacceptable because every time something like this happens, there’s a mother or father who has lost a child – a child who has lost a parent, or an individual who has lost a sibling or friend. The cost of building collapse cannot be quantified because lives are involved. In this case, it was a school with students whose only offence was to leave their homes in search of knowledge. This is totally unacceptable.”
The view expressed by the minister is highly instructive. The tragedy is one too many: young folks had their future cut short following the deeds of a few individuals notorious for circumventing rules and standards in the building industry. Sadly, while the country has continued to be on the wrong side of history and global reckoning due to such avoidable calamities, politicians at all levels of government and the leadership of agencies, departments and professional organisations only make diffident and cosmetic efforts to tame the ugly trend. They are fond of crying over spilt milk. Partly to assuage the distraught families of the victims, Governor Muftwang, on a visit to the scene of the tragedy, directed the conduct of quality tests for building structures on all private schools in the state. But making pronouncements and empanelling committees to investigate building collapse is merely routine. That is the only path the authorities take each time there is a tragedy. The activities of such ad hoc bodies soon pale into insignificance once the incident becomes part of the growing list of largely avoidable calamities.
While Governor Mutfwang’s inauguration of a technical committee to investigate the disaster is not out of place, it is important to bring those who allowed the incident to occur in the first place to book in order to serve as a deterrent to others. No doubt, the calamity would have been averted if the appropriate government agencies and other regulatory bodies on town planning and the building sector had placed the sanctity of human lives above pecuniary gain. It is time a radical change took place in the sector. Again, it is important for all stakeholders to be continually vigilant, especially in monitoring buildings, detecting structural defects and alerting official quarters. No one should be allowed to undermine the safety of innocent lives. As the Plateau State governor remarked, the loss of 24 children is grave. That is why the case must be treated with severity and sobriety.
We commiserate with the families of the victims. Our thoughts and prayers are with them and we hope they will find the fortitude to survive this terrible hour.
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