by Adeola Balogun

Eight students of a government owned school in the Nyanya area of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have been left critically injured after one of the buildings within the school premises collapsed.

A storey building which was part of the structure of the Government Secondary School, (GSS) fell apart and resulted in the injuring of the students.

An eye witness reportedly said that a section of the balcony of one of the storey buildings was affected, just as all the female students involved in the incident sustained various degrees of injuries, including broken limbs.

According to a source, one of the students who fell head down lost half her teeth immediately and some of the victims have since been rushed to the Maitama General Hospital in Abuja, but no life was lost.

The Director of Development Control of the FCDA, Yahaya Yusuf who disclosed that no life was lost, said that the hospital management was quick to attending to the injured students, adding that he was immediately at site to inspect, even as he stressed that instruction has been given that no work should be carried out there until integrity test was done to ensure that the other structure was strong enough for any additional structure.

Responding swiftly to the development, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory Administration, FCTA, Senator Bala Mohammed ordered that a one-storey block of classrooms at the Government Secondary School, Nyanya be sealed off.

Senator Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed gave the directive yesterday in Nyanya while inspecting the site.

The Minister who was represented by the Coordinator, Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC), Architect Reuben Okoya directed the Department of Development Control to investigate further to identify the cause.

The Minister immediately visited Maitama District Hospital where the students that sustained what he termed minor injuries were taken to for immediate medical attention.

At the hospital, Senator Mohammed instructed the Education Secretariat to foot all the medical bills of the injured students and that the Chief Medical Director of the Hospital must give the students special attention.

The Principal of the School, Mrs. Ngozi Ezeh during the inspection remarked that students were leaning on the hand railing of the canopy above the main entrance measuring 1.2×1.5m when it gave way.