LAGOS, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA) – Some students of Community Secondary School, Bumaji, Boki Local Government Area of Cross River State have escaped death as a six-classroom block collapsed.
The incident which occurred as the students were playing, was attributed to erosion
which had eaten deep close to the foundations of the classroom blocks but was countlessly ignored.
One of the students, identified as Mary, said they all heard a ‘bang’ when the roof and parts of the walls caved in.
“We were playing as we were dispersing from our classes when we heard loud cracking sounds. The next we saw was that the walls were falling apart. Fortunately for us, we all ran outside,” she said.
An eyewitness, an elder of the community, who pleaded anonymity, also confirmed that no student or staff was affected by the collapse.
He however appealed for urgent intervention to avoid students studying under trees and exposed to environmental hazards.
Principal of the school, Abraham Ashike, absent during the occurrence, could not be reached as the school area known to have a poor network coverage.
Castro Ezama, Special Adviser to Governor Ben Ayade on education, in his statement, expressed regret for the incident as he said it was unfortunate that it happened even when politicians were frequenting the school for their electioneering campaigns.
He however disclosed that SUBEB and UBEC were intervening in many local schools and will soon mobilize contractors to the site.
