The Senate has urged the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) to thoroughly investigate the circumstances leading to the death of a toddler, Master David Udo, a pupil of a creche, in a nursery school in Aba, Abia state.

This was a sequel to the adoption and debate of a motion titled: “Urgent need to mandate schools to locate their creche and nursery classes to ground floors of their high-rise buildings and implement safety protocols,” at plenary, on Monday.

The motion was sponsored by Sen. Adebule Oluranti (APC-Lagos).

While presenting her motion, the Senator decried the death of master Udo, on 24 October 2003, who it was reported fell to his untimely death from a school high-rise building at Emerald International School Aba, Abia state.

She explained that the incident brought to the fore the issue of safety in schools, particularly for babies and toddlers in creche and nursery schools across Nigeria.

She admitted that accidents do occur, including falls from multi-floor buildings in schools, resulting in injuries, temporary or permanent disabilities and in some cases, like the case at n point- death.

She said many of the accidents may not have been reported appropriately to the supervisory authorities in states to cause the activation of necessary investigation and possible sanctions.

According to her, “The ultimate is for investigations to cause state policy direction that will permanently prevent recurrence of these heinous accidents.”

She expressed concern that state policies or school operators and managers are expected to provide care and ensure that kids under their care are properly monitored and prevented from causing harm to themselves and others.

The federal lawmaker further said the case of Master David Udo was a pathetic and heart-breaking incident that required the Senate to critically look into the safety issues and protocols in schools across the country, including school building and facilities design and arrangement.

In his contribution to the debate, Senator.Victor Umeh (LP-Anambra ) said the death of the toddler exposed negligence in the system by relevant authorities.

He said, ” What we are suffering in this country is lack of control and design approval.

“We cannot build a house that will not pass building approval, building of schools must pass through the approval.”

Umeh commended the sponsor of the motion, describing her as a nationalist, though from Lagos but sponsored a motion of a matter that involved human life in Abia State.

Others who spoke on the matter decried the incident and condoled the family of the deceased toddler. They included Sen.Abba Moro (PDP- Benue) and Barau Jibril (APC-Kano).

In his contribution, Senator Moro equally called for the enforcement of proper designs for school structures.

Senate subsequently observed a minute silence in honour of the deceased.

It equally urged the Federal and state ministries of Education to compel schools nationwide to locate their creche and nursery classes on the ground floor or bungalow within the school premises.

It further urged Ministries of Education at the national and sub-national levels to immediately conduct a risk assessment in all school Infrastructures in Nigeria to identify hazards and vulnerabilities and timeously Identify means to mitigate such hazards.

Senate also urged the Ministries of Education to enforce safety protocols in schools as enshrined in the National Policy on Safety, Security and Violence-free Schools and lasting its implementation guidelines. (Vanguard)

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