Kano provides succour to school fire victims

Several appeals by the students of Government Girls’ Secondary School (GGSS), Jogana and Government Secondary School (GSS), Kwankwaso, seeking for assistance from the Kano State government after fire outbreaks in their schools, did not fall on deaf ears. The students of the two schools experienced separate fire incidents on November 20 and December 2, 2015 […]

Several appeals by the students of Government Girls’ Secondary School (GGSS), Jogana and Government Secondary School (GSS), Kwankwaso, seeking for assistance from the Kano State government after fire outbreaks in their schools, did not fall on deaf ears.
The students of the two schools experienced separate fire incidents on November 20 and December 2, 2015 respectively, resulting to the death of seven students and injuring 25 others at the GGSS, Jogana. Properties worth millions of naira were also destroyed.
While the Alhaji Sani Yaro Ahmed Hostel, which accommodated over 500 students, was completely razed down at the GGSS, Jogana, at the GSS Kwankwaso, an upstairs section of a hostel comprising eight rooms was destroyed.
Information from both schools showed that students were not skilled in fire safety precautions; hence they were helpless in their situations.
According to some survivors at the GGSS, Jogana, who spoke to Daily Trust on the condition of anonymity, most of the deceased were not actually killed by the fire itself, but a stampede that took place during the incidence.
One of them said most of the deceased were pulled down by their colleagues while attempting to escape, a situation that variously led to suffocation.
“I think we were over 500 in the hostel; and only one door was left open the very night the incident took place. When the fire started, we all rushed to the only available door for safety. That was what caused the stampede that led to the death of seven students,” she explained, adding that the stampede could have been avoided and casualties minimised if the other doors were left open.
Daily Trust gathered that not even one student in the affected hostels could salvage his or her belongings.
When the deputy governor of the state, Professor Hafiz Abubakar paid separate visits to the schools, the affected students pleaded for assistance from government to enable them replace their belongings.
In response to their appeals, the Kano State government had, few days after the incidents, provided some relief materials, including mattresses, blankets, mosquito nets, plastic buckets, among others things, to the affected students.
The government also set up two separate teams, comprising officials of the Ministry of Education and the Kano State Senior Secondary Schools Management Board (KSSSSMB), to establish the immediate and remote causes of the fire incidents.
 The committees were also mandated to assess the damaged properties and come up with estimates for repairs.
It was in respect of the committees’ findings and recommendations that the State Executive Council, on Wednesday, December 23, 2015, approved the release of N62, 814,682.53 for the two affected schools.
The state Commissioner for Information, Alhaji Muhammad Garba, who briefed journalists on the outcome of the council meeting, said N51, 690,732.53 was meant for renovation of the burnt hostels in the two affected schools. GGSS, Jogana got the sum of N20, 564,313.33, while GSS, Kwankwaso received N31, 126,419.20.
The council, he added, also approved the sum of N11, 123,950.00 as assistance to students of the two schools who lost their properties, replacement of burnt beds and other materials in the two schools.
He also said that part of the money would be used to assist the families of the seven deceased students, 16 injured students discharged from hospitals and two matrons who equally lost their properties to the fire.
Garba said that although the donation was not meant to compensate the lives lost, the gesture would alleviate the sufferings of the affected families and the students.
“Government is aware that some students lost their properties to the fire. The money donated will allow them recover their lost belongings,” he said.
He added that government had already shouldered the hospital bills of the injured victims of the disaster.
The commissioner urged the managements of the two affected schools to use the funds for the purposes they were meant for, as according to him, government will not condone any form of misappropriation.
He said, “Government is committed to the development of education in the state because of the numerous challenges facing it, especially the issue of fund. Government will continue to invest in the sector.”
Some of the survivors of the incidents who sustained severe burns were admitted at the Murtala Muhammad Specialist Hospital.
However, some teachers at the GGSS, Jogana, have called on the government to decongest the Alhaji Sani Yaro Ahmed Hostel as a measure towards averting any unforeseen disaster in the school.