Tearful villagers relive pupils’ death in storm By Miriam Ndikanwu 3 hours 27 minutes ago Font size: •One of the sruvivors being consoled by his sister How school-bound kids drowned in Monday’s Lagos morning disaster The mood was pensive and gloomy. Few words were spoken. The tense atmosphere was interrupted by sobs. As tears flowed freely, community leaders recounted how 10 pupils and two women died in a boat mishap during Monday morning’s storm in Lagos. It was at Ojota community in Otto Awori Local Council Development Area, a riverine rural community, in Lagos State. The Commissioner for Rural Development, Mr. Cornelius Ojelabi, visited the village yesterday to condole with families of the victims. Twenty-two primary school pupils of St. Mary’s Nursery and Primary School, Igbede-Ojo, and two women left Ojota community in a wooden boat heading for Igbede Village, another riverine community, that fateful Monday morning. Suddenly, the rainstorm came. The boat capsized, drowning the 10 pupils and two women. 12 other pupils survived. The victims are Mistura Hassan (9), Fausat Hassan (7), Michael Eniola (12), Tope Rufai, Ayisat Hassan, Afisat Hassan, Abigail Aminu, Oniru Muyibi, Nofisat Aminu, Aminat Tijani, Madam Hassan (wife of the Baale of Ojota) and Madam Ibijoke, a resident of a neighbouring community. A member of the boat operators in Agbede-Ojo, who did not want his name in print, recounted the tragedy. He said the boat capsized when it was almost at shore. “It is very unfortunate; the boat was almost at the shore, but just a few metres away, the weather changed and the women asked the boat driver to move further so that they could stop at the nearby town to avoid the rain. One of the women panicked, she attempted to stand up from the boat and immediately, the boat lost balance and with the heavy wind, it capsized. Everybody on board fell into the water. Some of the children died not because they could not swim, but because of the raging storm and wind. Some who could swim, survived. It is a very unfortunate incident and we have never witnessed such before now”. The operator said passengers of the boat did not wear life jackets. Ojelabi expressed regrets that none of the passengers wore life jacket. He said Governor Babatunde Fashola on learning of the incident, directed a team comprising himself, Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Olayinka Oladunjoye and Special Adviser on Rural Development, Mr. Babatunde Hunpe, among other government officials’ to pay condolence visits to families of the victims. “We were at the Executive Council meeting when we heard the news and the governor mandated us to come here and check the authenticity of the story. We came and reported back to the governor and he was really bitter about the loss of lives of innocent children who did not use life jackets. He asked us to come here again, first to commiserate with the families of the victims and then to see how we can forestall any future occurrence,” Ojelabi said. Ojelabi announced that Fashola had directed that an access road be constructed within two weeks to link Ojota Community with the Agbede-Ojo area. The Ministry of Rural Development will also purchase three units of tricycles to convey the children to and from school. “For now, we will carry out the governor’s directive in the next 14 days, to ensure the safety of the pupils, until we are able to make a bridge to link the alternative schools in the area”, Ojelabi said. He warned the boat operators to ensure that passengers wear life jackets for every trip on the water. He said besides seizing the defaulters’ boats, they will also be prosecuted. Fashola expressed regrets over the impact of the natural disaster that destroyed property across the state. He inspected the state-owned Office of The Public Defender Building in Surulere which was billed for inauguration yesterday, but postponed following the damage done to it by the storm. He said the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), is currently evaluating the effect of the rainstorm. The government, he said, would act on its findings as soon as the agency completes its assignment. His words: “Let me first express sympathy to all those who are victims of that storm. From the report that I have received, the damage came not so much from the water but from the high storm that blew off roofs and stalls. I will like to thank the various local government chairmen where these incidents occurred. I have been briefed regularly about the impact in the various local government and the steps the various local governments have taken in terms of resettlement, relocation and provision of reliefs. “The LASEMA is also going round in evaluating and getting back to us. Whatever remains undone at the local level, we will respond on much more wholesome scale after collation. In fact, this building would have been handed over today but a section of the roof came off but they had to fix it over night. “We are in unusual time, in terms of weather. We are having changing patterns of weather when you begin to witness rainfall in January and February. The knowledge that we have about rainy season is June and July so, it means also that we must change our ways. “From what I see today in Europe, clearly you see that it is winter area but the winter is so extreme. Just yesterday I was monitoring Ukraine; over 110 people have died there. People are losing their limbs. Some people are being amputated to keep them alive because of the impact. We cannot expect as part of this world, on this same planet to be immune from this unusual weather pattern. I expect, therefore, we will see very heavy rain fall later in the year. Allaying the fears of the residents, he said officials of the Ministry of Environment had begun opening all the canals and channels to ensure that no matter how severe the weather is, the impact is easily mitigated. He urged the residents to desist from dumping refuse in the drainage channels and canals currently being de-silted by the government to avert excessive flooding when the rainfall intensifies.