A 10-year-old girl has been reported dead after a storm blew off the roof of a school building located at the Ilara community, in the Ogijo area of Ogun State which incidentally crashed on three pupils and a teacher during a special lesson shortly after school hours.
The dead victim identified as Fibian Lawal, a primary Five pupil of the school died instantly on Monday, March 9, 2015 while the rest of the victims including the teacher, Ms Onanuga whose conditions are reportedly critical were rushed to an undisclosed hospital.
The dilapidated five-block building of Local Government Primary School Ajeregun was reportedly built 60 years ago when the school was established.
A new classroom block which was constructed with the help of parents and support of government was said to have been shut since last year because it has not been inaugurated.
Narrating the incident, a pupil of the school, Adijat Ohize also a classmate of Late Lawal said,
“We had finished school but we were all waiting for lesson when it began to rain. The other teachers left the school and their pupils, but our aunty did not leave.
“The rain was blowing into the classroom and our aunty said we should all run to a private school beside our school.
“I ran and got there, but as Fibian stepped out of the class, her shoes got stuck in the mud on the ground. She started struggling to get out.”
The 7-year-old younger brother to the deceased identified as Okiki, also sustained injuries in the hand. He also shared his own part of the story.
He said, “When the teacher asked us to go to the private school because of the rain, I first ran under a mango tree. I saw my sister struggling and I went to help her, but the roof fell on her. My hand was injured. I started shouting her name, but she did not answer me.”
According to Punch, the food seller of the school, Mrs. Idiatu Shonuga, said she had briefly left her shade under the mango tree for her house due to low patronage, when she learnt about the incident and went back to the school only to discover the teacher in a pool of blood.
“She kept saying ‘my neck, my neck’. A pupil’s leg was broken and another was seriously injured. They were all rushed to different hospitals.
“The girl that died was crushed under the roof. She had become limp when she was brought out and efforts to revive her were abortive,” Shonuga explained.
Heartbroken mother of the deceased, Olushola Lawal, lamented that she was the family’s hope adding that she would have preferred to die in her stead.
She said, “It was her younger brother, Okiki, that cried home and said Kemi (Fibian) had died after the roof fell on her. I couldn’t believe it and people kept deceiving me that she was in the hospital.
“She was a good writer and could draw anything perfectly. She would just ask you to sit and she would draw you. She had a note for drawing.
“She always said she would take care of me when she grew older. I wish I had died in her place.”
The deceased was said to have been buried the same day.
The Ogun State Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, John Odubela said,
“The new building was recently completed and there is a procedure to be followed when a building is completed. The contractor will have to file notice, among other things. As we speak now, they have opened the new one for the pupils to use.
“Government officials from the local government area and the State Universal Basic Education Board have visited the family; they were at the girl’s burial.
“The head teacher of the school did not inform us on time.”
