Six students injured as Abuja secondary school building collapses

Six secondary school students were injured on Friday in Abuja after
one of the school's buildings partially collapsed.
The one-storey block of classroom at the Government Secondary School,
Nyanya, a suburb of Abuja gave way while the students were leaning on
the railings, the school principal told visiting Abuja officials.
Following the incident, the Minister of the Federal Capital
Territory, Abuja, Bala Mohammed, has ordered that the affected block
of classrooms be sealed off.
In a statement by Muhammad Sule, the Chief Press Secretary to the
Minister, Mr. Mohammed ordered the seal-off when his representative,
the Coordinator of Abuja Metropolitan Management Council, Reuben
Okoya, visited the school and inspected the collapsed building.
The minister also directed the Department of Development Control to
investigate further to identify the cause.
The Principal of the School, Ngozi Ezeh, was quoted as saying, during
the inspection, that students were leaning on the hand railing of the
cantilevered canopy above the main entrance when it gave way.
When PREMIUM TIMESvisited the school on Friday evening, a gateman
informed that eight female students were injured with one of them
losing some of her teeth.
But the Abuja minister's statement said six students sustained minor
injuries. The statement said Mr. Mohammed visited the affected
students at the Maitama District Hospital, Abuja where they were taken
for medical attention.
He ordered that the Education Secretariat of the FCT foot the medical
bills of the injured students and that the Chief Medical Director of
the Hospital should also give the students special attention.