Three-storey school building collapses in Lagos

A three-storey building housing Excel College, located at 15, Ansarudeen street, Ile-Epo bus stop, Ejigbo area of Lagos, collapsed on Saturday morning.

Femi Oke-Osanyintolu, director-general of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), said on arrival at the scene of the incident, it was observed that a part of the school building had collapsed.

Oke-Osanyintolu said according to the distress calls he received, the building partially collapsed at about 8:15am.

“Information gathered from some officials of the school revealed that the building had previously shown signs of distress and the school was planning to renovate and refortify the structure,” he said.

“The three-storey building has two wings conjoined. The wing that collapsed has seriously affected the second wing as visible cracks can be seen on the walls, pillars and decking.

“Fortunately, nobody was trapped, no injury and no fatality has been recorded. Responders to the incident scene are LASEMA, Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA) and the police (Ejigbo division).”

The incident comes months after a three-storey building collapsed on July 11 in Lagos Island, which killed three people, including one child.

Similarly, on June 17, a building collapsed at Ogudu area which killed two children.

Also in June, another building collapsed in Iju area; however, no life was lost.

Schools were shut down in March 2020 following the outbreak of coronavirus in the country, but the Lagos state government announced partial resumption of schools across the state in August.

Meanwhile, private schools in the state are scheduled to commence full resumption on September 21, 2020.