A National Youth Service Corps member Ahmed Bello, who was supervising one of the West African Examinations Council papers that held at the Government Secondary School, Namnai in Gassol Local Government Area of Taraba State, has relieved to KUKURUKU the pain and trauma the students and exams supervisors suffered when the walls of their classroom came crashing mid-exam, turning an ordinary test into a fight for survival of life.
For the students of Government Secondary School, Namnai in Gassol Local Government Area of Taraba State, May 28 was meant to be just another examination day a step closer to their dreams.
Instead, it became a nightmare of blood, screams, and shattered hopes as the walls of their classroom came crashing mid-exam, turning an ordinary test into a fight for survival.
KUKURUKU reports that it was around 6 pm. when the wind began to roar like a wounded beast. Rain slashed across the landscape, and before anyone could blink, the aging classroom structure already sagged from years of neglect and poor architectural and civil engineering work groaned and gave way, burying students under timber, bricks, and twisted metal.
I heard a loud crack, and the next thing, the roof flew away,” recalled Ahmed Bello, a National Youth Service Corps member posted to the school who was invigilating one of the exams said.
Walls began collapsing. I heard students crying, some calling for help, and others completely silent. I thought I was going to die.”
Bello’s voice quivered as he recounted how he struggled to pull out three students trapped under the debris of the collapsed wall, submerged under broken desks.
There was blood everywhere. One of the girls wasn’t moving. I thought she was gone.”
That girl was Fatima Jatau, 17, a science student with dreams of becoming a nurse. She lay trapped beneath shattered beams, her leg torn open by a sheet of rusted roofing.
Her father, Mr. Habila Jatau was among the first to visit the scene after hearing the news.
“I ran like a madman,” he told our correspondent as tears filled his eyes.
“When I found her, she was bleeding and shaking. She kept saying, ‘Daddy, don’t let me die.’ I will never forget that moment.”
Fatima is one of several students currently receiving treatment at the town’s only Primary Healthcare Centre.
One of the staff said they are overwhelmed, battling to care for the wounded with limited supplies and no power supply.
Inside the clinic, another girl, her uniform soaked and torn, her arm bound tightly in a sling sat silently, staring into the vacant space. Her older brother, too angry to speak calmly, said the school’s collapse was not a tragedy but a crime.
They knew that building was a death trap,” he said, his voice rising. “How many warnings do they need before they act? This was no accident. It was neglect.”
Another parent, refusing to give his name, added bitterly, “Are they waiting for coffins before they fix schools? This could’ve led to a mass burial. Our children are not disposable.”
Not a few education sector stakeholders blamed the school and the government for negligence, just as several others in the community say the tragedy could have been prevented.
According to Alhaji DanAzumi Lauris, one of the elders in Gassol, “That classroom has been crumbling for years. We begged the government to help.
They sent people once to inspect it, but nothing was done. Yesterday, the building answered for their silence.”
Our correspondent, during a visit to the community, further observed that the storm didn’t spare the rest of Namnai either as homes were destroyed, trees uprooted, and livestock scattered.
But it was the school that took the worst hit, and the children dealt the cruellest blow.
KUKURUKU learnt that even in the state capital, Wednesday’s heavy rainfall also trapped several students in exam centers, with some unable to go home until 1am midnight.
In some schools, WAEC papers didn’t arrive until nightfall, forcing students to sit for their exams under flashlights as water dripped from leaking roofs.
Reacting to the Namnai collapse, Dr. Augustina Godwin, Taraba’s Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, visited the scene on Thursday morning.
She praised the swift action of the local residents who rescued the trapped victims and pledged immediate government support.
This is heartbreaking,” she said. “We will ensure that the affected students get the care they need. We are also launching an urgent review of infrastructure in all public schools across the state.”
Meanwhile, several of the residents told our correspondent that they were weary from the many years of promises not matched with action.
They lamented the government’s poor attention to the welfare of the residents and insisted that they wouldn’t hold their breath.
According to Jubril Mathias, a teacher who works in another government secondary but resides within the community, “this is yet another promise.”
We have heard it all before,” sighed Mr. Jatau, looking down at Fatima’s bandaged leg. “They always come with sympathy after the storm. What we want is action before the next disaster occurs.
Well, let’s pray that as the dust settles in Namnai, the trauma of that evening will not easily fade. For students like Fatima, the sound of wind and rain may forever be linked with fear and the sight of a falling ceiling with the pain of being forgotten.
In the exam hall that should have symbolised their future, only debris remains. But so do questions unanswered, urgent, and echoing through the silence,” Jatau remarked.
