“Deeply Saddened”: Catholic Archbishop in Nigeria on Death of Several Students after School Building Collapses in Jos

“We aim to console the parents, although we cannot bring the deceased back,” Archbishop Audu told ACI Africa during the July 13 interview.

He went on to share details regarding the ownership of the learning facility, saying, “Actually, it’s not our school. Yes, I know, the school is private. The proprietor, who was the wife of someone who died some years back, handed it over to her husband.”

“The building was shaking for the past two years. The area is also near a mining site. The junior students were in the hall, writing their exams when the building collapsed,” the Local Ordinary of Jos Archdiocese further said.

The July 12 collapse, he said, “happened with teachers in the class supervising the students; so it’s not just about the children.”

“There should be a standard for building, especially for a three-story building,” the 65-year-old Catholic Church leader who started his Episcopal Ministry in March 2001 as Bishop of Nigeria’s Lafia Diocese said.

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He added, “Usually, before building a school in this country, the urban development authority is supposed to approve the building. It’s possible they even took bribes. If they had properly inspected the building from the beginning, this incident could have been prevented.”

“People have been complaining for the past few days. It’s possible someone on the supervisory board took a bribe and allowed this to happen. The important thing is that people should perform their duties sincerely and ensure the safety of children, who are vulnerable and cannot escape easily,” the Catholic Church leader emphasized.

Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has, in a Facebook post, indicated that 30 people are receiving treatment for “varying degrees of injuries at the Bingham University Teaching Hospital, Plateau Specialist Hospital, Jos University Teaching Hospital, and AG Hospital, others have been discharged.”

“Our personnel are on the ground providing necessary support to the families of the victims and the medical teams in these hospitals,” NEMA further says, adding that the rescue operation had concluded and the site cleared.

Meanwhile, Plateau State Commissioner for information, Musa Ashoms has been quoted as saying, “To ensure prompt medical attention, the government has instructed hospitals to prioritize treatment without documentation or payment.”