Not more than five children have been reportedly killed after a primary school building collapsed on Saturday in Niger State.
The affected school is UK Bello Memorial Primary School, Paiko, in the Paiko Local Government Area in the state.
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The children who died in the collapse were said to be scavengers picking up materials from a refuse dump by the fence of the school, according to the PUNCH.
The building that killed the children was said to be on the verge of collapse for years and efforts by the Niger State government to demolish the building were resisted by the residents.
“There is a refuse dump close to the school toilet where children usually pick up disposed materials to sell adding that it was during such visits that the toilet collapsed on them,” the medium quoting a source.
“Now, if you go to the school, it is open. None of the classrooms has a door or no window because they have been stolen, the fence has collapsed and people have been vandalising the infrastructures in the school.
“The toilet block is outside the school building and there is a refuse dump very close to the toilet.
“Children usually go to the refuse dump to dig up for things they can sell. It was in the process of these children digging the refuse this morning that the block which was on the verge of collapsing fell on the children,” the source said.
