Kunle ADELABU & Wale JAGUN
The collapse of a classroom on students at the Ipakodo Community Junior Secondary School in Ikorodu West Local Council Development Area (LCDA) of Ikorodu, Lagos, Southwest, Nigeria, on Tuesday, June 25, 2019, was the fourth of such incident since 2013, investigation revealed .
Six students were affected in the latest incident. While two are critically injured and are still on admission at the General hospital, Ikorodu, the other four have been discharged after treatments.
THE IMPACT gathered that the hospital is considering transferring the critically injured students to the Orthopaedic hospital at Igbogbo. It was gathered that the two are unable to walk.
It was also gathered that many parents and other residents besieged the school when the incident occurred around 10am on Tuesday and almost lynched the principal of the school.
The affected buildings were the old structures built by the first civilian governor of Lagos State, Alhaji Lateef Jakande in the 80s.
According to reliable sources, the first case of building collapse in the school was in 2013 and it allegedly killed a student while the second incident was recorded in November 2017.
The third incident happened in April 2018, with a teacher and two students suffering varying degree of injuries.
Investigation revealed that the last time renovation works took place in the school was in 2014 through Eko Project, which was an intervention initiative of the state government .
Our reporters gathered that the said renovation involved scrubbing of the floors and painting of the structures which were built about four decades ago.
Also, several letters were said to have been written by the school management, community, old students association and the lawmaker representing Ikorodu Constituency I, Hon. Sanai Agunbiade, on the danger posed by the dilapidated conditions of the structures in the school, to the Education District II, Ministry of Education and the Governor’s office but there were no positive responses.
There had also been reports in the media, especially THE IMPACT, calling the attention of the government to the state of the school over the years.
Hon. Agunbiade, the representative of Ikorodu Constituency I, visited the school last year on inspection after receiving complaints from concerned youths and consequently wrote to the state government for quick actions due to his findings.
Speaking during his visit to the school on Wednesday (yesterday), His Royal Majesty, Oba Bashir Sotonwa, the Sekumade of Ipakodo, stated that something urgent would be done to give the school befitting structures .
“We thank God that it is not more than this.
“We are going to quickly approach the government to give this school the much needed urgent attention.
“We must ensure that we put our children in good and safe places to learn”, the royal father stated.
The royal father also observed that the administrative block, housing the principal and other staff members, is also not fit.
The school Principal turned our reporter’s request to get information concerning the collapse.
Meanwhile, THE IMPACT gathered that the senior school that is sharing same compound with the affected junior school has provided four classrooms to accommodate the JSS 3 students.
It was also gathered that the Tutor General/Permanent Secretary (TG/PS), District II, and the Chairman, Ikorodu West LCDA, Princess Jimbo-Ademehin, also visited the school on Wednesday (yesterday) and are making frantic efforts to get temporary space for the students in the JSS I and 2 classes at Majidun Community School.
At 11.42am on Wednesday, a team of engineers from the Lagos State Material Testing Laboratory, led by Engr. Sodeinde, came into the school compound.
They were seen discussing with the Principal and Ikorodu NUT Chairman, Comrade Fakolade Oluwafemi who also visited the school with some of his executive members.
After their inspection, the officials stated that the cause of the collapse wasn’t the blocks used in building the structure but did not give any further detail.
The officials further interfaced with some teachers detailed by the principal to accompany them during the inspection.
Also, officials of the Lagos State Ministry of Education drove into the school premises in a white Hilux Pick-up car at 12. 02pm and they were seen inspecting the collapsed structure.
Speaking with THE IMPACT, Chairman, Ikorodu West LCDA, Princess Jumoke Jimbo-Ademehin, she stated that the council was not aware of the state of all the dilapidated structures in the school.
The chairman, who spoke with our reporter at the Sekumade palace on Wednesday, stated that :
“We did not know about the state of the structures in the school and the efforts made so far by the school management until yesterday (June 25,2019) when we visited the school.
“The school management should have copied the council in all the letters sent to the state government to enable us assist in pursuing them”.
She stated that her administration is doing everything possible to get the government to respond quickly in building another structure for the school.
“We have discussed with the Principal and as a council, we are going to intervene by making presentation to the state government that the school needs at least two prototype buildings urgently .
On the other threatening structures that are still standing in the school, Hon. Ademehin stated that the council expected that the Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA) should have demolished them while assuring that her administration would act quickly to get the structures pulled down.
Attempts to reach the Tutor-General,District II, Mr Ebenezer Olusanya, as at the press time proved abortive.
Several calls made to his GLO line weren’t going and text messages sent to the same line are yet to be responded to.
