Jos School Collapse: I Lost Two Children, Woman Cries; I Escaped Through Window, Teacher Says

The events of July 12 will be unforgettable for citizens, particularly the families of those directly or indirectly linked to the building collapse at the Saints Academy, Busa Buji, in the Jos North local government area of Plateau State.

The school staff, students, and perhaps petty traders in the neighbourhood were anticipating a successful end of the session and its attendant Speech and Prize-giving activity in the school.

However, this expectation was cut short as the students were winding up their academic activities, and looking forward to writing their third-term promotion examination on the 15th of July.

The two-storey building housing the secondary arm of the school collapsed affecting 154 persons, killing 22 students and leaving 132 others injured.

The school has 284 Secondary students and 145 Primary pupils. Of the 132 persons hospitalized, 97 have been treated and discharged at the time of this report.

Although the dead have been buried, and the injured are being treated, the trauma of the loss will take a long time to go away as a parent, Mrs. Saleh, a resident of Sabon Layi, behind the Zaria Road stadium who lost two of her children said.

Lamenting the loss with a shaky voice on the phone, she said, “I lost two children, Abdulraheem and Fatima Suleiman Saleh, they were two siblings, a boy and a girl who died due to the collapsed building. I can’t talk now; the pain is too much.”

Another parent, Joy Chinecherem whose three children survived the tragedy gave glory to God saying, “I was at home that day when my sister called to tell me that the school building collapsed. I only heard the word but I don’t know how I got to the school because I was worried about my two children.

“My first child is in SS3 and did not have exams that day so he was at home. My two daughters were not seen immediately after I got to the school so I went to the hospital to search for them, I found one at the Bingham University Teaching Hospital, Jankwano but the other one was unhurt so she went home.

“Although my daughter has been discharged, I still shudder at the thought of what happened but can only thank God that my children are safe. I mourn the loss of the other children and I pray for God’s comfort to the parents. It will take time for this incident to be forgotten.”

I escaped through the window – Teacher

To Mrs. Kelvin, a teacher in the school, her escape was divine as she said she escaped through the window.

Her words, “I was in the staff room when I heard a sound like a plane was passing or a heavy rain was coming. I was asking what kind of plane could make such a noise so I turned and saw the place filled with dust so the other teachers and I tried to run out of the room.

“On getting close to the entrance, the door jammed and we could not open it, so we turned towards the open window and jumped through there. All the teachers survived, and those hospitalized were treated and discharged.

“We have no corps member or no pregnant teacher; I was not in the hospital. I was only treated for shock. My nephew who was trapped in the debris survived. He was in JSS 2, the building collapsed on him but he was rescued alive.” 

However, as efforts are made to unravel the cause of the tragedy, the State Government has closed down the school and ordered investigations. Mrs. Kelvin said, “I don’t care about the closure but the tragedy that affected the children.

“I believe that God that kept us alive will see us through, since we did not die, he will open another door. My heart only breaks because of the children that lost their lives.”

The Director General of the Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute, NBRRI, Professor Samson Duna said that the preliminary report shows that the physical observation of the building looked distressed.

He added that weak materials were used for the building, and the government and other professional bodies in the construction industry were asked to conduct integrity tests on all distressed buildings, especially those around the collapsed building site.

The DG stated that the investigative committee on the collapsed building, headed by Professor Frederick Job of the Geology Department at the University of Jos, depicted that “The quantity of concrete in the two-storey building was in doubt because there was no boundary between the concrete and the steel reinforcement, the slab reinforcement anchorage provided was inadequate.”

He stressed that the Institute will leave no stone unturned in ensuring that those responsible are held accountable.

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Source: Vanguard