Collapsed FCT Govt Secondary School injures 8 students in Abuja

It was a sad day yesterday in Nyanya, a
satellite town and a suburb in the nation's
Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja when a storey building in one of the FCT owned
Government Secondary School, GSS collapsed
with eight students critically injured.

An eye witness told Vanguard that a section of the balcony of one of the storey buildings was affected, just as all the female students involved in the incident sustained various degrees of injuries, including broken limbs.

According to a source, one of the students who fell head down lost half her teeth immediately and some of the victims have since been rushed to the Maitama General Hospital in Abuja, but no life was lost.

Speaking to Vanguard on telephone, the
Director, Development Control of the FCDA,
Yahaya Yusuf who disclosed that no life was
lost, said that the hospital management was
quick to attending to the injured students,
adding that he was immediately at site to
inspect, even as he stressed that instruction has been given that no work should be carried out there until integrity test was done to ensure that the other structure was strong enough for any additional structure.

Responding swiftly to the development,
Minister of the Federal Capital Territory
Administration, FCTA, Senator Bala Mohammed
ordered that a one-storey block of classrooms at the Government Secondary School, Nyanya be sealed off.

Senator Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed gave the
directive yesterday in Nyanya while inspecting the site.

The Minister who was represented by the
Coordinator, Abuja Metropolitan Management
Council (AMMC), Architect Reuben Okoya
directed the Department of Development Control to investigate further to identify the cause.

The Minister immediately visited Maitama
District Hospital where the students that
sustained what he termed minor injuries were taken to for immediate medical attention.

At the hospital, Senator Mohammed instructed
the Education Secretariat to foot all the
medical bills of the injured students and that the Chief Medical Director of the Hospital must give the students special attention.

The Principal of the School, Mrs. Ngozi Ezeh
during the inspection remarked that students
were leaning on the hand railing of the canopy above the main entrance measuring 1.2×1.5m when it gave way.