By PATIENCE ALIYU

Gov. Caleb Mutfwang of Plateau has shut down The Saints Academy School, Jos, whose block of classrooms collapsed on Friday, killing scores and leaving many others injured.

A visibly angry Mutfwang cited crass negligence by its owners as reason for the shut-down order.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that 22 persons were confirmed dead with about 145 injured when the one-storey building collapsed on the students who were writing their examinations.

Mutfwang, who inspected the site where the incident occurred, and visited some casualties on Saturday, said the disaster would have been avoided if the school owners had complied with building laws.

“It’s unfortunate that this has happened but, of course, we cannot allow the school to function. The school is hereby closed down immediately; we cannot take any further chances.

“We need to send this message, particularly to owners of private schools, that the drive for profit must not overshadow the safety of lives.

“We are going to carry out a technical audit of all the schools, including public schools; we are going to test structural integrity to ensure that human beings can inhabit buildings there.

“We are going to set up a very high-powered committee to investigate this incident. We are going to bring in building professionals to investigate this and anyone found culpable will certainly face the wrath of the law,” he said.

While reiterating the recently established Executive Order 003, Mutfwang emphasised the need to conform to building laws so as to restore sanity and order to buildings and constructions within the metropolis.

“We cannot afford this situation any longer; that is why we signed the Executive Order 003; the goal is to be able to bring order and sanity into the building sector.

“When we insisted that some buildings be demolished, it wasn’t because we are wicked. We are concerned about the safety of lives.

“When we see buildings on water lines, or in marshy places, we have no option than to bring them down.

“People think that we are wicked, but we are going to go the extra mile now and make sure that violators are also prosecuted.

“We will not just bring down the buildings at government costs, we will make sure that violators pay the cost of such demolitions.

“It is time we told ourselves the truth; everybody must be responsible for human lives. We cannot afford this kind of mishap again,” he said.

Mr Hart Bankat, General Manager of the Jos Metropolitan Development Board (JMDB), while speaking on the possible reasons for the collapse, said he suspected poor building materials.

“Although investigations are ongoing, poor building materials were among reasons for the collapse.

“We are going to investigate this thoroughly, but even before then, it is obvious from the rubbles on ground that very very poor materials were used here.

“Insufficient cement mix, no gravels, you can see that the spacing from the rods and the slabs are falling down, all these show that the building wasn’t properly done.

“Those are things that will be properly investigated, but we are calling on members of the public to report such things so that such losses can be averted,” he said.

Earlier, Mr Daramola Akindele, Principal of the school, who responded to the governor’s enquiries, said he did not see any sign that the building could collapse.

“I inspect the school compound daily. The owner of the school is late, but it is being managed by her husband, Mr Marius Onigwe, who is indisposed now.

“Being the administrative head of the school, I carry out a general inspection of the compound everyday. It was actually built before I came. But I didn’t imagine that something like this could happen. There was no sign whatsoever.”

NAN reports that the governor also visited some of the hospitals into which victims of the collapsed structure were admitted.

He also paid condolence visits to parents of the deceased students. (NAN)

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