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The Senate has urged the police to investigate the circumstances leading to the death of a toddler, Master David Udo, in a creche at a nursery school in Aba, Abia.
This followed the adoption of a motion on “Urgent need to mandate schools to locate their creche and nursery classes to ground floors of their high-rise buildings and implement safety protocols, by Sen. Adebule Oluranti (APC-Lagos) on Monday in Abuja.
Presenting the motion, Oluranti said that Udo died on Oct. 24 after failing from a building at the Emerald International School Aba, Abia.
She said that the incident brought to the fore the issue of safety in schools particularly for babies and toddlers in creche and nursery schools in Nigeria.
“The ultimate is for investigations to cause state policy direction that will permanently prevent recurrence of these heinous accidents,” she said.
She expressed concern that state policies or school operators and managers were expected to display duty of care and ensure that babies and toddlers under their care were properly monitored and prevented from falling off high-rise buildings in their premises.
She said that the case of Udo was pathetic and heart-breaking that required the Senate to critically look into the safety issues and protocols in schools across the country, including school building and facilities design and arrangement.
Sen.Victor Umeh (LP-Anambra) said the death of the toddler had exposed negligence in the systems by relevant authorities.
”What we are suffering in this country is lack of control and design approval.
“We cannot build a house that will not pass building approval,building of schools must pass through the approval.”
Umeh commended the sponsor of the motion, describing her as a nationalist, though from Lagos state, but sponsored a motion of human interest that occurred in Abia.
Sen Abba Moro (PDP-Benue) also called for proper design of school structures.
Senate thereafter, observed a minute silence in honour of the deceased.
Senate also urged the Federal and State Ministries of Education to enforce safety protocols in schools as enshrined in the National Policy on Safety, Security and violence-free Schools and lasting its implementation guidelines.
