By Juliana Uzoka

The recent collapse of Saints Academy Secondary School, which recorded  significant casualty figures, has raised concerns by the authorities on the adherence of the laws regulating building plans in the State.

Commissioner of Information Plateau State, Musa Achoms, who was at the scene of the incident which occurred on Friday, 12 July, in Jos  disclosed that  those who build for public and private interests should ensure that they observe the code and ethics of building plans else risk demolition of their structures.

“For those who have schools, who have buildings for public or private use, go to the Jos Metropolitan Development Board to check their books and present their plans, to avoid demolition of your homes and properties if they are not well established, and did not follow the code and ethics of building plan, he said.

The Commissioner further decried the use of  substandard materials for building in order to save cost.

He added that the tragic incident which recorded high casualty rate was avoidable if the school authorities had adhered to building plans.

“This area is water logged and if you want to build in an environment like this, you are supposed to sink in a lot of money, your foundation has to be solid, your base has to be solid.” He emphasized.

The school structure which had two floors, for the Senior Secondary students (SSI to SS3) caved in while they were writing examination, and the government official has assured that the whole building would be demolished, which he noted posed further threat to the community, adding that the students affected were likely to develop psychological trauma due to the gravity of  the incident.

He appealed to well meaning citizens to go to the hospitals where the victims were evacuated to for treatment to donate blood, while calling on Doctors off duty to resume in order to save the lives of the survivors. Those that died have been deposited at the mortuary.

Achoms who spoke on behalf of the government commended the various agencies for their prompt response during the search and rescue operations.

The  Nigeria  Red Cross Society official, Secretary Plateau State branch, Nurudeen Hussein Magagi who said they got a distress call in the morning of the incident, quickly mobilised other collaborative agencies like Nigeria Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), the Fire Service, Road Safety Corporation, State Emergency Management Service (SEMA) and a good number of others to the site, including the communities, who had mobilised to the site before the arrival of government and non governmental agencies.

He clarified that the number of casualties could not be ascertained at the time but that the casualty figure would be collated from the various hospitals which included both government, missionary and private hospitals before the actual number could be announced. Adding that further enquires were made to the school authorities for more information.

Top government officials went to the hospitals to assess the situation disclosed an official from NEMA, Musa Nurudeen, Head of Search and Rescue Department, North Central Zone.

The nature of the disaster was massive and daunting, which necessitated “activating help and earth moving equipment were deployed to the site…the remaining structure would be brought down,” Nurudeen said, in order to avert further disaster.

Two persons who identified themselves as part of the community, Mr  Okey Uzonwanne Joshua and Mr Kingsley Bartholomew involved in the rescue operation informed TWE News that  the massive explosion which they thought initially to be from a gas plant close by attracted their attention to the incident which they corroborated happened before 10am on Friday morning, only to see cloud of dust gushing from the location of the school, on getting there, they saw students emerging from the rubbles while some Muslim worshippers who were the first to arrive the scene started to excavate bringing out a good number that had been buried under the rubbles.

“When we got to Our Lady of Apostles Hospital (OLA), the staff cooperated, they gave us assistance as soon as they heard the siren they came out with stretchers and took the victims to the casualty department.” Bartholomew said.

The hospitals where most of the victims were taken to includes Bingham Teaching Hospital (Jankwanu) and Plateau Hospital.

While the structures had been cordoned off, further findings reveal that arrangements are on the way for the students to complete their examination in another location. Meanwhile, the school Principal of Saints Academy Secondary School, Mrs Helen Obasi, had been working closely with authorities to support the rescue operations and support the families affected by the incident.