By Masara Kim
On July 15, Joseph Danbako stood by as his son Uwenni was lowered into a 6-foot grave, consumed by regret for allowing the 16-year-old to leave the house just three days earlier.
Little did he know that on Friday, July 12, as he prayed for his son before his grade 4 exam, tragedy was about to strike. Two hours later, his beloved child was pulled out lifeless from the ruins of his collapsed classroom in Jos, the capital of Plateau state in central Nigeria, cutting short his dream of becoming a medical doctor.
President Bola Tinubu has described the incident as a “major loss for the country” and a “devastating event” that is “too painful to even imagine.”
Equipping the Persecuted, the parent organization of Truth Nigeria, visited survivors and delivered cash to help pay their medical bills.
Uwenni and more than 21 of his colleagues perished in the early morning collapse of a two-story building at the Saints Academy Busa-Buji.
This followed just two days after he informed his father about unusual vibrations in the 18-year-old building, which accommodated over 300 students according to officials.
It was the biggest disaster yet in the city, which has witnessed numerous terrorist attacks claiming thousands of lives in its surroundings. As a young boy growing up in Kampala, a majority-Christian suburb on the northwestern edge of Jos, Uwenni actively participated in community-defense activities. He held the rank of Lance Corporal in the Nigerian Boys Brigade, through which he provided protection to members of his local congregation during church services.
On July 12, Uwenni had a quick chat with his dad about his dream of becoming a doctor, which his dad thought was a great idea but reminded him to stay focused on his studies and pray for success in his science classes.
Before heading out at 7 am, Uwenni got some cash from his dad for breakfast at school and pledged to work hard and pay it back in the future. But less than two hours after leaving home, news of the school collapse spread across the city of more than 1 million people, as per the latest stats.
“I was devastated,” said the 50-year-old Danbako. “I wished I never allowed him to leave the house,” said Danbako during the burial.
Just three days earlier, on July 9, Uwenni informed his father that he felt uneasy about going to school at Saints Academy because of strange vibrations in the building’s structure. However, his father planned to move him to another school after his third-term exams, which would see him entering 5th grade.
“Little did I know that he would not see the end of the examinations,” said Danbako.
According to witnesses, the collapse began with a small crack in the wall just after 8 o’clock a.m. At that time, more than 154 students were taking their exams in their classrooms, as reported by the school Principal, Mr. Daramola Ekundayo.
Mrs. Mercy Prosper, a teacher at the school, had just exited one of the classrooms when the building collapsed, trapping her and seven other teachers in the staff room.
“We suddenly heard a loud sound and before we knew it, dust covered us,” Prosper told TruthNigeria. “I just went out of the classroom to get markers from the staff room, when this happened, and we had to escape through the windows because the door locks jammed,” said Prosper. “While trying to escape, some blocks fell on me and injured me on the legs and shoulders,” she said.
The noise of the collapsing two-story building was audible from 2 miles away, according to Mrs. Theresa Okrichi, a mother with three children attending the school.
“When I was told it was the school that collapsed, I started crying,” Okrichi told TruthNigeria. “I didn’t know whether my children were dead or alive,” said Okrichi from the bedside of her hospitalized daughter Oluchi, who was rescued alive from the ruins of the school.
“I later found two of my children and did not see this one [Oluchi] until I searched from one hospital to another,” she said.
Of the 154 students initially trapped in the rubble, 132 were rescued with various injuries according to the Plateau police spokesperson, Alfred Alabo, speaking to AFP.
The school collapse sent shockwaves around the world, forcing local officials to order a full investigation.
“We are going to set up a high-powered committee to investigate the immediate and root causes of this collapse and all those found culpable will face the full wrath of the law,” said Governor Caleb Mutfwang to reporters at the collapse site on July 12.
“We are going to beam our searchlights on all private schools and even public schools to ensure all our buildings meet required standards,” said Mutfwang.
Building on his position, the Nigerian Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Ahmed Dangiwa, directed the Plateau State Controller of the ministry to embark on an “immediate and comprehensive” investigation to ascertain the cause of the collapse and ensure that anyone found culpable is brought to justice.
“This is unacceptable because every time something like this happens, there’s a mother or father who has lost a child, a child who has lost a parent, or an individual who has lost a sibling or friend,” said the minister in a statement.
“The cost of building collapse cannot be quantified, because lives are involved,” said the minister in the statement issued by his spokesman, Mark Chieshe.
“In this case, it was a school with students whose only offense was to leave their homes in search of knowledge. This is totally unacceptable,” he said.
As of July 13, scattered school bags, shoes and books mark the remains of the collapsed school after officials demolished its remaining walls to avoid a further collapse after the close of rescue operations on July 12. TruthNigeria observed state- and federal investigators collecting and analyzing evidence in an apparent attempt at uncovering the cause of the collapse.
Masara Kim Is the senior editor of TruthNigeria and reports on conflict from Jos.
