Impose tough penalties on culprits of school building collapse, NAPTAN tells SUBEB

The National Parents-Teacher Association of Nigeria (NAPTAN) says strict penalties should be imposed on culprits of school building collapses in the country.

The association’s call comes on the heels of the collapse of a school building in Jos, Plateau state, and a residential building in Abuja.

On July 12, a two-storey building of the Saint Academy, a primary and secondary school in Jos collapsed collapsed, killing about 22 people and injuring 132 others.

 The incident occurred while the students were writing their third-term examinations.

On Saturday, a two-storey residential building collapsed in Kubwa area of Abuja, but no casualty was recorded.

Speaking in an interview on Sunday, Haruna Danjuma, president of NAPTAN, expressed shock over the Jos incident.

Haruna said the government needs to get involved in the construction of learning facilities.

He added that due diligence should be ensured before approvals are granted for school construction.

“It is very sad that the building got such a number of students sitting for examination. It’s a big loss,” NAN quoted Haruna as saying.

“I begin to wonder how some of these proprietors are running their schools. Some of them use substandard materials to build their classrooms.

“The government, ministry of education and relevant government agencies  must take very serious action on this.

“I also wonder how the relevant agencies gave them the approval.

“In fact, before approval is given to any school  proprietor, the authorities concerned ought to have put measures in place for standard.

“The laws are already there for every school that are constructing classes. We have the department in every section of education.

“For example, for any project or classroom constructed by UBEC, they have their professionals in the department who monitor the construction to make sure that things are done properly.

“So also at state level, we have  SUBEB that looks after all these kind of projects. For private schools, the ministry of education must regulate them and ensure proper things are done.”

The NAPTAN president called on all agencies in charge of authorising school construction to live up to their mandate and enforce existing laws to enforce standards.