School building collapse in Lagos state, Nigeria.

Ayo Oyoze Baje
There must have been tears in heaven - and torrents of it ! That
is, for the 10- year- old school boy who died on his birthday ; the
traumatised parents , including one Mrs. Adedayo Adedoyin who
lost one of her twin daughters , other voiceless victims as well
as the owner of Ohen Private Nursery Primary School, all
crushed to cruel death . The tragedy was caused by the
collapse of the three - storey building housing the school
located at No 14 Massey Street opposite Ojo , Ita - Faaji , Lagos
Island , in Lagos on that fateful black Wednesday , March 13 ,
2019.
It was more like a mind - bending, midnight horror film , full of
sorrows, tears and blood, that seemingly belonged to the realm
of a thespian ’ s weird imagination . But it was not . The tragedy
took place at 10: 20 am and was as real as one ’s
accompanying shadow , hovering in the silent sun.
In fact, as of late afternoon of that day , about 41 persons ,
including pupils and other residents of the building , were
rescued from the rubble by emergency workers . Those that
were reportedly injured were receiving treatment at the Lagos
Island General Hospital , Massey Children Hospital , Lagos State
Teaching Hospital and Lagos University Teaching Hospital .
As usual , groundswells of regrets take over when preventable
deaths such as this take place . If only …if only , the school
proprietor , (now late) had acted fast when one Bukola Salami, a
former teacher in the school, had counselled her to relocate it
to another place . That was when he noticed the unusual
shaking of the school building , as if some mysterious stones
were being thrown at it ! But then she complained of not having
adequate money to do the needful .
That teacher resigned from the school, and saved his life. But
the proprietor remained and has unfortunately gone to the Great
Beyond with some of her innocent pupils . So sad ! What makes
it more painful include the facts that it could have been
prevented, innocent lives , especially of the younger generation
were lost and the culture of impunity underlining the calamity
persists.
As media reports have it , that house had been marked for
demolition since 2015 . But given our crass culture of worsening
impunity , nothing has happened ever since . Indeed , Governor
Akinwunmi Ambode had this to say about the tragedy : “ As you
can see, some of the buildings have been marked for
demolition but we get resistance from the landlords ”. Yes , you
read that right . Nonetheless, he has given an assurance that
“we must save lives , those that fail integrity test will be
evacuated and demolished ”. Hopefully, that may not be the last
we will hear about this gory tale.
Yet, tears are not enough . Actions , prompt and proactive ones
at that, could do the magic and save many precious lives . The
concern raised by the Speaker of the House of Representatives ,
Yakubu Dogara , should be instructive . “This is one too many of
these building collapses that usually claim the lives of innocent
people. It is time for decisive actions to be taken against all
found culpable of breach of building standards and that end up
in disasters ”. Well said!
It is appalling to note that no decisive actions have been taken
against previous incidents of collapsed buildings across the
country over the decades, . Nothing came out of the collapsed
multi- storey building at Mokola , Ibadan , Oyo State (1974 );
Barnawa Housing Estate , Kaduna , Kaduna State ( 1980); and
the mosque building , Osogbo, Osun State (1986 ) . There
were similar ones involving the uncompleted two - storey
building, at Isinkan , Akure , Ondo State (1998 ); two - storey
residential building at Funbi Fagun Street , Abeokuta , Ogun State
(1998 amongst several others .
Narrowing it down to Lagos, there have been those involving
the Industrial Development Building , Lagos (2006 ) , a two -
storey market plaza in Oshodi, Lagos (2010 ), killing at
least four persons and leaving many others wounded .
Others are the three - storey building at 15 Alli Street , which
collapsed at about 11 . 00pm and fell on a bungalow at
number 13 of the same street, leading to its collapse in the
same year.
Chief among the terrifying incidents of building collapse in
Nigeria is the July 2006 collapse in Surulere, Lagos State where
three buildings caved in causing pandemonium among
residents and killing no fewer than 28 lives and left 50 others
severely injured . Also , in Lagos, about 37 people lost their lives
in four - storey building accident at Ebute Meta , the same month
in 2006 .
Another unforgettable tragic collapse occurred precisely on
September 12, 2014 , where over 100 worshipers were killed in
a six - storey building which was under construction in the
premises of the Synagogue Church of All Nations in Lagos . The
National Emergency Management Agency and other emergency
services were criticised for withholding information about the
accident and much remained unclear about the number of
deaths and their nationalities.
On March 8, 2016 , a five - storey building collapsed while under
construction in Lekki District , Lagos . At least, 34 people were
killed , while 13 other people were pulled out alive .
Going by the eyewitness account on the recent school building
collapse in Lagos , from one Abayomi Olaniyan, rescue effort
was slow . None of the victims could be saved within the first
30 minutes of the tragedy . Though assistance eventually came
from the Lagos State Ambulance Service, state Fire Service ,
Lagos State Building Control Service and the Red Cross, more
lives could have been saved if the intervention by the rescue
team had come in time .