Liketheir counterparts across the country, many residents of Ilorin, Kwara State, went to bed on August 31, looking forward to September as the beginning of a new chapter.On September 1, the first call to prayer had just been made at a mosque near Popo-Giwa in Ilorin, Kwara State, when Mallam Kudus Olarewaju began contemplating whether to get up and perform ablution.It was a few minutes after 5 am on that Tuesday and, like many residents of the area, Olarewaju was preparing for the early morning prayer.Nothing suggested that the next few minutes would turn his family home into a scene of death and mourning.Then, suddenly, he heard a loud sound. “Gbaa!” The sound jolted everyone awake.“I was inside the building. It was early hours of this morning, precisely some minutes after 5 am. The first call to prayer had been made by the Ladan,” Olarewaju recalled while speaking toSunday PUNCHabout the incident.“I was contemplating going to the toilet to perform ablution. Thank God that I had not moved close to the toilet before I heard a loud sound.“Everybody woke up immediately, but I could not see anything because dust had covered everything, and I did not know what to do because I did not know what had happened,” he said.It was only after the dust began to settle that Olarewaju realised that the boys’ quarters attached to the main building had collapsed.Trapped beneath the rubbleEight members of the family had been inside the affected portion of the building and were trapped beneath the rubble.The building, located at No. 41 Popo-Giwa Street, beside Gogoro Mosque in Ilorin West Local Government Area, had been home to the family for decades.For more than 70 years, according to Olarewaju, the structure had provided shelter for members of the family.But on that fateful day, a section of the ageing three-storey building suddenly gave way, burying family members who had only just woken up for the day’s first prayer.Olarewaju’s younger brother, a Staff Sergeant in the Nigerian Army, was among those trapped.“He was also awake and about to perform his ablution too. He was the first person to be rescued alive,” Olarewaju said.The rescue of his brother should have brought relief. Instead, it became the beginning of a desperate wait for the other members of the family.As news of the collapse spread through the community, residents rushed to the scene while emergency responders and security personnel began searching through the debris for signs of life.An eyewitness, Abdulganiy Musa, toldSunday PUNCHthat the father of the family was a serving soldier while the mother worked as a casual staff member at the Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies, Ilorin.Musa said rescuers were engaged in frantic efforts to evacuate those trapped under the collapsed structure.A child identified as Firdaus, the second-to-last born of the family, was among those rescued alive as emergency responders intensified the operation.The Kwara State Fire Service said it received a distress call at about 5 am reporting that a building had collapsed and people were trapped underneath.The agency immediately mobilised to the scene and commenced a search-and-rescue operation.An excavator was later deployed to assist rescuers in removing the debris and gaining access to the remaining trapped victims.Several emergency and security agencies, including the State Emergency Management Agency, the National Emergency Management Agency, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, the police, health officials and the Red Cross, were involved in the operation.Six to seven ambulances were also deployed to evacuate victims for medical attention, according to the Chairman of Ilorin West Local Government Area, AbdulRahman Babatunde Ladan.Five dead, four survivorsThe operation eventually produced four survivors. Four other people were recovered from the rubble and initially confirmed dead. But the casualty figure would later change.Some of the rescued victims had been rushed to hospital, where they received treatment for injuries sustained in the collapse.By the following day, the death toll had risen to five after another victim died from injuries sustained in the disaster.The five victims were identified as a mother and her four children.They were subsequently buried according to Islamic rites at the Muslim Cemetery in Oko-Olowo, Ilorin, less than 24 hours after the bodies were recovered from the rubble.The father and two surviving children remained in hospital receiving treatment.The tragedy was particularly painful for Olarewaju, who had initially struggled to establish the extent of the family’s losses while victims were being taken to different hospitals.“From all indications, from the information I am getting from those in the hospital, we have lost five of them,” he said.Related NewsOlukoyede’s ledger without a witnessPlateau shuts schools over diphtheria outbreakWhy traders shouldn’t use detergent to wash fruits – Nutritionists“I have lost my children; I lost their mother and four of them. Only my brother, who is a Staff Sergeant in the Nigerian Army, is alive. I have lost five of them according to the information I got from those in the hospital; others are responding to treatment.”His account initially differed from the official casualty figure released by emergency authorities during the rescue operation.The Kwara State Fire Service had confirmed four deaths and four survivors at the scene.“We have recovered four people dead and rescued four people alive,” the Public Relations Officer of the Kwara State Fire Service, Hassan Adekunle, toldSunday PUNCHduring the operation.Adekunle said the agency’s immediate priority was to rescue the trapped occupants.“We immediately mobilised to the scene and commenced rescue operation. This kind of situation is not something the fire service can handle alone,” he said.He added that officials of the Hospitals Management Board, the NSCDC and other emergency agencies joined the operation.Authorities speakThe Kwara State Emergency Management Agency also confirmed that eight people were trapped in the building, with four rescued alive and four initially confirmed dead.Its Secretary, Magaji Saadudeen, said the rescued victims were receiving treatment while the bodies recovered from the rubble had been evacuated.“The rescued persons are receiving treatment presently,” Saadudeen said.As the emergency operation progressed, attention turned to the safety of the remaining structure.The Commissioner of Police, Kwara State Command, Adekimi Ojo, described the structure as a three-storey building and said the portion that collapsed was the boys’ quarters.“It was a three-storey building that collapsed. Our findings showed that the boys’ quarters of the building collapsed. Information gathered revealed that eight people were trapped in the building,” he said.“For now, the situation is under control. We will examine the remaining building and see how people can be secured. But for now, we have evacuated everybody from the main building.”The remaining portion was subsequently declared unsafe after an integrity assessment, with the family agreeing to demolish the structure.The decision brought to an end the immediate question of whether the old building could continue to accommodate residents.The building had reportedly stood for decades, but its age, condition and structural integrity became subjects of renewed concern following the collapse.The Chairman of the Kwara State Technical Committee of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, Bashir Lawal, called for a comprehensive audit of old and ageing buildings across the state to prevent a recurrence.The development also renewed calls for residents to report visible signs of structural weakness and evacuate buildings whenever they notice conditions that could threaten their safety.Representing Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq at the scene, the state Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Lawal Olohungbebe, described the incident as unfortunate and commiserated with the victims’ families.“The rescue mission began immediately after the collapse and, to the Grace of God, some were rescued, but unfortunately, we have to take it as this,” he said.Olohungbebe stressed the importance of accessible roads in residential areas, saying the access route to the building contributed to the ease with which emergency responders reached the scene.“One of the things that made it very easy for us to rescue the few people we were able to rescue is the access route,” he said.He urged residents and developers to respect building and town-planning regulations, particularly those relating to access roads.The commissioner commended the Ministries of Health and Environment, COREN, SEMA, NEMA, the Fire Service, Civil Defence, the Red Cross and other responders for their intervention.Ladan, who monitored the rescue operation, also commended the emergency agencies and residents for their prompt response.He urged residents to report structural defects promptly and evacuate buildings whenever they notice signs of possible collapse.“Whenever you discover something like this, please escalate it. Get to the point of evacuating yourself and your family members from that building. Life is the priority,” he said.He also advised prospective developers to use quality construction materials and engage qualified professionals to supervise their projects.But behind the official statements, casualty figures and emergency operations were the story of one family whose morning began like any other.For Olarewaju, the tragedy was not merely the collapse of an old building. It was the sudden loss of his children, their mother and other members of his family; the destruction of a home that had sheltered generations; and the beginning of an uncertain future for those left behind.“The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. On September 1, the first call to prayer had just been made at a mosque near Popo-Giwa in Ilorin, Kwara State, when Mallam Kudus Olarewaju began contemplating whether to get up and perform ablution.It was a few minutes after 5 am on that Tuesday and, like many residents of the area, Olarewaju was preparing for the early morning prayer.Nothing suggested that the next few minutes would turn his family home into a scene of death and mourning.Then, suddenly, he heard a loud sound. “Gbaa!” The sound jolted everyone awake.“I was inside the building. It was early hours of this morning, precisely some minutes after 5 am. The first call to prayer had been made by the Ladan,” Olarewaju recalled while speaking toSunday PUNCHabout the incident.“I was contemplating going to the toilet to perform ablution. Thank God that I had not moved close to the toilet before I heard a loud sound.“Everybody woke up immediately, but I could not see anything because dust had covered everything, and I did not know what to do because I did not know what had happened,” he said.It was only after the dust began to settle that Olarewaju realised that the boys’ quarters attached to the main building had collapsed.Trapped beneath the rubbleEight members of the family had been inside the affected portion of the building and were trapped beneath the rubble.The building, located at No. 41 Popo-Giwa Street, beside Gogoro Mosque in Ilorin West Local Government Area, had been home to the family for decades.For more than 70 years, according to Olarewaju, the structure had provided shelter for members of the family.But on that fateful day, a section of the ageing three-storey building suddenly gave way, burying family members who had only just woken up for the day’s first prayer.Olarewaju’s younger brother, a Staff Sergeant in the Nigerian Army, was among those trapped.“He was also awake and about to perform his ablution too. He was the first person to be rescued alive,” Olarewaju said.The rescue of his brother should have brought relief. Instead, it became the beginning of a desperate wait for the other members of the family.As news of the collapse spread through the community, residents rushed to the scene while emergency responders and security personnel began searching through the debris for signs of life.An eyewitness, Abdulganiy Musa, toldSunday PUNCHthat the father of the family was a serving soldier while the mother worked as a casual staff member at the Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies, Ilorin.Musa said rescuers were engaged in frantic efforts to evacuate those trapped under the collapsed structure.A child identified as Firdaus, the second-to-last born of the family, was among those rescued alive as emergency responders intensified the operation.The Kwara State Fire Service said it received a distress call at about 5 am reporting that a building had collapsed and people were trapped underneath.The agency immediately mobilised to the scene and commenced a search-and-rescue operation.An excavator was later deployed to assist rescuers in removing the debris and gaining access to the remaining trapped victims.Several emergency and security agencies, including the State Emergency Management Agency, the National Emergency Management Agency, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, the police, health officials and the Red Cross, were involved in the operation.Six to seven ambulances were also deployed to evacuate victims for medical attention, according to the Chairman of Ilorin West Local Government Area, AbdulRahman Babatunde Ladan.Five dead, four survivorsThe operation eventually produced four survivors. Four other people were recovered from the rubble and initially confirmed dead. But the casualty figure would later change.Some of the rescued victims had been rushed to hospital, where they received treatment for injuries sustained in the collapse.By the following day, the death toll had risen to five after another victim died from injuries sustained in the disaster.The five victims were identified as a mother and her four children.They were subsequently buried according to Islamic rites at the Muslim Cemetery in Oko-Olowo, Ilorin, less than 24 hours after the bodies were recovered from the rubble.The father and two surviving children remained in hospital receiving treatment.The tragedy was particularly painful for Olarewaju, who had initially struggled to establish the extent of the family’s losses while victims were being taken to different hospitals.“From all indications, from the information I am getting from those in the hospital, we have lost five of them,” he said.Related NewsOlukoyede’s ledger without a witnessPlateau shuts schools over diphtheria outbreakWhy traders shouldn’t use detergent to wash fruits – Nutritionists“I have lost my children; I lost their mother and four of them. Only my brother, who is a Staff Sergeant in the Nigerian Army, is alive. I have lost five of them according to the information I got from those in the hospital; others are responding to treatment.”His account initially differed from the official casualty figure released by emergency authorities during the rescue operation.The Kwara State Fire Service had confirmed four deaths and four survivors at the scene.“We have recovered four people dead and rescued four people alive,” the Public Relations Officer of the Kwara State Fire Service, Hassan Adekunle, toldSunday PUNCHduring the operation.Adekunle said the agency’s immediate priority was to rescue the trapped occupants.“We immediately mobilised to the scene and commenced rescue operation. This kind of situation is not something the fire service can handle alone,” he said.He added that officials of the Hospitals Management Board, the NSCDC and other emergency agencies joined the operation.Authorities speakThe Kwara State Emergency Management Agency also confirmed that eight people were trapped in the building, with four rescued alive and four initially confirmed dead.Its Secretary, Magaji Saadudeen, said the rescued victims were receiving treatment while the bodies recovered from the rubble had been evacuated.“The rescued persons are receiving treatment presently,” Saadudeen said.As the emergency operation progressed, attention turned to the safety of the remaining structure.The Commissioner of Police, Kwara State Command, Adekimi Ojo, described the structure as a three-storey building and said the portion that collapsed was the boys’ quarters.“It was a three-storey building that collapsed. Our findings showed that the boys’ quarters of the building collapsed. Information gathered revealed that eight people were trapped in the building,” he said.“For now, the situation is under control. We will examine the remaining building and see how people can be secured. But for now, we have evacuated everybody from the main building.”The remaining portion was subsequently declared unsafe after an integrity assessment, with the family agreeing to demolish the structure.The decision brought to an end the immediate question of whether the old building could continue to accommodate residents.The building had reportedly stood for decades, but its age, condition and structural integrity became subjects of renewed concern following the collapse.The Chairman of the Kwara State Technical Committee of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, Bashir Lawal, called for a comprehensive audit of old and ageing buildings across the state to prevent a recurrence.The development also renewed calls for residents to report visible signs of structural weakness and evacuate buildings whenever they notice conditions that could threaten their safety.Representing Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq at the scene, the state Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Lawal Olohungbebe, described the incident as unfortunate and commiserated with the victims’ families.“The rescue mission began immediately after the collapse and, to the Grace of God, some were rescued, but unfortunately, we have to take it as this,” he said.Olohungbebe stressed the importance of accessible roads in residential areas, saying the access route to the building contributed to the ease with which emergency responders reached the scene.“One of the things that made it very easy for us to rescue the few people we were able to rescue is the access route,” he said.He urged residents and developers to respect building and town-planning regulations, particularly those relating to access roads.The commissioner commended the Ministries of Health and Environment, COREN, SEMA, NEMA, the Fire Service, Civil Defence, the Red Cross and other responders for their intervention.Ladan, who monitored the rescue operation, also commended the emergency agencies and residents for their prompt response.He urged residents to report structural defects promptly and evacuate buildings whenever they notice signs of possible collapse.“Whenever you discover something like this, please escalate it. Get to the point of evacuating yourself and your family members from that building. Life is the priority,” he said.He also advised prospective developers to use quality construction materials and engage qualified professionals to supervise their projects.But behind the official statements, casualty figures and emergency operations were the story of one family whose morning began like any other.For Olarewaju, the tragedy was not merely the collapse of an old building. It was the sudden loss of his children, their mother and other members of his family; the destruction of a home that had sheltered generations; and the beginning of an uncertain future for those left behind.“The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. It was a few minutes after 5 am on that Tuesday and, like many residents of the area, Olarewaju was preparing for the early morning prayer.Nothing suggested that the next few minutes would turn his family home into a scene of death and mourning.Then, suddenly, he heard a loud sound. “Gbaa!” The sound jolted everyone awake.“I was inside the building. It was early hours of this morning, precisely some minutes after 5 am. The first call to prayer had been made by the Ladan,” Olarewaju recalled while speaking toSunday PUNCHabout the incident.“I was contemplating going to the toilet to perform ablution. Thank God that I had not moved close to the toilet before I heard a loud sound.“Everybody woke up immediately, but I could not see anything because dust had covered everything, and I did not know what to do because I did not know what had happened,” he said.It was only after the dust began to settle that Olarewaju realised that the boys’ quarters attached to the main building had collapsed.Trapped beneath the rubbleEight members of the family had been inside the affected portion of the building and were trapped beneath the rubble.The building, located at No. 41 Popo-Giwa Street, beside Gogoro Mosque in Ilorin West Local Government Area, had been home to the family for decades.For more than 70 years, according to Olarewaju, the structure had provided shelter for members of the family.But on that fateful day, a section of the ageing three-storey building suddenly gave way, burying family members who had only just woken up for the day’s first prayer.Olarewaju’s younger brother, a Staff Sergeant in the Nigerian Army, was among those trapped.“He was also awake and about to perform his ablution too. He was the first person to be rescued alive,” Olarewaju said.The rescue of his brother should have brought relief. Instead, it became the beginning of a desperate wait for the other members of the family.As news of the collapse spread through the community, residents rushed to the scene while emergency responders and security personnel began searching through the debris for signs of life.An eyewitness, Abdulganiy Musa, toldSunday PUNCHthat the father of the family was a serving soldier while the mother worked as a casual staff member at the Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies, Ilorin.Musa said rescuers were engaged in frantic efforts to evacuate those trapped under the collapsed structure.A child identified as Firdaus, the second-to-last born of the family, was among those rescued alive as emergency responders intensified the operation.The Kwara State Fire Service said it received a distress call at about 5 am reporting that a building had collapsed and people were trapped underneath.The agency immediately mobilised to the scene and commenced a search-and-rescue operation.An excavator was later deployed to assist rescuers in removing the debris and gaining access to the remaining trapped victims.Several emergency and security agencies, including the State Emergency Management Agency, the National Emergency Management Agency, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, the police, health officials and the Red Cross, were involved in the operation.Six to seven ambulances were also deployed to evacuate victims for medical attention, according to the Chairman of Ilorin West Local Government Area, AbdulRahman Babatunde Ladan.Five dead, four survivorsThe operation eventually produced four survivors. Four other people were recovered from the rubble and initially confirmed dead. But the casualty figure would later change.Some of the rescued victims had been rushed to hospital, where they received treatment for injuries sustained in the collapse.By the following day, the death toll had risen to five after another victim died from injuries sustained in the disaster.The five victims were identified as a mother and her four children.They were subsequently buried according to Islamic rites at the Muslim Cemetery in Oko-Olowo, Ilorin, less than 24 hours after the bodies were recovered from the rubble.The father and two surviving children remained in hospital receiving treatment.The tragedy was particularly painful for Olarewaju, who had initially struggled to establish the extent of the family’s losses while victims were being taken to different hospitals.“From all indications, from the information I am getting from those in the hospital, we have lost five of them,” he said.Related NewsOlukoyede’s ledger without a witnessPlateau shuts schools over diphtheria outbreakWhy traders shouldn’t use detergent to wash fruits – Nutritionists“I have lost my children; I lost their mother and four of them. Only my brother, who is a Staff Sergeant in the Nigerian Army, is alive. I have lost five of them according to the information I got from those in the hospital; others are responding to treatment.”His account initially differed from the official casualty figure released by emergency authorities during the rescue operation.The Kwara State Fire Service had confirmed four deaths and four survivors at the scene.“We have recovered four people dead and rescued four people alive,” the Public Relations Officer of the Kwara State Fire Service, Hassan Adekunle, toldSunday PUNCHduring the operation.Adekunle said the agency’s immediate priority was to rescue the trapped occupants.“We immediately mobilised to the scene and commenced rescue operation. This kind of situation is not something the fire service can handle alone,” he said.He added that officials of the Hospitals Management Board, the NSCDC and other emergency agencies joined the operation.Authorities speakThe Kwara State Emergency Management Agency also confirmed that eight people were trapped in the building, with four rescued alive and four initially confirmed dead.Its Secretary, Magaji Saadudeen, said the rescued victims were receiving treatment while the bodies recovered from the rubble had been evacuated.“The rescued persons are receiving treatment presently,” Saadudeen said.As the emergency operation progressed, attention turned to the safety of the remaining structure.The Commissioner of Police, Kwara State Command, Adekimi Ojo, described the structure as a three-storey building and said the portion that collapsed was the boys’ quarters.“It was a three-storey building that collapsed. Our findings showed that the boys’ quarters of the building collapsed. Information gathered revealed that eight people were trapped in the building,” he said.“For now, the situation is under control. We will examine the remaining building and see how people can be secured. But for now, we have evacuated everybody from the main building.”The remaining portion was subsequently declared unsafe after an integrity assessment, with the family agreeing to demolish the structure.The decision brought to an end the immediate question of whether the old building could continue to accommodate residents.The building had reportedly stood for decades, but its age, condition and structural integrity became subjects of renewed concern following the collapse.The Chairman of the Kwara State Technical Committee of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, Bashir Lawal, called for a comprehensive audit of old and ageing buildings across the state to prevent a recurrence.The development also renewed calls for residents to report visible signs of structural weakness and evacuate buildings whenever they notice conditions that could threaten their safety.Representing Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq at the scene, the state Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Lawal Olohungbebe, described the incident as unfortunate and commiserated with the victims’ families.“The rescue mission began immediately after the collapse and, to the Grace of God, some were rescued, but unfortunately, we have to take it as this,” he said.Olohungbebe stressed the importance of accessible roads in residential areas, saying the access route to the building contributed to the ease with which emergency responders reached the scene.“One of the things that made it very easy for us to rescue the few people we were able to rescue is the access route,” he said.He urged residents and developers to respect building and town-planning regulations, particularly those relating to access roads.The commissioner commended the Ministries of Health and Environment, COREN, SEMA, NEMA, the Fire Service, Civil Defence, the Red Cross and other responders for their intervention.Ladan, who monitored the rescue operation, also commended the emergency agencies and residents for their prompt response.He urged residents to report structural defects promptly and evacuate buildings whenever they notice signs of possible collapse.“Whenever you discover something like this, please escalate it. Get to the point of evacuating yourself and your family members from that building. Life is the priority,” he said.He also advised prospective developers to use quality construction materials and engage qualified professionals to supervise their projects.But behind the official statements, casualty figures and emergency operations were the story of one family whose morning began like any other.For Olarewaju, the tragedy was not merely the collapse of an old building. It was the sudden loss of his children, their mother and other members of his family; the destruction of a home that had sheltered generations; and the beginning of an uncertain future for those left behind.“The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. Nothing suggested that the next few minutes would turn his family home into a scene of death and mourning.Then, suddenly, he heard a loud sound. “Gbaa!” The sound jolted everyone awake.“I was inside the building. It was early hours of this morning, precisely some minutes after 5 am. The first call to prayer had been made by the Ladan,” Olarewaju recalled while speaking toSunday PUNCHabout the incident.“I was contemplating going to the toilet to perform ablution. Thank God that I had not moved close to the toilet before I heard a loud sound.“Everybody woke up immediately, but I could not see anything because dust had covered everything, and I did not know what to do because I did not know what had happened,” he said.It was only after the dust began to settle that Olarewaju realised that the boys’ quarters attached to the main building had collapsed.Trapped beneath the rubbleEight members of the family had been inside the affected portion of the building and were trapped beneath the rubble.The building, located at No. 41 Popo-Giwa Street, beside Gogoro Mosque in Ilorin West Local Government Area, had been home to the family for decades.For more than 70 years, according to Olarewaju, the structure had provided shelter for members of the family.But on that fateful day, a section of the ageing three-storey building suddenly gave way, burying family members who had only just woken up for the day’s first prayer.Olarewaju’s younger brother, a Staff Sergeant in the Nigerian Army, was among those trapped.“He was also awake and about to perform his ablution too. He was the first person to be rescued alive,” Olarewaju said.The rescue of his brother should have brought relief. Instead, it became the beginning of a desperate wait for the other members of the family.As news of the collapse spread through the community, residents rushed to the scene while emergency responders and security personnel began searching through the debris for signs of life.An eyewitness, Abdulganiy Musa, toldSunday PUNCHthat the father of the family was a serving soldier while the mother worked as a casual staff member at the Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies, Ilorin.Musa said rescuers were engaged in frantic efforts to evacuate those trapped under the collapsed structure.A child identified as Firdaus, the second-to-last born of the family, was among those rescued alive as emergency responders intensified the operation.The Kwara State Fire Service said it received a distress call at about 5 am reporting that a building had collapsed and people were trapped underneath.The agency immediately mobilised to the scene and commenced a search-and-rescue operation.An excavator was later deployed to assist rescuers in removing the debris and gaining access to the remaining trapped victims.Several emergency and security agencies, including the State Emergency Management Agency, the National Emergency Management Agency, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, the police, health officials and the Red Cross, were involved in the operation.Six to seven ambulances were also deployed to evacuate victims for medical attention, according to the Chairman of Ilorin West Local Government Area, AbdulRahman Babatunde Ladan.Five dead, four survivorsThe operation eventually produced four survivors. Four other people were recovered from the rubble and initially confirmed dead. But the casualty figure would later change.Some of the rescued victims had been rushed to hospital, where they received treatment for injuries sustained in the collapse.By the following day, the death toll had risen to five after another victim died from injuries sustained in the disaster.The five victims were identified as a mother and her four children.They were subsequently buried according to Islamic rites at the Muslim Cemetery in Oko-Olowo, Ilorin, less than 24 hours after the bodies were recovered from the rubble.The father and two surviving children remained in hospital receiving treatment.The tragedy was particularly painful for Olarewaju, who had initially struggled to establish the extent of the family’s losses while victims were being taken to different hospitals.“From all indications, from the information I am getting from those in the hospital, we have lost five of them,” he said.Related NewsOlukoyede’s ledger without a witnessPlateau shuts schools over diphtheria outbreakWhy traders shouldn’t use detergent to wash fruits – Nutritionists“I have lost my children; I lost their mother and four of them. Only my brother, who is a Staff Sergeant in the Nigerian Army, is alive. I have lost five of them according to the information I got from those in the hospital; others are responding to treatment.”His account initially differed from the official casualty figure released by emergency authorities during the rescue operation.The Kwara State Fire Service had confirmed four deaths and four survivors at the scene.“We have recovered four people dead and rescued four people alive,” the Public Relations Officer of the Kwara State Fire Service, Hassan Adekunle, toldSunday PUNCHduring the operation.Adekunle said the agency’s immediate priority was to rescue the trapped occupants.“We immediately mobilised to the scene and commenced rescue operation. This kind of situation is not something the fire service can handle alone,” he said.He added that officials of the Hospitals Management Board, the NSCDC and other emergency agencies joined the operation.Authorities speakThe Kwara State Emergency Management Agency also confirmed that eight people were trapped in the building, with four rescued alive and four initially confirmed dead.Its Secretary, Magaji Saadudeen, said the rescued victims were receiving treatment while the bodies recovered from the rubble had been evacuated.“The rescued persons are receiving treatment presently,” Saadudeen said.As the emergency operation progressed, attention turned to the safety of the remaining structure.The Commissioner of Police, Kwara State Command, Adekimi Ojo, described the structure as a three-storey building and said the portion that collapsed was the boys’ quarters.“It was a three-storey building that collapsed. Our findings showed that the boys’ quarters of the building collapsed. Information gathered revealed that eight people were trapped in the building,” he said.“For now, the situation is under control. We will examine the remaining building and see how people can be secured. But for now, we have evacuated everybody from the main building.”The remaining portion was subsequently declared unsafe after an integrity assessment, with the family agreeing to demolish the structure.The decision brought to an end the immediate question of whether the old building could continue to accommodate residents.The building had reportedly stood for decades, but its age, condition and structural integrity became subjects of renewed concern following the collapse.The Chairman of the Kwara State Technical Committee of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, Bashir Lawal, called for a comprehensive audit of old and ageing buildings across the state to prevent a recurrence.The development also renewed calls for residents to report visible signs of structural weakness and evacuate buildings whenever they notice conditions that could threaten their safety.Representing Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq at the scene, the state Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Lawal Olohungbebe, described the incident as unfortunate and commiserated with the victims’ families.“The rescue mission began immediately after the collapse and, to the Grace of God, some were rescued, but unfortunately, we have to take it as this,” he said.Olohungbebe stressed the importance of accessible roads in residential areas, saying the access route to the building contributed to the ease with which emergency responders reached the scene.“One of the things that made it very easy for us to rescue the few people we were able to rescue is the access route,” he said.He urged residents and developers to respect building and town-planning regulations, particularly those relating to access roads.The commissioner commended the Ministries of Health and Environment, COREN, SEMA, NEMA, the Fire Service, Civil Defence, the Red Cross and other responders for their intervention.Ladan, who monitored the rescue operation, also commended the emergency agencies and residents for their prompt response.He urged residents to report structural defects promptly and evacuate buildings whenever they notice signs of possible collapse.“Whenever you discover something like this, please escalate it. Get to the point of evacuating yourself and your family members from that building. Life is the priority,” he said.He also advised prospective developers to use quality construction materials and engage qualified professionals to supervise their projects.But behind the official statements, casualty figures and emergency operations were the story of one family whose morning began like any other.For Olarewaju, the tragedy was not merely the collapse of an old building. It was the sudden loss of his children, their mother and other members of his family; the destruction of a home that had sheltered generations; and the beginning of an uncertain future for those left behind.“The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. Then, suddenly, he heard a loud sound. “Gbaa!” The sound jolted everyone awake.“I was inside the building. It was early hours of this morning, precisely some minutes after 5 am. The first call to prayer had been made by the Ladan,” Olarewaju recalled while speaking toSunday PUNCHabout the incident.“I was contemplating going to the toilet to perform ablution. Thank God that I had not moved close to the toilet before I heard a loud sound.“Everybody woke up immediately, but I could not see anything because dust had covered everything, and I did not know what to do because I did not know what had happened,” he said.It was only after the dust began to settle that Olarewaju realised that the boys’ quarters attached to the main building had collapsed.Trapped beneath the rubbleEight members of the family had been inside the affected portion of the building and were trapped beneath the rubble.The building, located at No. 41 Popo-Giwa Street, beside Gogoro Mosque in Ilorin West Local Government Area, had been home to the family for decades.For more than 70 years, according to Olarewaju, the structure had provided shelter for members of the family.But on that fateful day, a section of the ageing three-storey building suddenly gave way, burying family members who had only just woken up for the day’s first prayer.Olarewaju’s younger brother, a Staff Sergeant in the Nigerian Army, was among those trapped.“He was also awake and about to perform his ablution too. He was the first person to be rescued alive,” Olarewaju said.The rescue of his brother should have brought relief. Instead, it became the beginning of a desperate wait for the other members of the family.As news of the collapse spread through the community, residents rushed to the scene while emergency responders and security personnel began searching through the debris for signs of life.An eyewitness, Abdulganiy Musa, toldSunday PUNCHthat the father of the family was a serving soldier while the mother worked as a casual staff member at the Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies, Ilorin.Musa said rescuers were engaged in frantic efforts to evacuate those trapped under the collapsed structure.A child identified as Firdaus, the second-to-last born of the family, was among those rescued alive as emergency responders intensified the operation.The Kwara State Fire Service said it received a distress call at about 5 am reporting that a building had collapsed and people were trapped underneath.The agency immediately mobilised to the scene and commenced a search-and-rescue operation.An excavator was later deployed to assist rescuers in removing the debris and gaining access to the remaining trapped victims.Several emergency and security agencies, including the State Emergency Management Agency, the National Emergency Management Agency, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, the police, health officials and the Red Cross, were involved in the operation.Six to seven ambulances were also deployed to evacuate victims for medical attention, according to the Chairman of Ilorin West Local Government Area, AbdulRahman Babatunde Ladan.Five dead, four survivorsThe operation eventually produced four survivors. Four other people were recovered from the rubble and initially confirmed dead. But the casualty figure would later change.Some of the rescued victims had been rushed to hospital, where they received treatment for injuries sustained in the collapse.By the following day, the death toll had risen to five after another victim died from injuries sustained in the disaster.The five victims were identified as a mother and her four children.They were subsequently buried according to Islamic rites at the Muslim Cemetery in Oko-Olowo, Ilorin, less than 24 hours after the bodies were recovered from the rubble.The father and two surviving children remained in hospital receiving treatment.The tragedy was particularly painful for Olarewaju, who had initially struggled to establish the extent of the family’s losses while victims were being taken to different hospitals.“From all indications, from the information I am getting from those in the hospital, we have lost five of them,” he said.Related NewsOlukoyede’s ledger without a witnessPlateau shuts schools over diphtheria outbreakWhy traders shouldn’t use detergent to wash fruits – Nutritionists“I have lost my children; I lost their mother and four of them. Only my brother, who is a Staff Sergeant in the Nigerian Army, is alive. I have lost five of them according to the information I got from those in the hospital; others are responding to treatment.”His account initially differed from the official casualty figure released by emergency authorities during the rescue operation.The Kwara State Fire Service had confirmed four deaths and four survivors at the scene.“We have recovered four people dead and rescued four people alive,” the Public Relations Officer of the Kwara State Fire Service, Hassan Adekunle, toldSunday PUNCHduring the operation.Adekunle said the agency’s immediate priority was to rescue the trapped occupants.“We immediately mobilised to the scene and commenced rescue operation. This kind of situation is not something the fire service can handle alone,” he said.He added that officials of the Hospitals Management Board, the NSCDC and other emergency agencies joined the operation.Authorities speakThe Kwara State Emergency Management Agency also confirmed that eight people were trapped in the building, with four rescued alive and four initially confirmed dead.Its Secretary, Magaji Saadudeen, said the rescued victims were receiving treatment while the bodies recovered from the rubble had been evacuated.“The rescued persons are receiving treatment presently,” Saadudeen said.As the emergency operation progressed, attention turned to the safety of the remaining structure.The Commissioner of Police, Kwara State Command, Adekimi Ojo, described the structure as a three-storey building and said the portion that collapsed was the boys’ quarters.“It was a three-storey building that collapsed. Our findings showed that the boys’ quarters of the building collapsed. Information gathered revealed that eight people were trapped in the building,” he said.“For now, the situation is under control. We will examine the remaining building and see how people can be secured. But for now, we have evacuated everybody from the main building.”The remaining portion was subsequently declared unsafe after an integrity assessment, with the family agreeing to demolish the structure.The decision brought to an end the immediate question of whether the old building could continue to accommodate residents.The building had reportedly stood for decades, but its age, condition and structural integrity became subjects of renewed concern following the collapse.The Chairman of the Kwara State Technical Committee of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, Bashir Lawal, called for a comprehensive audit of old and ageing buildings across the state to prevent a recurrence.The development also renewed calls for residents to report visible signs of structural weakness and evacuate buildings whenever they notice conditions that could threaten their safety.Representing Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq at the scene, the state Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Lawal Olohungbebe, described the incident as unfortunate and commiserated with the victims’ families.“The rescue mission began immediately after the collapse and, to the Grace of God, some were rescued, but unfortunately, we have to take it as this,” he said.Olohungbebe stressed the importance of accessible roads in residential areas, saying the access route to the building contributed to the ease with which emergency responders reached the scene.“One of the things that made it very easy for us to rescue the few people we were able to rescue is the access route,” he said.He urged residents and developers to respect building and town-planning regulations, particularly those relating to access roads.The commissioner commended the Ministries of Health and Environment, COREN, SEMA, NEMA, the Fire Service, Civil Defence, the Red Cross and other responders for their intervention.Ladan, who monitored the rescue operation, also commended the emergency agencies and residents for their prompt response.He urged residents to report structural defects promptly and evacuate buildings whenever they notice signs of possible collapse.“Whenever you discover something like this, please escalate it. Get to the point of evacuating yourself and your family members from that building. Life is the priority,” he said.He also advised prospective developers to use quality construction materials and engage qualified professionals to supervise their projects.But behind the official statements, casualty figures and emergency operations were the story of one family whose morning began like any other.For Olarewaju, the tragedy was not merely the collapse of an old building. It was the sudden loss of his children, their mother and other members of his family; the destruction of a home that had sheltered generations; and the beginning of an uncertain future for those left behind.“The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. “I was inside the building. It was early hours of this morning, precisely some minutes after 5 am. The first call to prayer had been made by the Ladan,” Olarewaju recalled while speaking toSunday PUNCHabout the incident.“I was contemplating going to the toilet to perform ablution. Thank God that I had not moved close to the toilet before I heard a loud sound.“Everybody woke up immediately, but I could not see anything because dust had covered everything, and I did not know what to do because I did not know what had happened,” he said.It was only after the dust began to settle that Olarewaju realised that the boys’ quarters attached to the main building had collapsed.Trapped beneath the rubbleEight members of the family had been inside the affected portion of the building and were trapped beneath the rubble.The building, located at No. 41 Popo-Giwa Street, beside Gogoro Mosque in Ilorin West Local Government Area, had been home to the family for decades.For more than 70 years, according to Olarewaju, the structure had provided shelter for members of the family.But on that fateful day, a section of the ageing three-storey building suddenly gave way, burying family members who had only just woken up for the day’s first prayer.Olarewaju’s younger brother, a Staff Sergeant in the Nigerian Army, was among those trapped.“He was also awake and about to perform his ablution too. He was the first person to be rescued alive,” Olarewaju said.The rescue of his brother should have brought relief. Instead, it became the beginning of a desperate wait for the other members of the family.As news of the collapse spread through the community, residents rushed to the scene while emergency responders and security personnel began searching through the debris for signs of life.An eyewitness, Abdulganiy Musa, toldSunday PUNCHthat the father of the family was a serving soldier while the mother worked as a casual staff member at the Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies, Ilorin.Musa said rescuers were engaged in frantic efforts to evacuate those trapped under the collapsed structure.A child identified as Firdaus, the second-to-last born of the family, was among those rescued alive as emergency responders intensified the operation.The Kwara State Fire Service said it received a distress call at about 5 am reporting that a building had collapsed and people were trapped underneath.The agency immediately mobilised to the scene and commenced a search-and-rescue operation.An excavator was later deployed to assist rescuers in removing the debris and gaining access to the remaining trapped victims.Several emergency and security agencies, including the State Emergency Management Agency, the National Emergency Management Agency, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, the police, health officials and the Red Cross, were involved in the operation.Six to seven ambulances were also deployed to evacuate victims for medical attention, according to the Chairman of Ilorin West Local Government Area, AbdulRahman Babatunde Ladan.Five dead, four survivorsThe operation eventually produced four survivors. Four other people were recovered from the rubble and initially confirmed dead. But the casualty figure would later change.Some of the rescued victims had been rushed to hospital, where they received treatment for injuries sustained in the collapse.By the following day, the death toll had risen to five after another victim died from injuries sustained in the disaster.The five victims were identified as a mother and her four children.They were subsequently buried according to Islamic rites at the Muslim Cemetery in Oko-Olowo, Ilorin, less than 24 hours after the bodies were recovered from the rubble.The father and two surviving children remained in hospital receiving treatment.The tragedy was particularly painful for Olarewaju, who had initially struggled to establish the extent of the family’s losses while victims were being taken to different hospitals.“From all indications, from the information I am getting from those in the hospital, we have lost five of them,” he said.Related NewsOlukoyede’s ledger without a witnessPlateau shuts schools over diphtheria outbreakWhy traders shouldn’t use detergent to wash fruits – Nutritionists“I have lost my children; I lost their mother and four of them. Only my brother, who is a Staff Sergeant in the Nigerian Army, is alive. I have lost five of them according to the information I got from those in the hospital; others are responding to treatment.”His account initially differed from the official casualty figure released by emergency authorities during the rescue operation.The Kwara State Fire Service had confirmed four deaths and four survivors at the scene.“We have recovered four people dead and rescued four people alive,” the Public Relations Officer of the Kwara State Fire Service, Hassan Adekunle, toldSunday PUNCHduring the operation.Adekunle said the agency’s immediate priority was to rescue the trapped occupants.“We immediately mobilised to the scene and commenced rescue operation. This kind of situation is not something the fire service can handle alone,” he said.He added that officials of the Hospitals Management Board, the NSCDC and other emergency agencies joined the operation.Authorities speakThe Kwara State Emergency Management Agency also confirmed that eight people were trapped in the building, with four rescued alive and four initially confirmed dead.Its Secretary, Magaji Saadudeen, said the rescued victims were receiving treatment while the bodies recovered from the rubble had been evacuated.“The rescued persons are receiving treatment presently,” Saadudeen said.As the emergency operation progressed, attention turned to the safety of the remaining structure.The Commissioner of Police, Kwara State Command, Adekimi Ojo, described the structure as a three-storey building and said the portion that collapsed was the boys’ quarters.“It was a three-storey building that collapsed. Our findings showed that the boys’ quarters of the building collapsed. Information gathered revealed that eight people were trapped in the building,” he said.“For now, the situation is under control. We will examine the remaining building and see how people can be secured. But for now, we have evacuated everybody from the main building.”The remaining portion was subsequently declared unsafe after an integrity assessment, with the family agreeing to demolish the structure.The decision brought to an end the immediate question of whether the old building could continue to accommodate residents.The building had reportedly stood for decades, but its age, condition and structural integrity became subjects of renewed concern following the collapse.The Chairman of the Kwara State Technical Committee of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, Bashir Lawal, called for a comprehensive audit of old and ageing buildings across the state to prevent a recurrence.The development also renewed calls for residents to report visible signs of structural weakness and evacuate buildings whenever they notice conditions that could threaten their safety.Representing Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq at the scene, the state Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Lawal Olohungbebe, described the incident as unfortunate and commiserated with the victims’ families.“The rescue mission began immediately after the collapse and, to the Grace of God, some were rescued, but unfortunately, we have to take it as this,” he said.Olohungbebe stressed the importance of accessible roads in residential areas, saying the access route to the building contributed to the ease with which emergency responders reached the scene.“One of the things that made it very easy for us to rescue the few people we were able to rescue is the access route,” he said.He urged residents and developers to respect building and town-planning regulations, particularly those relating to access roads.The commissioner commended the Ministries of Health and Environment, COREN, SEMA, NEMA, the Fire Service, Civil Defence, the Red Cross and other responders for their intervention.Ladan, who monitored the rescue operation, also commended the emergency agencies and residents for their prompt response.He urged residents to report structural defects promptly and evacuate buildings whenever they notice signs of possible collapse.“Whenever you discover something like this, please escalate it. Get to the point of evacuating yourself and your family members from that building. Life is the priority,” he said.He also advised prospective developers to use quality construction materials and engage qualified professionals to supervise their projects.But behind the official statements, casualty figures and emergency operations were the story of one family whose morning began like any other.For Olarewaju, the tragedy was not merely the collapse of an old building. It was the sudden loss of his children, their mother and other members of his family; the destruction of a home that had sheltered generations; and the beginning of an uncertain future for those left behind.“The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. “I was contemplating going to the toilet to perform ablution. Thank God that I had not moved close to the toilet before I heard a loud sound.“Everybody woke up immediately, but I could not see anything because dust had covered everything, and I did not know what to do because I did not know what had happened,” he said.It was only after the dust began to settle that Olarewaju realised that the boys’ quarters attached to the main building had collapsed.Trapped beneath the rubbleEight members of the family had been inside the affected portion of the building and were trapped beneath the rubble.The building, located at No. 41 Popo-Giwa Street, beside Gogoro Mosque in Ilorin West Local Government Area, had been home to the family for decades.For more than 70 years, according to Olarewaju, the structure had provided shelter for members of the family.But on that fateful day, a section of the ageing three-storey building suddenly gave way, burying family members who had only just woken up for the day’s first prayer.Olarewaju’s younger brother, a Staff Sergeant in the Nigerian Army, was among those trapped.“He was also awake and about to perform his ablution too. He was the first person to be rescued alive,” Olarewaju said.The rescue of his brother should have brought relief. Instead, it became the beginning of a desperate wait for the other members of the family.As news of the collapse spread through the community, residents rushed to the scene while emergency responders and security personnel began searching through the debris for signs of life.An eyewitness, Abdulganiy Musa, toldSunday PUNCHthat the father of the family was a serving soldier while the mother worked as a casual staff member at the Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies, Ilorin.Musa said rescuers were engaged in frantic efforts to evacuate those trapped under the collapsed structure.A child identified as Firdaus, the second-to-last born of the family, was among those rescued alive as emergency responders intensified the operation.The Kwara State Fire Service said it received a distress call at about 5 am reporting that a building had collapsed and people were trapped underneath.The agency immediately mobilised to the scene and commenced a search-and-rescue operation.An excavator was later deployed to assist rescuers in removing the debris and gaining access to the remaining trapped victims.Several emergency and security agencies, including the State Emergency Management Agency, the National Emergency Management Agency, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, the police, health officials and the Red Cross, were involved in the operation.Six to seven ambulances were also deployed to evacuate victims for medical attention, according to the Chairman of Ilorin West Local Government Area, AbdulRahman Babatunde Ladan.Five dead, four survivorsThe operation eventually produced four survivors. Four other people were recovered from the rubble and initially confirmed dead. But the casualty figure would later change.Some of the rescued victims had been rushed to hospital, where they received treatment for injuries sustained in the collapse.By the following day, the death toll had risen to five after another victim died from injuries sustained in the disaster.The five victims were identified as a mother and her four children.They were subsequently buried according to Islamic rites at the Muslim Cemetery in Oko-Olowo, Ilorin, less than 24 hours after the bodies were recovered from the rubble.The father and two surviving children remained in hospital receiving treatment.The tragedy was particularly painful for Olarewaju, who had initially struggled to establish the extent of the family’s losses while victims were being taken to different hospitals.“From all indications, from the information I am getting from those in the hospital, we have lost five of them,” he said.Related NewsOlukoyede’s ledger without a witnessPlateau shuts schools over diphtheria outbreakWhy traders shouldn’t use detergent to wash fruits – Nutritionists“I have lost my children; I lost their mother and four of them. Only my brother, who is a Staff Sergeant in the Nigerian Army, is alive. I have lost five of them according to the information I got from those in the hospital; others are responding to treatment.”His account initially differed from the official casualty figure released by emergency authorities during the rescue operation.The Kwara State Fire Service had confirmed four deaths and four survivors at the scene.“We have recovered four people dead and rescued four people alive,” the Public Relations Officer of the Kwara State Fire Service, Hassan Adekunle, toldSunday PUNCHduring the operation.Adekunle said the agency’s immediate priority was to rescue the trapped occupants.“We immediately mobilised to the scene and commenced rescue operation. This kind of situation is not something the fire service can handle alone,” he said.He added that officials of the Hospitals Management Board, the NSCDC and other emergency agencies joined the operation.Authorities speakThe Kwara State Emergency Management Agency also confirmed that eight people were trapped in the building, with four rescued alive and four initially confirmed dead.Its Secretary, Magaji Saadudeen, said the rescued victims were receiving treatment while the bodies recovered from the rubble had been evacuated.“The rescued persons are receiving treatment presently,” Saadudeen said.As the emergency operation progressed, attention turned to the safety of the remaining structure.The Commissioner of Police, Kwara State Command, Adekimi Ojo, described the structure as a three-storey building and said the portion that collapsed was the boys’ quarters.“It was a three-storey building that collapsed. Our findings showed that the boys’ quarters of the building collapsed. Information gathered revealed that eight people were trapped in the building,” he said.“For now, the situation is under control. We will examine the remaining building and see how people can be secured. But for now, we have evacuated everybody from the main building.”The remaining portion was subsequently declared unsafe after an integrity assessment, with the family agreeing to demolish the structure.The decision brought to an end the immediate question of whether the old building could continue to accommodate residents.The building had reportedly stood for decades, but its age, condition and structural integrity became subjects of renewed concern following the collapse.The Chairman of the Kwara State Technical Committee of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, Bashir Lawal, called for a comprehensive audit of old and ageing buildings across the state to prevent a recurrence.The development also renewed calls for residents to report visible signs of structural weakness and evacuate buildings whenever they notice conditions that could threaten their safety.Representing Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq at the scene, the state Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Lawal Olohungbebe, described the incident as unfortunate and commiserated with the victims’ families.“The rescue mission began immediately after the collapse and, to the Grace of God, some were rescued, but unfortunately, we have to take it as this,” he said.Olohungbebe stressed the importance of accessible roads in residential areas, saying the access route to the building contributed to the ease with which emergency responders reached the scene.“One of the things that made it very easy for us to rescue the few people we were able to rescue is the access route,” he said.He urged residents and developers to respect building and town-planning regulations, particularly those relating to access roads.The commissioner commended the Ministries of Health and Environment, COREN, SEMA, NEMA, the Fire Service, Civil Defence, the Red Cross and other responders for their intervention.Ladan, who monitored the rescue operation, also commended the emergency agencies and residents for their prompt response.He urged residents to report structural defects promptly and evacuate buildings whenever they notice signs of possible collapse.“Whenever you discover something like this, please escalate it. Get to the point of evacuating yourself and your family members from that building. Life is the priority,” he said.He also advised prospective developers to use quality construction materials and engage qualified professionals to supervise their projects.But behind the official statements, casualty figures and emergency operations were the story of one family whose morning began like any other.For Olarewaju, the tragedy was not merely the collapse of an old building. It was the sudden loss of his children, their mother and other members of his family; the destruction of a home that had sheltered generations; and the beginning of an uncertain future for those left behind.“The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. “Everybody woke up immediately, but I could not see anything because dust had covered everything, and I did not know what to do because I did not know what had happened,” he said.It was only after the dust began to settle that Olarewaju realised that the boys’ quarters attached to the main building had collapsed.Trapped beneath the rubbleEight members of the family had been inside the affected portion of the building and were trapped beneath the rubble.The building, located at No. 41 Popo-Giwa Street, beside Gogoro Mosque in Ilorin West Local Government Area, had been home to the family for decades.For more than 70 years, according to Olarewaju, the structure had provided shelter for members of the family.But on that fateful day, a section of the ageing three-storey building suddenly gave way, burying family members who had only just woken up for the day’s first prayer.Olarewaju’s younger brother, a Staff Sergeant in the Nigerian Army, was among those trapped.“He was also awake and about to perform his ablution too. He was the first person to be rescued alive,” Olarewaju said.The rescue of his brother should have brought relief. Instead, it became the beginning of a desperate wait for the other members of the family.As news of the collapse spread through the community, residents rushed to the scene while emergency responders and security personnel began searching through the debris for signs of life.An eyewitness, Abdulganiy Musa, toldSunday PUNCHthat the father of the family was a serving soldier while the mother worked as a casual staff member at the Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies, Ilorin.Musa said rescuers were engaged in frantic efforts to evacuate those trapped under the collapsed structure.A child identified as Firdaus, the second-to-last born of the family, was among those rescued alive as emergency responders intensified the operation.The Kwara State Fire Service said it received a distress call at about 5 am reporting that a building had collapsed and people were trapped underneath.The agency immediately mobilised to the scene and commenced a search-and-rescue operation.An excavator was later deployed to assist rescuers in removing the debris and gaining access to the remaining trapped victims.Several emergency and security agencies, including the State Emergency Management Agency, the National Emergency Management Agency, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, the police, health officials and the Red Cross, were involved in the operation.Six to seven ambulances were also deployed to evacuate victims for medical attention, according to the Chairman of Ilorin West Local Government Area, AbdulRahman Babatunde Ladan.Five dead, four survivorsThe operation eventually produced four survivors. Four other people were recovered from the rubble and initially confirmed dead. But the casualty figure would later change.Some of the rescued victims had been rushed to hospital, where they received treatment for injuries sustained in the collapse.By the following day, the death toll had risen to five after another victim died from injuries sustained in the disaster.The five victims were identified as a mother and her four children.They were subsequently buried according to Islamic rites at the Muslim Cemetery in Oko-Olowo, Ilorin, less than 24 hours after the bodies were recovered from the rubble.The father and two surviving children remained in hospital receiving treatment.The tragedy was particularly painful for Olarewaju, who had initially struggled to establish the extent of the family’s losses while victims were being taken to different hospitals.“From all indications, from the information I am getting from those in the hospital, we have lost five of them,” he said.Related NewsOlukoyede’s ledger without a witnessPlateau shuts schools over diphtheria outbreakWhy traders shouldn’t use detergent to wash fruits – Nutritionists“I have lost my children; I lost their mother and four of them. Only my brother, who is a Staff Sergeant in the Nigerian Army, is alive. I have lost five of them according to the information I got from those in the hospital; others are responding to treatment.”His account initially differed from the official casualty figure released by emergency authorities during the rescue operation.The Kwara State Fire Service had confirmed four deaths and four survivors at the scene.“We have recovered four people dead and rescued four people alive,” the Public Relations Officer of the Kwara State Fire Service, Hassan Adekunle, toldSunday PUNCHduring the operation.Adekunle said the agency’s immediate priority was to rescue the trapped occupants.“We immediately mobilised to the scene and commenced rescue operation. This kind of situation is not something the fire service can handle alone,” he said.He added that officials of the Hospitals Management Board, the NSCDC and other emergency agencies joined the operation.Authorities speakThe Kwara State Emergency Management Agency also confirmed that eight people were trapped in the building, with four rescued alive and four initially confirmed dead.Its Secretary, Magaji Saadudeen, said the rescued victims were receiving treatment while the bodies recovered from the rubble had been evacuated.“The rescued persons are receiving treatment presently,” Saadudeen said.As the emergency operation progressed, attention turned to the safety of the remaining structure.The Commissioner of Police, Kwara State Command, Adekimi Ojo, described the structure as a three-storey building and said the portion that collapsed was the boys’ quarters.“It was a three-storey building that collapsed. Our findings showed that the boys’ quarters of the building collapsed. Information gathered revealed that eight people were trapped in the building,” he said.“For now, the situation is under control. We will examine the remaining building and see how people can be secured. But for now, we have evacuated everybody from the main building.”The remaining portion was subsequently declared unsafe after an integrity assessment, with the family agreeing to demolish the structure.The decision brought to an end the immediate question of whether the old building could continue to accommodate residents.The building had reportedly stood for decades, but its age, condition and structural integrity became subjects of renewed concern following the collapse.The Chairman of the Kwara State Technical Committee of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, Bashir Lawal, called for a comprehensive audit of old and ageing buildings across the state to prevent a recurrence.The development also renewed calls for residents to report visible signs of structural weakness and evacuate buildings whenever they notice conditions that could threaten their safety.Representing Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq at the scene, the state Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Lawal Olohungbebe, described the incident as unfortunate and commiserated with the victims’ families.“The rescue mission began immediately after the collapse and, to the Grace of God, some were rescued, but unfortunately, we have to take it as this,” he said.Olohungbebe stressed the importance of accessible roads in residential areas, saying the access route to the building contributed to the ease with which emergency responders reached the scene.“One of the things that made it very easy for us to rescue the few people we were able to rescue is the access route,” he said.He urged residents and developers to respect building and town-planning regulations, particularly those relating to access roads.The commissioner commended the Ministries of Health and Environment, COREN, SEMA, NEMA, the Fire Service, Civil Defence, the Red Cross and other responders for their intervention.Ladan, who monitored the rescue operation, also commended the emergency agencies and residents for their prompt response.He urged residents to report structural defects promptly and evacuate buildings whenever they notice signs of possible collapse.“Whenever you discover something like this, please escalate it. Get to the point of evacuating yourself and your family members from that building. Life is the priority,” he said.He also advised prospective developers to use quality construction materials and engage qualified professionals to supervise their projects.But behind the official statements, casualty figures and emergency operations were the story of one family whose morning began like any other.For Olarewaju, the tragedy was not merely the collapse of an old building. It was the sudden loss of his children, their mother and other members of his family; the destruction of a home that had sheltered generations; and the beginning of an uncertain future for those left behind.“The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. It was only after the dust began to settle that Olarewaju realised that the boys’ quarters attached to the main building had collapsed.Trapped beneath the rubbleEight members of the family had been inside the affected portion of the building and were trapped beneath the rubble.The building, located at No. 41 Popo-Giwa Street, beside Gogoro Mosque in Ilorin West Local Government Area, had been home to the family for decades.For more than 70 years, according to Olarewaju, the structure had provided shelter for members of the family.But on that fateful day, a section of the ageing three-storey building suddenly gave way, burying family members who had only just woken up for the day’s first prayer.Olarewaju’s younger brother, a Staff Sergeant in the Nigerian Army, was among those trapped.“He was also awake and about to perform his ablution too. He was the first person to be rescued alive,” Olarewaju said.The rescue of his brother should have brought relief. Instead, it became the beginning of a desperate wait for the other members of the family.As news of the collapse spread through the community, residents rushed to the scene while emergency responders and security personnel began searching through the debris for signs of life.An eyewitness, Abdulganiy Musa, toldSunday PUNCHthat the father of the family was a serving soldier while the mother worked as a casual staff member at the Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies, Ilorin.Musa said rescuers were engaged in frantic efforts to evacuate those trapped under the collapsed structure.A child identified as Firdaus, the second-to-last born of the family, was among those rescued alive as emergency responders intensified the operation.The Kwara State Fire Service said it received a distress call at about 5 am reporting that a building had collapsed and people were trapped underneath.The agency immediately mobilised to the scene and commenced a search-and-rescue operation.An excavator was later deployed to assist rescuers in removing the debris and gaining access to the remaining trapped victims.Several emergency and security agencies, including the State Emergency Management Agency, the National Emergency Management Agency, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, the police, health officials and the Red Cross, were involved in the operation.Six to seven ambulances were also deployed to evacuate victims for medical attention, according to the Chairman of Ilorin West Local Government Area, AbdulRahman Babatunde Ladan.Five dead, four survivorsThe operation eventually produced four survivors. Four other people were recovered from the rubble and initially confirmed dead. But the casualty figure would later change.Some of the rescued victims had been rushed to hospital, where they received treatment for injuries sustained in the collapse.By the following day, the death toll had risen to five after another victim died from injuries sustained in the disaster.The five victims were identified as a mother and her four children.They were subsequently buried according to Islamic rites at the Muslim Cemetery in Oko-Olowo, Ilorin, less than 24 hours after the bodies were recovered from the rubble.The father and two surviving children remained in hospital receiving treatment.The tragedy was particularly painful for Olarewaju, who had initially struggled to establish the extent of the family’s losses while victims were being taken to different hospitals.“From all indications, from the information I am getting from those in the hospital, we have lost five of them,” he said.Related NewsOlukoyede’s ledger without a witnessPlateau shuts schools over diphtheria outbreakWhy traders shouldn’t use detergent to wash fruits – Nutritionists“I have lost my children; I lost their mother and four of them. Only my brother, who is a Staff Sergeant in the Nigerian Army, is alive. I have lost five of them according to the information I got from those in the hospital; others are responding to treatment.”His account initially differed from the official casualty figure released by emergency authorities during the rescue operation.The Kwara State Fire Service had confirmed four deaths and four survivors at the scene.“We have recovered four people dead and rescued four people alive,” the Public Relations Officer of the Kwara State Fire Service, Hassan Adekunle, toldSunday PUNCHduring the operation.Adekunle said the agency’s immediate priority was to rescue the trapped occupants.“We immediately mobilised to the scene and commenced rescue operation. This kind of situation is not something the fire service can handle alone,” he said.He added that officials of the Hospitals Management Board, the NSCDC and other emergency agencies joined the operation.Authorities speakThe Kwara State Emergency Management Agency also confirmed that eight people were trapped in the building, with four rescued alive and four initially confirmed dead.Its Secretary, Magaji Saadudeen, said the rescued victims were receiving treatment while the bodies recovered from the rubble had been evacuated.“The rescued persons are receiving treatment presently,” Saadudeen said.As the emergency operation progressed, attention turned to the safety of the remaining structure.The Commissioner of Police, Kwara State Command, Adekimi Ojo, described the structure as a three-storey building and said the portion that collapsed was the boys’ quarters.“It was a three-storey building that collapsed. Our findings showed that the boys’ quarters of the building collapsed. Information gathered revealed that eight people were trapped in the building,” he said.“For now, the situation is under control. We will examine the remaining building and see how people can be secured. But for now, we have evacuated everybody from the main building.”The remaining portion was subsequently declared unsafe after an integrity assessment, with the family agreeing to demolish the structure.The decision brought to an end the immediate question of whether the old building could continue to accommodate residents.The building had reportedly stood for decades, but its age, condition and structural integrity became subjects of renewed concern following the collapse.The Chairman of the Kwara State Technical Committee of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, Bashir Lawal, called for a comprehensive audit of old and ageing buildings across the state to prevent a recurrence.The development also renewed calls for residents to report visible signs of structural weakness and evacuate buildings whenever they notice conditions that could threaten their safety.Representing Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq at the scene, the state Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Lawal Olohungbebe, described the incident as unfortunate and commiserated with the victims’ families.“The rescue mission began immediately after the collapse and, to the Grace of God, some were rescued, but unfortunately, we have to take it as this,” he said.Olohungbebe stressed the importance of accessible roads in residential areas, saying the access route to the building contributed to the ease with which emergency responders reached the scene.“One of the things that made it very easy for us to rescue the few people we were able to rescue is the access route,” he said.He urged residents and developers to respect building and town-planning regulations, particularly those relating to access roads.The commissioner commended the Ministries of Health and Environment, COREN, SEMA, NEMA, the Fire Service, Civil Defence, the Red Cross and other responders for their intervention.Ladan, who monitored the rescue operation, also commended the emergency agencies and residents for their prompt response.He urged residents to report structural defects promptly and evacuate buildings whenever they notice signs of possible collapse.“Whenever you discover something like this, please escalate it. Get to the point of evacuating yourself and your family members from that building. Life is the priority,” he said.He also advised prospective developers to use quality construction materials and engage qualified professionals to supervise their projects.But behind the official statements, casualty figures and emergency operations were the story of one family whose morning began like any other.For Olarewaju, the tragedy was not merely the collapse of an old building. It was the sudden loss of his children, their mother and other members of his family; the destruction of a home that had sheltered generations; and the beginning of an uncertain future for those left behind.“The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. Trapped beneath the rubbleEight members of the family had been inside the affected portion of the building and were trapped beneath the rubble.The building, located at No. 41 Popo-Giwa Street, beside Gogoro Mosque in Ilorin West Local Government Area, had been home to the family for decades.For more than 70 years, according to Olarewaju, the structure had provided shelter for members of the family.But on that fateful day, a section of the ageing three-storey building suddenly gave way, burying family members who had only just woken up for the day’s first prayer.Olarewaju’s younger brother, a Staff Sergeant in the Nigerian Army, was among those trapped.“He was also awake and about to perform his ablution too. He was the first person to be rescued alive,” Olarewaju said.The rescue of his brother should have brought relief. Instead, it became the beginning of a desperate wait for the other members of the family.As news of the collapse spread through the community, residents rushed to the scene while emergency responders and security personnel began searching through the debris for signs of life.An eyewitness, Abdulganiy Musa, toldSunday PUNCHthat the father of the family was a serving soldier while the mother worked as a casual staff member at the Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies, Ilorin.Musa said rescuers were engaged in frantic efforts to evacuate those trapped under the collapsed structure.A child identified as Firdaus, the second-to-last born of the family, was among those rescued alive as emergency responders intensified the operation.The Kwara State Fire Service said it received a distress call at about 5 am reporting that a building had collapsed and people were trapped underneath.The agency immediately mobilised to the scene and commenced a search-and-rescue operation.An excavator was later deployed to assist rescuers in removing the debris and gaining access to the remaining trapped victims.Several emergency and security agencies, including the State Emergency Management Agency, the National Emergency Management Agency, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, the police, health officials and the Red Cross, were involved in the operation.Six to seven ambulances were also deployed to evacuate victims for medical attention, according to the Chairman of Ilorin West Local Government Area, AbdulRahman Babatunde Ladan.Five dead, four survivorsThe operation eventually produced four survivors. Four other people were recovered from the rubble and initially confirmed dead. But the casualty figure would later change.Some of the rescued victims had been rushed to hospital, where they received treatment for injuries sustained in the collapse.By the following day, the death toll had risen to five after another victim died from injuries sustained in the disaster.The five victims were identified as a mother and her four children.They were subsequently buried according to Islamic rites at the Muslim Cemetery in Oko-Olowo, Ilorin, less than 24 hours after the bodies were recovered from the rubble.The father and two surviving children remained in hospital receiving treatment.The tragedy was particularly painful for Olarewaju, who had initially struggled to establish the extent of the family’s losses while victims were being taken to different hospitals.“From all indications, from the information I am getting from those in the hospital, we have lost five of them,” he said.Related NewsOlukoyede’s ledger without a witnessPlateau shuts schools over diphtheria outbreakWhy traders shouldn’t use detergent to wash fruits – Nutritionists“I have lost my children; I lost their mother and four of them. Only my brother, who is a Staff Sergeant in the Nigerian Army, is alive. I have lost five of them according to the information I got from those in the hospital; others are responding to treatment.”His account initially differed from the official casualty figure released by emergency authorities during the rescue operation.The Kwara State Fire Service had confirmed four deaths and four survivors at the scene.“We have recovered four people dead and rescued four people alive,” the Public Relations Officer of the Kwara State Fire Service, Hassan Adekunle, toldSunday PUNCHduring the operation.Adekunle said the agency’s immediate priority was to rescue the trapped occupants.“We immediately mobilised to the scene and commenced rescue operation. This kind of situation is not something the fire service can handle alone,” he said.He added that officials of the Hospitals Management Board, the NSCDC and other emergency agencies joined the operation.Authorities speakThe Kwara State Emergency Management Agency also confirmed that eight people were trapped in the building, with four rescued alive and four initially confirmed dead.Its Secretary, Magaji Saadudeen, said the rescued victims were receiving treatment while the bodies recovered from the rubble had been evacuated.“The rescued persons are receiving treatment presently,” Saadudeen said.As the emergency operation progressed, attention turned to the safety of the remaining structure.The Commissioner of Police, Kwara State Command, Adekimi Ojo, described the structure as a three-storey building and said the portion that collapsed was the boys’ quarters.“It was a three-storey building that collapsed. Our findings showed that the boys’ quarters of the building collapsed. Information gathered revealed that eight people were trapped in the building,” he said.“For now, the situation is under control. We will examine the remaining building and see how people can be secured. But for now, we have evacuated everybody from the main building.”The remaining portion was subsequently declared unsafe after an integrity assessment, with the family agreeing to demolish the structure.The decision brought to an end the immediate question of whether the old building could continue to accommodate residents.The building had reportedly stood for decades, but its age, condition and structural integrity became subjects of renewed concern following the collapse.The Chairman of the Kwara State Technical Committee of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, Bashir Lawal, called for a comprehensive audit of old and ageing buildings across the state to prevent a recurrence.The development also renewed calls for residents to report visible signs of structural weakness and evacuate buildings whenever they notice conditions that could threaten their safety.Representing Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq at the scene, the state Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Lawal Olohungbebe, described the incident as unfortunate and commiserated with the victims’ families.“The rescue mission began immediately after the collapse and, to the Grace of God, some were rescued, but unfortunately, we have to take it as this,” he said.Olohungbebe stressed the importance of accessible roads in residential areas, saying the access route to the building contributed to the ease with which emergency responders reached the scene.“One of the things that made it very easy for us to rescue the few people we were able to rescue is the access route,” he said.He urged residents and developers to respect building and town-planning regulations, particularly those relating to access roads.The commissioner commended the Ministries of Health and Environment, COREN, SEMA, NEMA, the Fire Service, Civil Defence, the Red Cross and other responders for their intervention.Ladan, who monitored the rescue operation, also commended the emergency agencies and residents for their prompt response.He urged residents to report structural defects promptly and evacuate buildings whenever they notice signs of possible collapse.“Whenever you discover something like this, please escalate it. Get to the point of evacuating yourself and your family members from that building. Life is the priority,” he said.He also advised prospective developers to use quality construction materials and engage qualified professionals to supervise their projects.But behind the official statements, casualty figures and emergency operations were the story of one family whose morning began like any other.For Olarewaju, the tragedy was not merely the collapse of an old building. It was the sudden loss of his children, their mother and other members of his family; the destruction of a home that had sheltered generations; and the beginning of an uncertain future for those left behind.“The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. Eight members of the family had been inside the affected portion of the building and were trapped beneath the rubble.The building, located at No. 41 Popo-Giwa Street, beside Gogoro Mosque in Ilorin West Local Government Area, had been home to the family for decades.For more than 70 years, according to Olarewaju, the structure had provided shelter for members of the family.But on that fateful day, a section of the ageing three-storey building suddenly gave way, burying family members who had only just woken up for the day’s first prayer.Olarewaju’s younger brother, a Staff Sergeant in the Nigerian Army, was among those trapped.“He was also awake and about to perform his ablution too. He was the first person to be rescued alive,” Olarewaju said.The rescue of his brother should have brought relief. Instead, it became the beginning of a desperate wait for the other members of the family.As news of the collapse spread through the community, residents rushed to the scene while emergency responders and security personnel began searching through the debris for signs of life.An eyewitness, Abdulganiy Musa, toldSunday PUNCHthat the father of the family was a serving soldier while the mother worked as a casual staff member at the Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies, Ilorin.Musa said rescuers were engaged in frantic efforts to evacuate those trapped under the collapsed structure.A child identified as Firdaus, the second-to-last born of the family, was among those rescued alive as emergency responders intensified the operation.The Kwara State Fire Service said it received a distress call at about 5 am reporting that a building had collapsed and people were trapped underneath.The agency immediately mobilised to the scene and commenced a search-and-rescue operation.An excavator was later deployed to assist rescuers in removing the debris and gaining access to the remaining trapped victims.Several emergency and security agencies, including the State Emergency Management Agency, the National Emergency Management Agency, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, the police, health officials and the Red Cross, were involved in the operation.Six to seven ambulances were also deployed to evacuate victims for medical attention, according to the Chairman of Ilorin West Local Government Area, AbdulRahman Babatunde Ladan.Five dead, four survivorsThe operation eventually produced four survivors. Four other people were recovered from the rubble and initially confirmed dead. But the casualty figure would later change.Some of the rescued victims had been rushed to hospital, where they received treatment for injuries sustained in the collapse.By the following day, the death toll had risen to five after another victim died from injuries sustained in the disaster.The five victims were identified as a mother and her four children.They were subsequently buried according to Islamic rites at the Muslim Cemetery in Oko-Olowo, Ilorin, less than 24 hours after the bodies were recovered from the rubble.The father and two surviving children remained in hospital receiving treatment.The tragedy was particularly painful for Olarewaju, who had initially struggled to establish the extent of the family’s losses while victims were being taken to different hospitals.“From all indications, from the information I am getting from those in the hospital, we have lost five of them,” he said.Related NewsOlukoyede’s ledger without a witnessPlateau shuts schools over diphtheria outbreakWhy traders shouldn’t use detergent to wash fruits – Nutritionists“I have lost my children; I lost their mother and four of them. Only my brother, who is a Staff Sergeant in the Nigerian Army, is alive. I have lost five of them according to the information I got from those in the hospital; others are responding to treatment.”His account initially differed from the official casualty figure released by emergency authorities during the rescue operation.The Kwara State Fire Service had confirmed four deaths and four survivors at the scene.“We have recovered four people dead and rescued four people alive,” the Public Relations Officer of the Kwara State Fire Service, Hassan Adekunle, toldSunday PUNCHduring the operation.Adekunle said the agency’s immediate priority was to rescue the trapped occupants.“We immediately mobilised to the scene and commenced rescue operation. This kind of situation is not something the fire service can handle alone,” he said.He added that officials of the Hospitals Management Board, the NSCDC and other emergency agencies joined the operation.Authorities speakThe Kwara State Emergency Management Agency also confirmed that eight people were trapped in the building, with four rescued alive and four initially confirmed dead.Its Secretary, Magaji Saadudeen, said the rescued victims were receiving treatment while the bodies recovered from the rubble had been evacuated.“The rescued persons are receiving treatment presently,” Saadudeen said.As the emergency operation progressed, attention turned to the safety of the remaining structure.The Commissioner of Police, Kwara State Command, Adekimi Ojo, described the structure as a three-storey building and said the portion that collapsed was the boys’ quarters.“It was a three-storey building that collapsed. Our findings showed that the boys’ quarters of the building collapsed. Information gathered revealed that eight people were trapped in the building,” he said.“For now, the situation is under control. We will examine the remaining building and see how people can be secured. But for now, we have evacuated everybody from the main building.”The remaining portion was subsequently declared unsafe after an integrity assessment, with the family agreeing to demolish the structure.The decision brought to an end the immediate question of whether the old building could continue to accommodate residents.The building had reportedly stood for decades, but its age, condition and structural integrity became subjects of renewed concern following the collapse.The Chairman of the Kwara State Technical Committee of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, Bashir Lawal, called for a comprehensive audit of old and ageing buildings across the state to prevent a recurrence.The development also renewed calls for residents to report visible signs of structural weakness and evacuate buildings whenever they notice conditions that could threaten their safety.Representing Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq at the scene, the state Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Lawal Olohungbebe, described the incident as unfortunate and commiserated with the victims’ families.“The rescue mission began immediately after the collapse and, to the Grace of God, some were rescued, but unfortunately, we have to take it as this,” he said.Olohungbebe stressed the importance of accessible roads in residential areas, saying the access route to the building contributed to the ease with which emergency responders reached the scene.“One of the things that made it very easy for us to rescue the few people we were able to rescue is the access route,” he said.He urged residents and developers to respect building and town-planning regulations, particularly those relating to access roads.The commissioner commended the Ministries of Health and Environment, COREN, SEMA, NEMA, the Fire Service, Civil Defence, the Red Cross and other responders for their intervention.Ladan, who monitored the rescue operation, also commended the emergency agencies and residents for their prompt response.He urged residents to report structural defects promptly and evacuate buildings whenever they notice signs of possible collapse.“Whenever you discover something like this, please escalate it. Get to the point of evacuating yourself and your family members from that building. Life is the priority,” he said.He also advised prospective developers to use quality construction materials and engage qualified professionals to supervise their projects.But behind the official statements, casualty figures and emergency operations were the story of one family whose morning began like any other.For Olarewaju, the tragedy was not merely the collapse of an old building. It was the sudden loss of his children, their mother and other members of his family; the destruction of a home that had sheltered generations; and the beginning of an uncertain future for those left behind.“The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. The building, located at No. 41 Popo-Giwa Street, beside Gogoro Mosque in Ilorin West Local Government Area, had been home to the family for decades.For more than 70 years, according to Olarewaju, the structure had provided shelter for members of the family.But on that fateful day, a section of the ageing three-storey building suddenly gave way, burying family members who had only just woken up for the day’s first prayer.Olarewaju’s younger brother, a Staff Sergeant in the Nigerian Army, was among those trapped.“He was also awake and about to perform his ablution too. He was the first person to be rescued alive,” Olarewaju said.The rescue of his brother should have brought relief. Instead, it became the beginning of a desperate wait for the other members of the family.As news of the collapse spread through the community, residents rushed to the scene while emergency responders and security personnel began searching through the debris for signs of life.An eyewitness, Abdulganiy Musa, toldSunday PUNCHthat the father of the family was a serving soldier while the mother worked as a casual staff member at the Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies, Ilorin.Musa said rescuers were engaged in frantic efforts to evacuate those trapped under the collapsed structure.A child identified as Firdaus, the second-to-last born of the family, was among those rescued alive as emergency responders intensified the operation.The Kwara State Fire Service said it received a distress call at about 5 am reporting that a building had collapsed and people were trapped underneath.The agency immediately mobilised to the scene and commenced a search-and-rescue operation.An excavator was later deployed to assist rescuers in removing the debris and gaining access to the remaining trapped victims.Several emergency and security agencies, including the State Emergency Management Agency, the National Emergency Management Agency, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, the police, health officials and the Red Cross, were involved in the operation.Six to seven ambulances were also deployed to evacuate victims for medical attention, according to the Chairman of Ilorin West Local Government Area, AbdulRahman Babatunde Ladan.Five dead, four survivorsThe operation eventually produced four survivors. Four other people were recovered from the rubble and initially confirmed dead. But the casualty figure would later change.Some of the rescued victims had been rushed to hospital, where they received treatment for injuries sustained in the collapse.By the following day, the death toll had risen to five after another victim died from injuries sustained in the disaster.The five victims were identified as a mother and her four children.They were subsequently buried according to Islamic rites at the Muslim Cemetery in Oko-Olowo, Ilorin, less than 24 hours after the bodies were recovered from the rubble.The father and two surviving children remained in hospital receiving treatment.The tragedy was particularly painful for Olarewaju, who had initially struggled to establish the extent of the family’s losses while victims were being taken to different hospitals.“From all indications, from the information I am getting from those in the hospital, we have lost five of them,” he said.Related NewsOlukoyede’s ledger without a witnessPlateau shuts schools over diphtheria outbreakWhy traders shouldn’t use detergent to wash fruits – Nutritionists“I have lost my children; I lost their mother and four of them. Only my brother, who is a Staff Sergeant in the Nigerian Army, is alive. I have lost five of them according to the information I got from those in the hospital; others are responding to treatment.”His account initially differed from the official casualty figure released by emergency authorities during the rescue operation.The Kwara State Fire Service had confirmed four deaths and four survivors at the scene.“We have recovered four people dead and rescued four people alive,” the Public Relations Officer of the Kwara State Fire Service, Hassan Adekunle, toldSunday PUNCHduring the operation.Adekunle said the agency’s immediate priority was to rescue the trapped occupants.“We immediately mobilised to the scene and commenced rescue operation. This kind of situation is not something the fire service can handle alone,” he said.He added that officials of the Hospitals Management Board, the NSCDC and other emergency agencies joined the operation.Authorities speakThe Kwara State Emergency Management Agency also confirmed that eight people were trapped in the building, with four rescued alive and four initially confirmed dead.Its Secretary, Magaji Saadudeen, said the rescued victims were receiving treatment while the bodies recovered from the rubble had been evacuated.“The rescued persons are receiving treatment presently,” Saadudeen said.As the emergency operation progressed, attention turned to the safety of the remaining structure.The Commissioner of Police, Kwara State Command, Adekimi Ojo, described the structure as a three-storey building and said the portion that collapsed was the boys’ quarters.“It was a three-storey building that collapsed. Our findings showed that the boys’ quarters of the building collapsed. Information gathered revealed that eight people were trapped in the building,” he said.“For now, the situation is under control. We will examine the remaining building and see how people can be secured. But for now, we have evacuated everybody from the main building.”The remaining portion was subsequently declared unsafe after an integrity assessment, with the family agreeing to demolish the structure.The decision brought to an end the immediate question of whether the old building could continue to accommodate residents.The building had reportedly stood for decades, but its age, condition and structural integrity became subjects of renewed concern following the collapse.The Chairman of the Kwara State Technical Committee of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, Bashir Lawal, called for a comprehensive audit of old and ageing buildings across the state to prevent a recurrence.The development also renewed calls for residents to report visible signs of structural weakness and evacuate buildings whenever they notice conditions that could threaten their safety.Representing Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq at the scene, the state Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Lawal Olohungbebe, described the incident as unfortunate and commiserated with the victims’ families.“The rescue mission began immediately after the collapse and, to the Grace of God, some were rescued, but unfortunately, we have to take it as this,” he said.Olohungbebe stressed the importance of accessible roads in residential areas, saying the access route to the building contributed to the ease with which emergency responders reached the scene.“One of the things that made it very easy for us to rescue the few people we were able to rescue is the access route,” he said.He urged residents and developers to respect building and town-planning regulations, particularly those relating to access roads.The commissioner commended the Ministries of Health and Environment, COREN, SEMA, NEMA, the Fire Service, Civil Defence, the Red Cross and other responders for their intervention.Ladan, who monitored the rescue operation, also commended the emergency agencies and residents for their prompt response.He urged residents to report structural defects promptly and evacuate buildings whenever they notice signs of possible collapse.“Whenever you discover something like this, please escalate it. Get to the point of evacuating yourself and your family members from that building. Life is the priority,” he said.He also advised prospective developers to use quality construction materials and engage qualified professionals to supervise their projects.But behind the official statements, casualty figures and emergency operations were the story of one family whose morning began like any other.For Olarewaju, the tragedy was not merely the collapse of an old building. It was the sudden loss of his children, their mother and other members of his family; the destruction of a home that had sheltered generations; and the beginning of an uncertain future for those left behind.“The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. For more than 70 years, according to Olarewaju, the structure had provided shelter for members of the family.But on that fateful day, a section of the ageing three-storey building suddenly gave way, burying family members who had only just woken up for the day’s first prayer.Olarewaju’s younger brother, a Staff Sergeant in the Nigerian Army, was among those trapped.“He was also awake and about to perform his ablution too. He was the first person to be rescued alive,” Olarewaju said.The rescue of his brother should have brought relief. Instead, it became the beginning of a desperate wait for the other members of the family.As news of the collapse spread through the community, residents rushed to the scene while emergency responders and security personnel began searching through the debris for signs of life.An eyewitness, Abdulganiy Musa, toldSunday PUNCHthat the father of the family was a serving soldier while the mother worked as a casual staff member at the Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies, Ilorin.Musa said rescuers were engaged in frantic efforts to evacuate those trapped under the collapsed structure.A child identified as Firdaus, the second-to-last born of the family, was among those rescued alive as emergency responders intensified the operation.The Kwara State Fire Service said it received a distress call at about 5 am reporting that a building had collapsed and people were trapped underneath.The agency immediately mobilised to the scene and commenced a search-and-rescue operation.An excavator was later deployed to assist rescuers in removing the debris and gaining access to the remaining trapped victims.Several emergency and security agencies, including the State Emergency Management Agency, the National Emergency Management Agency, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, the police, health officials and the Red Cross, were involved in the operation.Six to seven ambulances were also deployed to evacuate victims for medical attention, according to the Chairman of Ilorin West Local Government Area, AbdulRahman Babatunde Ladan.Five dead, four survivorsThe operation eventually produced four survivors. Four other people were recovered from the rubble and initially confirmed dead. But the casualty figure would later change.Some of the rescued victims had been rushed to hospital, where they received treatment for injuries sustained in the collapse.By the following day, the death toll had risen to five after another victim died from injuries sustained in the disaster.The five victims were identified as a mother and her four children.They were subsequently buried according to Islamic rites at the Muslim Cemetery in Oko-Olowo, Ilorin, less than 24 hours after the bodies were recovered from the rubble.The father and two surviving children remained in hospital receiving treatment.The tragedy was particularly painful for Olarewaju, who had initially struggled to establish the extent of the family’s losses while victims were being taken to different hospitals.“From all indications, from the information I am getting from those in the hospital, we have lost five of them,” he said.Related NewsOlukoyede’s ledger without a witnessPlateau shuts schools over diphtheria outbreakWhy traders shouldn’t use detergent to wash fruits – Nutritionists“I have lost my children; I lost their mother and four of them. Only my brother, who is a Staff Sergeant in the Nigerian Army, is alive. I have lost five of them according to the information I got from those in the hospital; others are responding to treatment.”His account initially differed from the official casualty figure released by emergency authorities during the rescue operation.The Kwara State Fire Service had confirmed four deaths and four survivors at the scene.“We have recovered four people dead and rescued four people alive,” the Public Relations Officer of the Kwara State Fire Service, Hassan Adekunle, toldSunday PUNCHduring the operation.Adekunle said the agency’s immediate priority was to rescue the trapped occupants.“We immediately mobilised to the scene and commenced rescue operation. This kind of situation is not something the fire service can handle alone,” he said.He added that officials of the Hospitals Management Board, the NSCDC and other emergency agencies joined the operation.Authorities speakThe Kwara State Emergency Management Agency also confirmed that eight people were trapped in the building, with four rescued alive and four initially confirmed dead.Its Secretary, Magaji Saadudeen, said the rescued victims were receiving treatment while the bodies recovered from the rubble had been evacuated.“The rescued persons are receiving treatment presently,” Saadudeen said.As the emergency operation progressed, attention turned to the safety of the remaining structure.The Commissioner of Police, Kwara State Command, Adekimi Ojo, described the structure as a three-storey building and said the portion that collapsed was the boys’ quarters.“It was a three-storey building that collapsed. Our findings showed that the boys’ quarters of the building collapsed. Information gathered revealed that eight people were trapped in the building,” he said.“For now, the situation is under control. We will examine the remaining building and see how people can be secured. But for now, we have evacuated everybody from the main building.”The remaining portion was subsequently declared unsafe after an integrity assessment, with the family agreeing to demolish the structure.The decision brought to an end the immediate question of whether the old building could continue to accommodate residents.The building had reportedly stood for decades, but its age, condition and structural integrity became subjects of renewed concern following the collapse.The Chairman of the Kwara State Technical Committee of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, Bashir Lawal, called for a comprehensive audit of old and ageing buildings across the state to prevent a recurrence.The development also renewed calls for residents to report visible signs of structural weakness and evacuate buildings whenever they notice conditions that could threaten their safety.Representing Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq at the scene, the state Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Lawal Olohungbebe, described the incident as unfortunate and commiserated with the victims’ families.“The rescue mission began immediately after the collapse and, to the Grace of God, some were rescued, but unfortunately, we have to take it as this,” he said.Olohungbebe stressed the importance of accessible roads in residential areas, saying the access route to the building contributed to the ease with which emergency responders reached the scene.“One of the things that made it very easy for us to rescue the few people we were able to rescue is the access route,” he said.He urged residents and developers to respect building and town-planning regulations, particularly those relating to access roads.The commissioner commended the Ministries of Health and Environment, COREN, SEMA, NEMA, the Fire Service, Civil Defence, the Red Cross and other responders for their intervention.Ladan, who monitored the rescue operation, also commended the emergency agencies and residents for their prompt response.He urged residents to report structural defects promptly and evacuate buildings whenever they notice signs of possible collapse.“Whenever you discover something like this, please escalate it. Get to the point of evacuating yourself and your family members from that building. Life is the priority,” he said.He also advised prospective developers to use quality construction materials and engage qualified professionals to supervise their projects.But behind the official statements, casualty figures and emergency operations were the story of one family whose morning began like any other.For Olarewaju, the tragedy was not merely the collapse of an old building. It was the sudden loss of his children, their mother and other members of his family; the destruction of a home that had sheltered generations; and the beginning of an uncertain future for those left behind.“The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. But on that fateful day, a section of the ageing three-storey building suddenly gave way, burying family members who had only just woken up for the day’s first prayer.Olarewaju’s younger brother, a Staff Sergeant in the Nigerian Army, was among those trapped.“He was also awake and about to perform his ablution too. He was the first person to be rescued alive,” Olarewaju said.The rescue of his brother should have brought relief. Instead, it became the beginning of a desperate wait for the other members of the family.As news of the collapse spread through the community, residents rushed to the scene while emergency responders and security personnel began searching through the debris for signs of life.An eyewitness, Abdulganiy Musa, toldSunday PUNCHthat the father of the family was a serving soldier while the mother worked as a casual staff member at the Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies, Ilorin.Musa said rescuers were engaged in frantic efforts to evacuate those trapped under the collapsed structure.A child identified as Firdaus, the second-to-last born of the family, was among those rescued alive as emergency responders intensified the operation.The Kwara State Fire Service said it received a distress call at about 5 am reporting that a building had collapsed and people were trapped underneath.The agency immediately mobilised to the scene and commenced a search-and-rescue operation.An excavator was later deployed to assist rescuers in removing the debris and gaining access to the remaining trapped victims.Several emergency and security agencies, including the State Emergency Management Agency, the National Emergency Management Agency, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, the police, health officials and the Red Cross, were involved in the operation.Six to seven ambulances were also deployed to evacuate victims for medical attention, according to the Chairman of Ilorin West Local Government Area, AbdulRahman Babatunde Ladan.Five dead, four survivorsThe operation eventually produced four survivors. Four other people were recovered from the rubble and initially confirmed dead. But the casualty figure would later change.Some of the rescued victims had been rushed to hospital, where they received treatment for injuries sustained in the collapse.By the following day, the death toll had risen to five after another victim died from injuries sustained in the disaster.The five victims were identified as a mother and her four children.They were subsequently buried according to Islamic rites at the Muslim Cemetery in Oko-Olowo, Ilorin, less than 24 hours after the bodies were recovered from the rubble.The father and two surviving children remained in hospital receiving treatment.The tragedy was particularly painful for Olarewaju, who had initially struggled to establish the extent of the family’s losses while victims were being taken to different hospitals.“From all indications, from the information I am getting from those in the hospital, we have lost five of them,” he said.Related NewsOlukoyede’s ledger without a witnessPlateau shuts schools over diphtheria outbreakWhy traders shouldn’t use detergent to wash fruits – Nutritionists“I have lost my children; I lost their mother and four of them. Only my brother, who is a Staff Sergeant in the Nigerian Army, is alive. I have lost five of them according to the information I got from those in the hospital; others are responding to treatment.”His account initially differed from the official casualty figure released by emergency authorities during the rescue operation.The Kwara State Fire Service had confirmed four deaths and four survivors at the scene.“We have recovered four people dead and rescued four people alive,” the Public Relations Officer of the Kwara State Fire Service, Hassan Adekunle, toldSunday PUNCHduring the operation.Adekunle said the agency’s immediate priority was to rescue the trapped occupants.“We immediately mobilised to the scene and commenced rescue operation. This kind of situation is not something the fire service can handle alone,” he said.He added that officials of the Hospitals Management Board, the NSCDC and other emergency agencies joined the operation.Authorities speakThe Kwara State Emergency Management Agency also confirmed that eight people were trapped in the building, with four rescued alive and four initially confirmed dead.Its Secretary, Magaji Saadudeen, said the rescued victims were receiving treatment while the bodies recovered from the rubble had been evacuated.“The rescued persons are receiving treatment presently,” Saadudeen said.As the emergency operation progressed, attention turned to the safety of the remaining structure.The Commissioner of Police, Kwara State Command, Adekimi Ojo, described the structure as a three-storey building and said the portion that collapsed was the boys’ quarters.“It was a three-storey building that collapsed. Our findings showed that the boys’ quarters of the building collapsed. Information gathered revealed that eight people were trapped in the building,” he said.“For now, the situation is under control. We will examine the remaining building and see how people can be secured. But for now, we have evacuated everybody from the main building.”The remaining portion was subsequently declared unsafe after an integrity assessment, with the family agreeing to demolish the structure.The decision brought to an end the immediate question of whether the old building could continue to accommodate residents.The building had reportedly stood for decades, but its age, condition and structural integrity became subjects of renewed concern following the collapse.The Chairman of the Kwara State Technical Committee of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, Bashir Lawal, called for a comprehensive audit of old and ageing buildings across the state to prevent a recurrence.The development also renewed calls for residents to report visible signs of structural weakness and evacuate buildings whenever they notice conditions that could threaten their safety.Representing Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq at the scene, the state Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Lawal Olohungbebe, described the incident as unfortunate and commiserated with the victims’ families.“The rescue mission began immediately after the collapse and, to the Grace of God, some were rescued, but unfortunately, we have to take it as this,” he said.Olohungbebe stressed the importance of accessible roads in residential areas, saying the access route to the building contributed to the ease with which emergency responders reached the scene.“One of the things that made it very easy for us to rescue the few people we were able to rescue is the access route,” he said.He urged residents and developers to respect building and town-planning regulations, particularly those relating to access roads.The commissioner commended the Ministries of Health and Environment, COREN, SEMA, NEMA, the Fire Service, Civil Defence, the Red Cross and other responders for their intervention.Ladan, who monitored the rescue operation, also commended the emergency agencies and residents for their prompt response.He urged residents to report structural defects promptly and evacuate buildings whenever they notice signs of possible collapse.“Whenever you discover something like this, please escalate it. Get to the point of evacuating yourself and your family members from that building. Life is the priority,” he said.He also advised prospective developers to use quality construction materials and engage qualified professionals to supervise their projects.But behind the official statements, casualty figures and emergency operations were the story of one family whose morning began like any other.For Olarewaju, the tragedy was not merely the collapse of an old building. It was the sudden loss of his children, their mother and other members of his family; the destruction of a home that had sheltered generations; and the beginning of an uncertain future for those left behind.“The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. Olarewaju’s younger brother, a Staff Sergeant in the Nigerian Army, was among those trapped.“He was also awake and about to perform his ablution too. He was the first person to be rescued alive,” Olarewaju said.The rescue of his brother should have brought relief. Instead, it became the beginning of a desperate wait for the other members of the family.As news of the collapse spread through the community, residents rushed to the scene while emergency responders and security personnel began searching through the debris for signs of life.An eyewitness, Abdulganiy Musa, toldSunday PUNCHthat the father of the family was a serving soldier while the mother worked as a casual staff member at the Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies, Ilorin.Musa said rescuers were engaged in frantic efforts to evacuate those trapped under the collapsed structure.A child identified as Firdaus, the second-to-last born of the family, was among those rescued alive as emergency responders intensified the operation.The Kwara State Fire Service said it received a distress call at about 5 am reporting that a building had collapsed and people were trapped underneath.The agency immediately mobilised to the scene and commenced a search-and-rescue operation.An excavator was later deployed to assist rescuers in removing the debris and gaining access to the remaining trapped victims.Several emergency and security agencies, including the State Emergency Management Agency, the National Emergency Management Agency, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, the police, health officials and the Red Cross, were involved in the operation.Six to seven ambulances were also deployed to evacuate victims for medical attention, according to the Chairman of Ilorin West Local Government Area, AbdulRahman Babatunde Ladan.Five dead, four survivorsThe operation eventually produced four survivors. Four other people were recovered from the rubble and initially confirmed dead. But the casualty figure would later change.Some of the rescued victims had been rushed to hospital, where they received treatment for injuries sustained in the collapse.By the following day, the death toll had risen to five after another victim died from injuries sustained in the disaster.The five victims were identified as a mother and her four children.They were subsequently buried according to Islamic rites at the Muslim Cemetery in Oko-Olowo, Ilorin, less than 24 hours after the bodies were recovered from the rubble.The father and two surviving children remained in hospital receiving treatment.The tragedy was particularly painful for Olarewaju, who had initially struggled to establish the extent of the family’s losses while victims were being taken to different hospitals.“From all indications, from the information I am getting from those in the hospital, we have lost five of them,” he said.Related NewsOlukoyede’s ledger without a witnessPlateau shuts schools over diphtheria outbreakWhy traders shouldn’t use detergent to wash fruits – Nutritionists“I have lost my children; I lost their mother and four of them. Only my brother, who is a Staff Sergeant in the Nigerian Army, is alive. I have lost five of them according to the information I got from those in the hospital; others are responding to treatment.”His account initially differed from the official casualty figure released by emergency authorities during the rescue operation.The Kwara State Fire Service had confirmed four deaths and four survivors at the scene.“We have recovered four people dead and rescued four people alive,” the Public Relations Officer of the Kwara State Fire Service, Hassan Adekunle, toldSunday PUNCHduring the operation.Adekunle said the agency’s immediate priority was to rescue the trapped occupants.“We immediately mobilised to the scene and commenced rescue operation. This kind of situation is not something the fire service can handle alone,” he said.He added that officials of the Hospitals Management Board, the NSCDC and other emergency agencies joined the operation.Authorities speakThe Kwara State Emergency Management Agency also confirmed that eight people were trapped in the building, with four rescued alive and four initially confirmed dead.Its Secretary, Magaji Saadudeen, said the rescued victims were receiving treatment while the bodies recovered from the rubble had been evacuated.“The rescued persons are receiving treatment presently,” Saadudeen said.As the emergency operation progressed, attention turned to the safety of the remaining structure.The Commissioner of Police, Kwara State Command, Adekimi Ojo, described the structure as a three-storey building and said the portion that collapsed was the boys’ quarters.“It was a three-storey building that collapsed. Our findings showed that the boys’ quarters of the building collapsed. Information gathered revealed that eight people were trapped in the building,” he said.“For now, the situation is under control. We will examine the remaining building and see how people can be secured. But for now, we have evacuated everybody from the main building.”The remaining portion was subsequently declared unsafe after an integrity assessment, with the family agreeing to demolish the structure.The decision brought to an end the immediate question of whether the old building could continue to accommodate residents.The building had reportedly stood for decades, but its age, condition and structural integrity became subjects of renewed concern following the collapse.The Chairman of the Kwara State Technical Committee of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, Bashir Lawal, called for a comprehensive audit of old and ageing buildings across the state to prevent a recurrence.The development also renewed calls for residents to report visible signs of structural weakness and evacuate buildings whenever they notice conditions that could threaten their safety.Representing Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq at the scene, the state Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Lawal Olohungbebe, described the incident as unfortunate and commiserated with the victims’ families.“The rescue mission began immediately after the collapse and, to the Grace of God, some were rescued, but unfortunately, we have to take it as this,” he said.Olohungbebe stressed the importance of accessible roads in residential areas, saying the access route to the building contributed to the ease with which emergency responders reached the scene.“One of the things that made it very easy for us to rescue the few people we were able to rescue is the access route,” he said.He urged residents and developers to respect building and town-planning regulations, particularly those relating to access roads.The commissioner commended the Ministries of Health and Environment, COREN, SEMA, NEMA, the Fire Service, Civil Defence, the Red Cross and other responders for their intervention.Ladan, who monitored the rescue operation, also commended the emergency agencies and residents for their prompt response.He urged residents to report structural defects promptly and evacuate buildings whenever they notice signs of possible collapse.“Whenever you discover something like this, please escalate it. Get to the point of evacuating yourself and your family members from that building. Life is the priority,” he said.He also advised prospective developers to use quality construction materials and engage qualified professionals to supervise their projects.But behind the official statements, casualty figures and emergency operations were the story of one family whose morning began like any other.For Olarewaju, the tragedy was not merely the collapse of an old building. It was the sudden loss of his children, their mother and other members of his family; the destruction of a home that had sheltered generations; and the beginning of an uncertain future for those left behind.“The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. “He was also awake and about to perform his ablution too. He was the first person to be rescued alive,” Olarewaju said.The rescue of his brother should have brought relief. Instead, it became the beginning of a desperate wait for the other members of the family.As news of the collapse spread through the community, residents rushed to the scene while emergency responders and security personnel began searching through the debris for signs of life.An eyewitness, Abdulganiy Musa, toldSunday PUNCHthat the father of the family was a serving soldier while the mother worked as a casual staff member at the Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies, Ilorin.Musa said rescuers were engaged in frantic efforts to evacuate those trapped under the collapsed structure.A child identified as Firdaus, the second-to-last born of the family, was among those rescued alive as emergency responders intensified the operation.The Kwara State Fire Service said it received a distress call at about 5 am reporting that a building had collapsed and people were trapped underneath.The agency immediately mobilised to the scene and commenced a search-and-rescue operation.An excavator was later deployed to assist rescuers in removing the debris and gaining access to the remaining trapped victims.Several emergency and security agencies, including the State Emergency Management Agency, the National Emergency Management Agency, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, the police, health officials and the Red Cross, were involved in the operation.Six to seven ambulances were also deployed to evacuate victims for medical attention, according to the Chairman of Ilorin West Local Government Area, AbdulRahman Babatunde Ladan.Five dead, four survivorsThe operation eventually produced four survivors. Four other people were recovered from the rubble and initially confirmed dead. But the casualty figure would later change.Some of the rescued victims had been rushed to hospital, where they received treatment for injuries sustained in the collapse.By the following day, the death toll had risen to five after another victim died from injuries sustained in the disaster.The five victims were identified as a mother and her four children.They were subsequently buried according to Islamic rites at the Muslim Cemetery in Oko-Olowo, Ilorin, less than 24 hours after the bodies were recovered from the rubble.The father and two surviving children remained in hospital receiving treatment.The tragedy was particularly painful for Olarewaju, who had initially struggled to establish the extent of the family’s losses while victims were being taken to different hospitals.“From all indications, from the information I am getting from those in the hospital, we have lost five of them,” he said.Related NewsOlukoyede’s ledger without a witnessPlateau shuts schools over diphtheria outbreakWhy traders shouldn’t use detergent to wash fruits – Nutritionists“I have lost my children; I lost their mother and four of them. Only my brother, who is a Staff Sergeant in the Nigerian Army, is alive. I have lost five of them according to the information I got from those in the hospital; others are responding to treatment.”His account initially differed from the official casualty figure released by emergency authorities during the rescue operation.The Kwara State Fire Service had confirmed four deaths and four survivors at the scene.“We have recovered four people dead and rescued four people alive,” the Public Relations Officer of the Kwara State Fire Service, Hassan Adekunle, toldSunday PUNCHduring the operation.Adekunle said the agency’s immediate priority was to rescue the trapped occupants.“We immediately mobilised to the scene and commenced rescue operation. This kind of situation is not something the fire service can handle alone,” he said.He added that officials of the Hospitals Management Board, the NSCDC and other emergency agencies joined the operation.Authorities speakThe Kwara State Emergency Management Agency also confirmed that eight people were trapped in the building, with four rescued alive and four initially confirmed dead.Its Secretary, Magaji Saadudeen, said the rescued victims were receiving treatment while the bodies recovered from the rubble had been evacuated.“The rescued persons are receiving treatment presently,” Saadudeen said.As the emergency operation progressed, attention turned to the safety of the remaining structure.The Commissioner of Police, Kwara State Command, Adekimi Ojo, described the structure as a three-storey building and said the portion that collapsed was the boys’ quarters.“It was a three-storey building that collapsed. Our findings showed that the boys’ quarters of the building collapsed. Information gathered revealed that eight people were trapped in the building,” he said.“For now, the situation is under control. We will examine the remaining building and see how people can be secured. But for now, we have evacuated everybody from the main building.”The remaining portion was subsequently declared unsafe after an integrity assessment, with the family agreeing to demolish the structure.The decision brought to an end the immediate question of whether the old building could continue to accommodate residents.The building had reportedly stood for decades, but its age, condition and structural integrity became subjects of renewed concern following the collapse.The Chairman of the Kwara State Technical Committee of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, Bashir Lawal, called for a comprehensive audit of old and ageing buildings across the state to prevent a recurrence.The development also renewed calls for residents to report visible signs of structural weakness and evacuate buildings whenever they notice conditions that could threaten their safety.Representing Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq at the scene, the state Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Lawal Olohungbebe, described the incident as unfortunate and commiserated with the victims’ families.“The rescue mission began immediately after the collapse and, to the Grace of God, some were rescued, but unfortunately, we have to take it as this,” he said.Olohungbebe stressed the importance of accessible roads in residential areas, saying the access route to the building contributed to the ease with which emergency responders reached the scene.“One of the things that made it very easy for us to rescue the few people we were able to rescue is the access route,” he said.He urged residents and developers to respect building and town-planning regulations, particularly those relating to access roads.The commissioner commended the Ministries of Health and Environment, COREN, SEMA, NEMA, the Fire Service, Civil Defence, the Red Cross and other responders for their intervention.Ladan, who monitored the rescue operation, also commended the emergency agencies and residents for their prompt response.He urged residents to report structural defects promptly and evacuate buildings whenever they notice signs of possible collapse.“Whenever you discover something like this, please escalate it. Get to the point of evacuating yourself and your family members from that building. Life is the priority,” he said.He also advised prospective developers to use quality construction materials and engage qualified professionals to supervise their projects.But behind the official statements, casualty figures and emergency operations were the story of one family whose morning began like any other.For Olarewaju, the tragedy was not merely the collapse of an old building. It was the sudden loss of his children, their mother and other members of his family; the destruction of a home that had sheltered generations; and the beginning of an uncertain future for those left behind.“The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. The rescue of his brother should have brought relief. Instead, it became the beginning of a desperate wait for the other members of the family.As news of the collapse spread through the community, residents rushed to the scene while emergency responders and security personnel began searching through the debris for signs of life.An eyewitness, Abdulganiy Musa, toldSunday PUNCHthat the father of the family was a serving soldier while the mother worked as a casual staff member at the Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies, Ilorin.Musa said rescuers were engaged in frantic efforts to evacuate those trapped under the collapsed structure.A child identified as Firdaus, the second-to-last born of the family, was among those rescued alive as emergency responders intensified the operation.The Kwara State Fire Service said it received a distress call at about 5 am reporting that a building had collapsed and people were trapped underneath.The agency immediately mobilised to the scene and commenced a search-and-rescue operation.An excavator was later deployed to assist rescuers in removing the debris and gaining access to the remaining trapped victims.Several emergency and security agencies, including the State Emergency Management Agency, the National Emergency Management Agency, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, the police, health officials and the Red Cross, were involved in the operation.Six to seven ambulances were also deployed to evacuate victims for medical attention, according to the Chairman of Ilorin West Local Government Area, AbdulRahman Babatunde Ladan.Five dead, four survivorsThe operation eventually produced four survivors. Four other people were recovered from the rubble and initially confirmed dead. But the casualty figure would later change.Some of the rescued victims had been rushed to hospital, where they received treatment for injuries sustained in the collapse.By the following day, the death toll had risen to five after another victim died from injuries sustained in the disaster.The five victims were identified as a mother and her four children.They were subsequently buried according to Islamic rites at the Muslim Cemetery in Oko-Olowo, Ilorin, less than 24 hours after the bodies were recovered from the rubble.The father and two surviving children remained in hospital receiving treatment.The tragedy was particularly painful for Olarewaju, who had initially struggled to establish the extent of the family’s losses while victims were being taken to different hospitals.“From all indications, from the information I am getting from those in the hospital, we have lost five of them,” he said.Related NewsOlukoyede’s ledger without a witnessPlateau shuts schools over diphtheria outbreakWhy traders shouldn’t use detergent to wash fruits – Nutritionists“I have lost my children; I lost their mother and four of them. Only my brother, who is a Staff Sergeant in the Nigerian Army, is alive. I have lost five of them according to the information I got from those in the hospital; others are responding to treatment.”His account initially differed from the official casualty figure released by emergency authorities during the rescue operation.The Kwara State Fire Service had confirmed four deaths and four survivors at the scene.“We have recovered four people dead and rescued four people alive,” the Public Relations Officer of the Kwara State Fire Service, Hassan Adekunle, toldSunday PUNCHduring the operation.Adekunle said the agency’s immediate priority was to rescue the trapped occupants.“We immediately mobilised to the scene and commenced rescue operation. This kind of situation is not something the fire service can handle alone,” he said.He added that officials of the Hospitals Management Board, the NSCDC and other emergency agencies joined the operation.Authorities speakThe Kwara State Emergency Management Agency also confirmed that eight people were trapped in the building, with four rescued alive and four initially confirmed dead.Its Secretary, Magaji Saadudeen, said the rescued victims were receiving treatment while the bodies recovered from the rubble had been evacuated.“The rescued persons are receiving treatment presently,” Saadudeen said.As the emergency operation progressed, attention turned to the safety of the remaining structure.The Commissioner of Police, Kwara State Command, Adekimi Ojo, described the structure as a three-storey building and said the portion that collapsed was the boys’ quarters.“It was a three-storey building that collapsed. Our findings showed that the boys’ quarters of the building collapsed. Information gathered revealed that eight people were trapped in the building,” he said.“For now, the situation is under control. We will examine the remaining building and see how people can be secured. But for now, we have evacuated everybody from the main building.”The remaining portion was subsequently declared unsafe after an integrity assessment, with the family agreeing to demolish the structure.The decision brought to an end the immediate question of whether the old building could continue to accommodate residents.The building had reportedly stood for decades, but its age, condition and structural integrity became subjects of renewed concern following the collapse.The Chairman of the Kwara State Technical Committee of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, Bashir Lawal, called for a comprehensive audit of old and ageing buildings across the state to prevent a recurrence.The development also renewed calls for residents to report visible signs of structural weakness and evacuate buildings whenever they notice conditions that could threaten their safety.Representing Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq at the scene, the state Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Lawal Olohungbebe, described the incident as unfortunate and commiserated with the victims’ families.“The rescue mission began immediately after the collapse and, to the Grace of God, some were rescued, but unfortunately, we have to take it as this,” he said.Olohungbebe stressed the importance of accessible roads in residential areas, saying the access route to the building contributed to the ease with which emergency responders reached the scene.“One of the things that made it very easy for us to rescue the few people we were able to rescue is the access route,” he said.He urged residents and developers to respect building and town-planning regulations, particularly those relating to access roads.The commissioner commended the Ministries of Health and Environment, COREN, SEMA, NEMA, the Fire Service, Civil Defence, the Red Cross and other responders for their intervention.Ladan, who monitored the rescue operation, also commended the emergency agencies and residents for their prompt response.He urged residents to report structural defects promptly and evacuate buildings whenever they notice signs of possible collapse.“Whenever you discover something like this, please escalate it. Get to the point of evacuating yourself and your family members from that building. Life is the priority,” he said.He also advised prospective developers to use quality construction materials and engage qualified professionals to supervise their projects.But behind the official statements, casualty figures and emergency operations were the story of one family whose morning began like any other.For Olarewaju, the tragedy was not merely the collapse of an old building. It was the sudden loss of his children, their mother and other members of his family; the destruction of a home that had sheltered generations; and the beginning of an uncertain future for those left behind.“The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. As news of the collapse spread through the community, residents rushed to the scene while emergency responders and security personnel began searching through the debris for signs of life.An eyewitness, Abdulganiy Musa, toldSunday PUNCHthat the father of the family was a serving soldier while the mother worked as a casual staff member at the Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies, Ilorin.Musa said rescuers were engaged in frantic efforts to evacuate those trapped under the collapsed structure.A child identified as Firdaus, the second-to-last born of the family, was among those rescued alive as emergency responders intensified the operation.The Kwara State Fire Service said it received a distress call at about 5 am reporting that a building had collapsed and people were trapped underneath.The agency immediately mobilised to the scene and commenced a search-and-rescue operation.An excavator was later deployed to assist rescuers in removing the debris and gaining access to the remaining trapped victims.Several emergency and security agencies, including the State Emergency Management Agency, the National Emergency Management Agency, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, the police, health officials and the Red Cross, were involved in the operation.Six to seven ambulances were also deployed to evacuate victims for medical attention, according to the Chairman of Ilorin West Local Government Area, AbdulRahman Babatunde Ladan.Five dead, four survivorsThe operation eventually produced four survivors. Four other people were recovered from the rubble and initially confirmed dead. But the casualty figure would later change.Some of the rescued victims had been rushed to hospital, where they received treatment for injuries sustained in the collapse.By the following day, the death toll had risen to five after another victim died from injuries sustained in the disaster.The five victims were identified as a mother and her four children.They were subsequently buried according to Islamic rites at the Muslim Cemetery in Oko-Olowo, Ilorin, less than 24 hours after the bodies were recovered from the rubble.The father and two surviving children remained in hospital receiving treatment.The tragedy was particularly painful for Olarewaju, who had initially struggled to establish the extent of the family’s losses while victims were being taken to different hospitals.“From all indications, from the information I am getting from those in the hospital, we have lost five of them,” he said.Related NewsOlukoyede’s ledger without a witnessPlateau shuts schools over diphtheria outbreakWhy traders shouldn’t use detergent to wash fruits – Nutritionists“I have lost my children; I lost their mother and four of them. Only my brother, who is a Staff Sergeant in the Nigerian Army, is alive. I have lost five of them according to the information I got from those in the hospital; others are responding to treatment.”His account initially differed from the official casualty figure released by emergency authorities during the rescue operation.The Kwara State Fire Service had confirmed four deaths and four survivors at the scene.“We have recovered four people dead and rescued four people alive,” the Public Relations Officer of the Kwara State Fire Service, Hassan Adekunle, toldSunday PUNCHduring the operation.Adekunle said the agency’s immediate priority was to rescue the trapped occupants.“We immediately mobilised to the scene and commenced rescue operation. This kind of situation is not something the fire service can handle alone,” he said.He added that officials of the Hospitals Management Board, the NSCDC and other emergency agencies joined the operation.Authorities speakThe Kwara State Emergency Management Agency also confirmed that eight people were trapped in the building, with four rescued alive and four initially confirmed dead.Its Secretary, Magaji Saadudeen, said the rescued victims were receiving treatment while the bodies recovered from the rubble had been evacuated.“The rescued persons are receiving treatment presently,” Saadudeen said.As the emergency operation progressed, attention turned to the safety of the remaining structure.The Commissioner of Police, Kwara State Command, Adekimi Ojo, described the structure as a three-storey building and said the portion that collapsed was the boys’ quarters.“It was a three-storey building that collapsed. Our findings showed that the boys’ quarters of the building collapsed. Information gathered revealed that eight people were trapped in the building,” he said.“For now, the situation is under control. We will examine the remaining building and see how people can be secured. But for now, we have evacuated everybody from the main building.”The remaining portion was subsequently declared unsafe after an integrity assessment, with the family agreeing to demolish the structure.The decision brought to an end the immediate question of whether the old building could continue to accommodate residents.The building had reportedly stood for decades, but its age, condition and structural integrity became subjects of renewed concern following the collapse.The Chairman of the Kwara State Technical Committee of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, Bashir Lawal, called for a comprehensive audit of old and ageing buildings across the state to prevent a recurrence.The development also renewed calls for residents to report visible signs of structural weakness and evacuate buildings whenever they notice conditions that could threaten their safety.Representing Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq at the scene, the state Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Lawal Olohungbebe, described the incident as unfortunate and commiserated with the victims’ families.“The rescue mission began immediately after the collapse and, to the Grace of God, some were rescued, but unfortunately, we have to take it as this,” he said.Olohungbebe stressed the importance of accessible roads in residential areas, saying the access route to the building contributed to the ease with which emergency responders reached the scene.“One of the things that made it very easy for us to rescue the few people we were able to rescue is the access route,” he said.He urged residents and developers to respect building and town-planning regulations, particularly those relating to access roads.The commissioner commended the Ministries of Health and Environment, COREN, SEMA, NEMA, the Fire Service, Civil Defence, the Red Cross and other responders for their intervention.Ladan, who monitored the rescue operation, also commended the emergency agencies and residents for their prompt response.He urged residents to report structural defects promptly and evacuate buildings whenever they notice signs of possible collapse.“Whenever you discover something like this, please escalate it. Get to the point of evacuating yourself and your family members from that building. Life is the priority,” he said.He also advised prospective developers to use quality construction materials and engage qualified professionals to supervise their projects.But behind the official statements, casualty figures and emergency operations were the story of one family whose morning began like any other.For Olarewaju, the tragedy was not merely the collapse of an old building. It was the sudden loss of his children, their mother and other members of his family; the destruction of a home that had sheltered generations; and the beginning of an uncertain future for those left behind.“The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. An eyewitness, Abdulganiy Musa, toldSunday PUNCHthat the father of the family was a serving soldier while the mother worked as a casual staff member at the Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies, Ilorin.Musa said rescuers were engaged in frantic efforts to evacuate those trapped under the collapsed structure.A child identified as Firdaus, the second-to-last born of the family, was among those rescued alive as emergency responders intensified the operation.The Kwara State Fire Service said it received a distress call at about 5 am reporting that a building had collapsed and people were trapped underneath.The agency immediately mobilised to the scene and commenced a search-and-rescue operation.An excavator was later deployed to assist rescuers in removing the debris and gaining access to the remaining trapped victims.Several emergency and security agencies, including the State Emergency Management Agency, the National Emergency Management Agency, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, the police, health officials and the Red Cross, were involved in the operation.Six to seven ambulances were also deployed to evacuate victims for medical attention, according to the Chairman of Ilorin West Local Government Area, AbdulRahman Babatunde Ladan.Five dead, four survivorsThe operation eventually produced four survivors. Four other people were recovered from the rubble and initially confirmed dead. But the casualty figure would later change.Some of the rescued victims had been rushed to hospital, where they received treatment for injuries sustained in the collapse.By the following day, the death toll had risen to five after another victim died from injuries sustained in the disaster.The five victims were identified as a mother and her four children.They were subsequently buried according to Islamic rites at the Muslim Cemetery in Oko-Olowo, Ilorin, less than 24 hours after the bodies were recovered from the rubble.The father and two surviving children remained in hospital receiving treatment.The tragedy was particularly painful for Olarewaju, who had initially struggled to establish the extent of the family’s losses while victims were being taken to different hospitals.“From all indications, from the information I am getting from those in the hospital, we have lost five of them,” he said.Related NewsOlukoyede’s ledger without a witnessPlateau shuts schools over diphtheria outbreakWhy traders shouldn’t use detergent to wash fruits – Nutritionists“I have lost my children; I lost their mother and four of them. Only my brother, who is a Staff Sergeant in the Nigerian Army, is alive. I have lost five of them according to the information I got from those in the hospital; others are responding to treatment.”His account initially differed from the official casualty figure released by emergency authorities during the rescue operation.The Kwara State Fire Service had confirmed four deaths and four survivors at the scene.“We have recovered four people dead and rescued four people alive,” the Public Relations Officer of the Kwara State Fire Service, Hassan Adekunle, toldSunday PUNCHduring the operation.Adekunle said the agency’s immediate priority was to rescue the trapped occupants.“We immediately mobilised to the scene and commenced rescue operation. This kind of situation is not something the fire service can handle alone,” he said.He added that officials of the Hospitals Management Board, the NSCDC and other emergency agencies joined the operation.Authorities speakThe Kwara State Emergency Management Agency also confirmed that eight people were trapped in the building, with four rescued alive and four initially confirmed dead.Its Secretary, Magaji Saadudeen, said the rescued victims were receiving treatment while the bodies recovered from the rubble had been evacuated.“The rescued persons are receiving treatment presently,” Saadudeen said.As the emergency operation progressed, attention turned to the safety of the remaining structure.The Commissioner of Police, Kwara State Command, Adekimi Ojo, described the structure as a three-storey building and said the portion that collapsed was the boys’ quarters.“It was a three-storey building that collapsed. Our findings showed that the boys’ quarters of the building collapsed. Information gathered revealed that eight people were trapped in the building,” he said.“For now, the situation is under control. We will examine the remaining building and see how people can be secured. But for now, we have evacuated everybody from the main building.”The remaining portion was subsequently declared unsafe after an integrity assessment, with the family agreeing to demolish the structure.The decision brought to an end the immediate question of whether the old building could continue to accommodate residents.The building had reportedly stood for decades, but its age, condition and structural integrity became subjects of renewed concern following the collapse.The Chairman of the Kwara State Technical Committee of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, Bashir Lawal, called for a comprehensive audit of old and ageing buildings across the state to prevent a recurrence.The development also renewed calls for residents to report visible signs of structural weakness and evacuate buildings whenever they notice conditions that could threaten their safety.Representing Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq at the scene, the state Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Lawal Olohungbebe, described the incident as unfortunate and commiserated with the victims’ families.“The rescue mission began immediately after the collapse and, to the Grace of God, some were rescued, but unfortunately, we have to take it as this,” he said.Olohungbebe stressed the importance of accessible roads in residential areas, saying the access route to the building contributed to the ease with which emergency responders reached the scene.“One of the things that made it very easy for us to rescue the few people we were able to rescue is the access route,” he said.He urged residents and developers to respect building and town-planning regulations, particularly those relating to access roads.The commissioner commended the Ministries of Health and Environment, COREN, SEMA, NEMA, the Fire Service, Civil Defence, the Red Cross and other responders for their intervention.Ladan, who monitored the rescue operation, also commended the emergency agencies and residents for their prompt response.He urged residents to report structural defects promptly and evacuate buildings whenever they notice signs of possible collapse.“Whenever you discover something like this, please escalate it. Get to the point of evacuating yourself and your family members from that building. Life is the priority,” he said.He also advised prospective developers to use quality construction materials and engage qualified professionals to supervise their projects.But behind the official statements, casualty figures and emergency operations were the story of one family whose morning began like any other.For Olarewaju, the tragedy was not merely the collapse of an old building. It was the sudden loss of his children, their mother and other members of his family; the destruction of a home that had sheltered generations; and the beginning of an uncertain future for those left behind.“The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. Musa said rescuers were engaged in frantic efforts to evacuate those trapped under the collapsed structure.A child identified as Firdaus, the second-to-last born of the family, was among those rescued alive as emergency responders intensified the operation.The Kwara State Fire Service said it received a distress call at about 5 am reporting that a building had collapsed and people were trapped underneath.The agency immediately mobilised to the scene and commenced a search-and-rescue operation.An excavator was later deployed to assist rescuers in removing the debris and gaining access to the remaining trapped victims.Several emergency and security agencies, including the State Emergency Management Agency, the National Emergency Management Agency, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, the police, health officials and the Red Cross, were involved in the operation.Six to seven ambulances were also deployed to evacuate victims for medical attention, according to the Chairman of Ilorin West Local Government Area, AbdulRahman Babatunde Ladan.Five dead, four survivorsThe operation eventually produced four survivors. Four other people were recovered from the rubble and initially confirmed dead. But the casualty figure would later change.Some of the rescued victims had been rushed to hospital, where they received treatment for injuries sustained in the collapse.By the following day, the death toll had risen to five after another victim died from injuries sustained in the disaster.The five victims were identified as a mother and her four children.They were subsequently buried according to Islamic rites at the Muslim Cemetery in Oko-Olowo, Ilorin, less than 24 hours after the bodies were recovered from the rubble.The father and two surviving children remained in hospital receiving treatment.The tragedy was particularly painful for Olarewaju, who had initially struggled to establish the extent of the family’s losses while victims were being taken to different hospitals.“From all indications, from the information I am getting from those in the hospital, we have lost five of them,” he said.Related NewsOlukoyede’s ledger without a witnessPlateau shuts schools over diphtheria outbreakWhy traders shouldn’t use detergent to wash fruits – Nutritionists“I have lost my children; I lost their mother and four of them. Only my brother, who is a Staff Sergeant in the Nigerian Army, is alive. I have lost five of them according to the information I got from those in the hospital; others are responding to treatment.”His account initially differed from the official casualty figure released by emergency authorities during the rescue operation.The Kwara State Fire Service had confirmed four deaths and four survivors at the scene.“We have recovered four people dead and rescued four people alive,” the Public Relations Officer of the Kwara State Fire Service, Hassan Adekunle, toldSunday PUNCHduring the operation.Adekunle said the agency’s immediate priority was to rescue the trapped occupants.“We immediately mobilised to the scene and commenced rescue operation. This kind of situation is not something the fire service can handle alone,” he said.He added that officials of the Hospitals Management Board, the NSCDC and other emergency agencies joined the operation.Authorities speakThe Kwara State Emergency Management Agency also confirmed that eight people were trapped in the building, with four rescued alive and four initially confirmed dead.Its Secretary, Magaji Saadudeen, said the rescued victims were receiving treatment while the bodies recovered from the rubble had been evacuated.“The rescued persons are receiving treatment presently,” Saadudeen said.As the emergency operation progressed, attention turned to the safety of the remaining structure.The Commissioner of Police, Kwara State Command, Adekimi Ojo, described the structure as a three-storey building and said the portion that collapsed was the boys’ quarters.“It was a three-storey building that collapsed. Our findings showed that the boys’ quarters of the building collapsed. Information gathered revealed that eight people were trapped in the building,” he said.“For now, the situation is under control. We will examine the remaining building and see how people can be secured. But for now, we have evacuated everybody from the main building.”The remaining portion was subsequently declared unsafe after an integrity assessment, with the family agreeing to demolish the structure.The decision brought to an end the immediate question of whether the old building could continue to accommodate residents.The building had reportedly stood for decades, but its age, condition and structural integrity became subjects of renewed concern following the collapse.The Chairman of the Kwara State Technical Committee of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, Bashir Lawal, called for a comprehensive audit of old and ageing buildings across the state to prevent a recurrence.The development also renewed calls for residents to report visible signs of structural weakness and evacuate buildings whenever they notice conditions that could threaten their safety.Representing Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq at the scene, the state Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Lawal Olohungbebe, described the incident as unfortunate and commiserated with the victims’ families.“The rescue mission began immediately after the collapse and, to the Grace of God, some were rescued, but unfortunately, we have to take it as this,” he said.Olohungbebe stressed the importance of accessible roads in residential areas, saying the access route to the building contributed to the ease with which emergency responders reached the scene.“One of the things that made it very easy for us to rescue the few people we were able to rescue is the access route,” he said.He urged residents and developers to respect building and town-planning regulations, particularly those relating to access roads.The commissioner commended the Ministries of Health and Environment, COREN, SEMA, NEMA, the Fire Service, Civil Defence, the Red Cross and other responders for their intervention.Ladan, who monitored the rescue operation, also commended the emergency agencies and residents for their prompt response.He urged residents to report structural defects promptly and evacuate buildings whenever they notice signs of possible collapse.“Whenever you discover something like this, please escalate it. Get to the point of evacuating yourself and your family members from that building. Life is the priority,” he said.He also advised prospective developers to use quality construction materials and engage qualified professionals to supervise their projects.But behind the official statements, casualty figures and emergency operations were the story of one family whose morning began like any other.For Olarewaju, the tragedy was not merely the collapse of an old building. It was the sudden loss of his children, their mother and other members of his family; the destruction of a home that had sheltered generations; and the beginning of an uncertain future for those left behind.“The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. A child identified as Firdaus, the second-to-last born of the family, was among those rescued alive as emergency responders intensified the operation.The Kwara State Fire Service said it received a distress call at about 5 am reporting that a building had collapsed and people were trapped underneath.The agency immediately mobilised to the scene and commenced a search-and-rescue operation.An excavator was later deployed to assist rescuers in removing the debris and gaining access to the remaining trapped victims.Several emergency and security agencies, including the State Emergency Management Agency, the National Emergency Management Agency, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, the police, health officials and the Red Cross, were involved in the operation.Six to seven ambulances were also deployed to evacuate victims for medical attention, according to the Chairman of Ilorin West Local Government Area, AbdulRahman Babatunde Ladan.Five dead, four survivorsThe operation eventually produced four survivors. Four other people were recovered from the rubble and initially confirmed dead. But the casualty figure would later change.Some of the rescued victims had been rushed to hospital, where they received treatment for injuries sustained in the collapse.By the following day, the death toll had risen to five after another victim died from injuries sustained in the disaster.The five victims were identified as a mother and her four children.They were subsequently buried according to Islamic rites at the Muslim Cemetery in Oko-Olowo, Ilorin, less than 24 hours after the bodies were recovered from the rubble.The father and two surviving children remained in hospital receiving treatment.The tragedy was particularly painful for Olarewaju, who had initially struggled to establish the extent of the family’s losses while victims were being taken to different hospitals.“From all indications, from the information I am getting from those in the hospital, we have lost five of them,” he said.Related NewsOlukoyede’s ledger without a witnessPlateau shuts schools over diphtheria outbreakWhy traders shouldn’t use detergent to wash fruits – Nutritionists“I have lost my children; I lost their mother and four of them. Only my brother, who is a Staff Sergeant in the Nigerian Army, is alive. I have lost five of them according to the information I got from those in the hospital; others are responding to treatment.”His account initially differed from the official casualty figure released by emergency authorities during the rescue operation.The Kwara State Fire Service had confirmed four deaths and four survivors at the scene.“We have recovered four people dead and rescued four people alive,” the Public Relations Officer of the Kwara State Fire Service, Hassan Adekunle, toldSunday PUNCHduring the operation.Adekunle said the agency’s immediate priority was to rescue the trapped occupants.“We immediately mobilised to the scene and commenced rescue operation. This kind of situation is not something the fire service can handle alone,” he said.He added that officials of the Hospitals Management Board, the NSCDC and other emergency agencies joined the operation.Authorities speakThe Kwara State Emergency Management Agency also confirmed that eight people were trapped in the building, with four rescued alive and four initially confirmed dead.Its Secretary, Magaji Saadudeen, said the rescued victims were receiving treatment while the bodies recovered from the rubble had been evacuated.“The rescued persons are receiving treatment presently,” Saadudeen said.As the emergency operation progressed, attention turned to the safety of the remaining structure.The Commissioner of Police, Kwara State Command, Adekimi Ojo, described the structure as a three-storey building and said the portion that collapsed was the boys’ quarters.“It was a three-storey building that collapsed. Our findings showed that the boys’ quarters of the building collapsed. Information gathered revealed that eight people were trapped in the building,” he said.“For now, the situation is under control. We will examine the remaining building and see how people can be secured. But for now, we have evacuated everybody from the main building.”The remaining portion was subsequently declared unsafe after an integrity assessment, with the family agreeing to demolish the structure.The decision brought to an end the immediate question of whether the old building could continue to accommodate residents.The building had reportedly stood for decades, but its age, condition and structural integrity became subjects of renewed concern following the collapse.The Chairman of the Kwara State Technical Committee of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, Bashir Lawal, called for a comprehensive audit of old and ageing buildings across the state to prevent a recurrence.The development also renewed calls for residents to report visible signs of structural weakness and evacuate buildings whenever they notice conditions that could threaten their safety.Representing Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq at the scene, the state Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Lawal Olohungbebe, described the incident as unfortunate and commiserated with the victims’ families.“The rescue mission began immediately after the collapse and, to the Grace of God, some were rescued, but unfortunately, we have to take it as this,” he said.Olohungbebe stressed the importance of accessible roads in residential areas, saying the access route to the building contributed to the ease with which emergency responders reached the scene.“One of the things that made it very easy for us to rescue the few people we were able to rescue is the access route,” he said.He urged residents and developers to respect building and town-planning regulations, particularly those relating to access roads.The commissioner commended the Ministries of Health and Environment, COREN, SEMA, NEMA, the Fire Service, Civil Defence, the Red Cross and other responders for their intervention.Ladan, who monitored the rescue operation, also commended the emergency agencies and residents for their prompt response.He urged residents to report structural defects promptly and evacuate buildings whenever they notice signs of possible collapse.“Whenever you discover something like this, please escalate it. Get to the point of evacuating yourself and your family members from that building. Life is the priority,” he said.He also advised prospective developers to use quality construction materials and engage qualified professionals to supervise their projects.But behind the official statements, casualty figures and emergency operations were the story of one family whose morning began like any other.For Olarewaju, the tragedy was not merely the collapse of an old building. It was the sudden loss of his children, their mother and other members of his family; the destruction of a home that had sheltered generations; and the beginning of an uncertain future for those left behind.“The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. The Kwara State Fire Service said it received a distress call at about 5 am reporting that a building had collapsed and people were trapped underneath.The agency immediately mobilised to the scene and commenced a search-and-rescue operation.An excavator was later deployed to assist rescuers in removing the debris and gaining access to the remaining trapped victims.Several emergency and security agencies, including the State Emergency Management Agency, the National Emergency Management Agency, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, the police, health officials and the Red Cross, were involved in the operation.Six to seven ambulances were also deployed to evacuate victims for medical attention, according to the Chairman of Ilorin West Local Government Area, AbdulRahman Babatunde Ladan.Five dead, four survivorsThe operation eventually produced four survivors. Four other people were recovered from the rubble and initially confirmed dead. But the casualty figure would later change.Some of the rescued victims had been rushed to hospital, where they received treatment for injuries sustained in the collapse.By the following day, the death toll had risen to five after another victim died from injuries sustained in the disaster.The five victims were identified as a mother and her four children.They were subsequently buried according to Islamic rites at the Muslim Cemetery in Oko-Olowo, Ilorin, less than 24 hours after the bodies were recovered from the rubble.The father and two surviving children remained in hospital receiving treatment.The tragedy was particularly painful for Olarewaju, who had initially struggled to establish the extent of the family’s losses while victims were being taken to different hospitals.“From all indications, from the information I am getting from those in the hospital, we have lost five of them,” he said.Related NewsOlukoyede’s ledger without a witnessPlateau shuts schools over diphtheria outbreakWhy traders shouldn’t use detergent to wash fruits – Nutritionists“I have lost my children; I lost their mother and four of them. Only my brother, who is a Staff Sergeant in the Nigerian Army, is alive. I have lost five of them according to the information I got from those in the hospital; others are responding to treatment.”His account initially differed from the official casualty figure released by emergency authorities during the rescue operation.The Kwara State Fire Service had confirmed four deaths and four survivors at the scene.“We have recovered four people dead and rescued four people alive,” the Public Relations Officer of the Kwara State Fire Service, Hassan Adekunle, toldSunday PUNCHduring the operation.Adekunle said the agency’s immediate priority was to rescue the trapped occupants.“We immediately mobilised to the scene and commenced rescue operation. This kind of situation is not something the fire service can handle alone,” he said.He added that officials of the Hospitals Management Board, the NSCDC and other emergency agencies joined the operation.Authorities speakThe Kwara State Emergency Management Agency also confirmed that eight people were trapped in the building, with four rescued alive and four initially confirmed dead.Its Secretary, Magaji Saadudeen, said the rescued victims were receiving treatment while the bodies recovered from the rubble had been evacuated.“The rescued persons are receiving treatment presently,” Saadudeen said.As the emergency operation progressed, attention turned to the safety of the remaining structure.The Commissioner of Police, Kwara State Command, Adekimi Ojo, described the structure as a three-storey building and said the portion that collapsed was the boys’ quarters.“It was a three-storey building that collapsed. Our findings showed that the boys’ quarters of the building collapsed. Information gathered revealed that eight people were trapped in the building,” he said.“For now, the situation is under control. We will examine the remaining building and see how people can be secured. But for now, we have evacuated everybody from the main building.”The remaining portion was subsequently declared unsafe after an integrity assessment, with the family agreeing to demolish the structure.The decision brought to an end the immediate question of whether the old building could continue to accommodate residents.The building had reportedly stood for decades, but its age, condition and structural integrity became subjects of renewed concern following the collapse.The Chairman of the Kwara State Technical Committee of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, Bashir Lawal, called for a comprehensive audit of old and ageing buildings across the state to prevent a recurrence.The development also renewed calls for residents to report visible signs of structural weakness and evacuate buildings whenever they notice conditions that could threaten their safety.Representing Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq at the scene, the state Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Lawal Olohungbebe, described the incident as unfortunate and commiserated with the victims’ families.“The rescue mission began immediately after the collapse and, to the Grace of God, some were rescued, but unfortunately, we have to take it as this,” he said.Olohungbebe stressed the importance of accessible roads in residential areas, saying the access route to the building contributed to the ease with which emergency responders reached the scene.“One of the things that made it very easy for us to rescue the few people we were able to rescue is the access route,” he said.He urged residents and developers to respect building and town-planning regulations, particularly those relating to access roads.The commissioner commended the Ministries of Health and Environment, COREN, SEMA, NEMA, the Fire Service, Civil Defence, the Red Cross and other responders for their intervention.Ladan, who monitored the rescue operation, also commended the emergency agencies and residents for their prompt response.He urged residents to report structural defects promptly and evacuate buildings whenever they notice signs of possible collapse.“Whenever you discover something like this, please escalate it. Get to the point of evacuating yourself and your family members from that building. Life is the priority,” he said.He also advised prospective developers to use quality construction materials and engage qualified professionals to supervise their projects.But behind the official statements, casualty figures and emergency operations were the story of one family whose morning began like any other.For Olarewaju, the tragedy was not merely the collapse of an old building. It was the sudden loss of his children, their mother and other members of his family; the destruction of a home that had sheltered generations; and the beginning of an uncertain future for those left behind.“The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. The agency immediately mobilised to the scene and commenced a search-and-rescue operation.An excavator was later deployed to assist rescuers in removing the debris and gaining access to the remaining trapped victims.Several emergency and security agencies, including the State Emergency Management Agency, the National Emergency Management Agency, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, the police, health officials and the Red Cross, were involved in the operation.Six to seven ambulances were also deployed to evacuate victims for medical attention, according to the Chairman of Ilorin West Local Government Area, AbdulRahman Babatunde Ladan.Five dead, four survivorsThe operation eventually produced four survivors. Four other people were recovered from the rubble and initially confirmed dead. But the casualty figure would later change.Some of the rescued victims had been rushed to hospital, where they received treatment for injuries sustained in the collapse.By the following day, the death toll had risen to five after another victim died from injuries sustained in the disaster.The five victims were identified as a mother and her four children.They were subsequently buried according to Islamic rites at the Muslim Cemetery in Oko-Olowo, Ilorin, less than 24 hours after the bodies were recovered from the rubble.The father and two surviving children remained in hospital receiving treatment.The tragedy was particularly painful for Olarewaju, who had initially struggled to establish the extent of the family’s losses while victims were being taken to different hospitals.“From all indications, from the information I am getting from those in the hospital, we have lost five of them,” he said.Related NewsOlukoyede’s ledger without a witnessPlateau shuts schools over diphtheria outbreakWhy traders shouldn’t use detergent to wash fruits – Nutritionists“I have lost my children; I lost their mother and four of them. Only my brother, who is a Staff Sergeant in the Nigerian Army, is alive. I have lost five of them according to the information I got from those in the hospital; others are responding to treatment.”His account initially differed from the official casualty figure released by emergency authorities during the rescue operation.The Kwara State Fire Service had confirmed four deaths and four survivors at the scene.“We have recovered four people dead and rescued four people alive,” the Public Relations Officer of the Kwara State Fire Service, Hassan Adekunle, toldSunday PUNCHduring the operation.Adekunle said the agency’s immediate priority was to rescue the trapped occupants.“We immediately mobilised to the scene and commenced rescue operation. This kind of situation is not something the fire service can handle alone,” he said.He added that officials of the Hospitals Management Board, the NSCDC and other emergency agencies joined the operation.Authorities speakThe Kwara State Emergency Management Agency also confirmed that eight people were trapped in the building, with four rescued alive and four initially confirmed dead.Its Secretary, Magaji Saadudeen, said the rescued victims were receiving treatment while the bodies recovered from the rubble had been evacuated.“The rescued persons are receiving treatment presently,” Saadudeen said.As the emergency operation progressed, attention turned to the safety of the remaining structure.The Commissioner of Police, Kwara State Command, Adekimi Ojo, described the structure as a three-storey building and said the portion that collapsed was the boys’ quarters.“It was a three-storey building that collapsed. Our findings showed that the boys’ quarters of the building collapsed. Information gathered revealed that eight people were trapped in the building,” he said.“For now, the situation is under control. We will examine the remaining building and see how people can be secured. But for now, we have evacuated everybody from the main building.”The remaining portion was subsequently declared unsafe after an integrity assessment, with the family agreeing to demolish the structure.The decision brought to an end the immediate question of whether the old building could continue to accommodate residents.The building had reportedly stood for decades, but its age, condition and structural integrity became subjects of renewed concern following the collapse.The Chairman of the Kwara State Technical Committee of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, Bashir Lawal, called for a comprehensive audit of old and ageing buildings across the state to prevent a recurrence.The development also renewed calls for residents to report visible signs of structural weakness and evacuate buildings whenever they notice conditions that could threaten their safety.Representing Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq at the scene, the state Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Lawal Olohungbebe, described the incident as unfortunate and commiserated with the victims’ families.“The rescue mission began immediately after the collapse and, to the Grace of God, some were rescued, but unfortunately, we have to take it as this,” he said.Olohungbebe stressed the importance of accessible roads in residential areas, saying the access route to the building contributed to the ease with which emergency responders reached the scene.“One of the things that made it very easy for us to rescue the few people we were able to rescue is the access route,” he said.He urged residents and developers to respect building and town-planning regulations, particularly those relating to access roads.The commissioner commended the Ministries of Health and Environment, COREN, SEMA, NEMA, the Fire Service, Civil Defence, the Red Cross and other responders for their intervention.Ladan, who monitored the rescue operation, also commended the emergency agencies and residents for their prompt response.He urged residents to report structural defects promptly and evacuate buildings whenever they notice signs of possible collapse.“Whenever you discover something like this, please escalate it. Get to the point of evacuating yourself and your family members from that building. Life is the priority,” he said.He also advised prospective developers to use quality construction materials and engage qualified professionals to supervise their projects.But behind the official statements, casualty figures and emergency operations were the story of one family whose morning began like any other.For Olarewaju, the tragedy was not merely the collapse of an old building. It was the sudden loss of his children, their mother and other members of his family; the destruction of a home that had sheltered generations; and the beginning of an uncertain future for those left behind.“The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. An excavator was later deployed to assist rescuers in removing the debris and gaining access to the remaining trapped victims.Several emergency and security agencies, including the State Emergency Management Agency, the National Emergency Management Agency, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, the police, health officials and the Red Cross, were involved in the operation.Six to seven ambulances were also deployed to evacuate victims for medical attention, according to the Chairman of Ilorin West Local Government Area, AbdulRahman Babatunde Ladan.Five dead, four survivorsThe operation eventually produced four survivors. Four other people were recovered from the rubble and initially confirmed dead. But the casualty figure would later change.Some of the rescued victims had been rushed to hospital, where they received treatment for injuries sustained in the collapse.By the following day, the death toll had risen to five after another victim died from injuries sustained in the disaster.The five victims were identified as a mother and her four children.They were subsequently buried according to Islamic rites at the Muslim Cemetery in Oko-Olowo, Ilorin, less than 24 hours after the bodies were recovered from the rubble.The father and two surviving children remained in hospital receiving treatment.The tragedy was particularly painful for Olarewaju, who had initially struggled to establish the extent of the family’s losses while victims were being taken to different hospitals.“From all indications, from the information I am getting from those in the hospital, we have lost five of them,” he said.Related NewsOlukoyede’s ledger without a witnessPlateau shuts schools over diphtheria outbreakWhy traders shouldn’t use detergent to wash fruits – Nutritionists“I have lost my children; I lost their mother and four of them. Only my brother, who is a Staff Sergeant in the Nigerian Army, is alive. I have lost five of them according to the information I got from those in the hospital; others are responding to treatment.”His account initially differed from the official casualty figure released by emergency authorities during the rescue operation.The Kwara State Fire Service had confirmed four deaths and four survivors at the scene.“We have recovered four people dead and rescued four people alive,” the Public Relations Officer of the Kwara State Fire Service, Hassan Adekunle, toldSunday PUNCHduring the operation.Adekunle said the agency’s immediate priority was to rescue the trapped occupants.“We immediately mobilised to the scene and commenced rescue operation. This kind of situation is not something the fire service can handle alone,” he said.He added that officials of the Hospitals Management Board, the NSCDC and other emergency agencies joined the operation.Authorities speakThe Kwara State Emergency Management Agency also confirmed that eight people were trapped in the building, with four rescued alive and four initially confirmed dead.Its Secretary, Magaji Saadudeen, said the rescued victims were receiving treatment while the bodies recovered from the rubble had been evacuated.“The rescued persons are receiving treatment presently,” Saadudeen said.As the emergency operation progressed, attention turned to the safety of the remaining structure.The Commissioner of Police, Kwara State Command, Adekimi Ojo, described the structure as a three-storey building and said the portion that collapsed was the boys’ quarters.“It was a three-storey building that collapsed. Our findings showed that the boys’ quarters of the building collapsed. Information gathered revealed that eight people were trapped in the building,” he said.“For now, the situation is under control. We will examine the remaining building and see how people can be secured. But for now, we have evacuated everybody from the main building.”The remaining portion was subsequently declared unsafe after an integrity assessment, with the family agreeing to demolish the structure.The decision brought to an end the immediate question of whether the old building could continue to accommodate residents.The building had reportedly stood for decades, but its age, condition and structural integrity became subjects of renewed concern following the collapse.The Chairman of the Kwara State Technical Committee of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, Bashir Lawal, called for a comprehensive audit of old and ageing buildings across the state to prevent a recurrence.The development also renewed calls for residents to report visible signs of structural weakness and evacuate buildings whenever they notice conditions that could threaten their safety.Representing Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq at the scene, the state Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Lawal Olohungbebe, described the incident as unfortunate and commiserated with the victims’ families.“The rescue mission began immediately after the collapse and, to the Grace of God, some were rescued, but unfortunately, we have to take it as this,” he said.Olohungbebe stressed the importance of accessible roads in residential areas, saying the access route to the building contributed to the ease with which emergency responders reached the scene.“One of the things that made it very easy for us to rescue the few people we were able to rescue is the access route,” he said.He urged residents and developers to respect building and town-planning regulations, particularly those relating to access roads.The commissioner commended the Ministries of Health and Environment, COREN, SEMA, NEMA, the Fire Service, Civil Defence, the Red Cross and other responders for their intervention.Ladan, who monitored the rescue operation, also commended the emergency agencies and residents for their prompt response.He urged residents to report structural defects promptly and evacuate buildings whenever they notice signs of possible collapse.“Whenever you discover something like this, please escalate it. Get to the point of evacuating yourself and your family members from that building. Life is the priority,” he said.He also advised prospective developers to use quality construction materials and engage qualified professionals to supervise their projects.But behind the official statements, casualty figures and emergency operations were the story of one family whose morning began like any other.For Olarewaju, the tragedy was not merely the collapse of an old building. It was the sudden loss of his children, their mother and other members of his family; the destruction of a home that had sheltered generations; and the beginning of an uncertain future for those left behind.“The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. Several emergency and security agencies, including the State Emergency Management Agency, the National Emergency Management Agency, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, the police, health officials and the Red Cross, were involved in the operation.Six to seven ambulances were also deployed to evacuate victims for medical attention, according to the Chairman of Ilorin West Local Government Area, AbdulRahman Babatunde Ladan.Five dead, four survivorsThe operation eventually produced four survivors. Four other people were recovered from the rubble and initially confirmed dead. But the casualty figure would later change.Some of the rescued victims had been rushed to hospital, where they received treatment for injuries sustained in the collapse.By the following day, the death toll had risen to five after another victim died from injuries sustained in the disaster.The five victims were identified as a mother and her four children.They were subsequently buried according to Islamic rites at the Muslim Cemetery in Oko-Olowo, Ilorin, less than 24 hours after the bodies were recovered from the rubble.The father and two surviving children remained in hospital receiving treatment.The tragedy was particularly painful for Olarewaju, who had initially struggled to establish the extent of the family’s losses while victims were being taken to different hospitals.“From all indications, from the information I am getting from those in the hospital, we have lost five of them,” he said.Related NewsOlukoyede’s ledger without a witnessPlateau shuts schools over diphtheria outbreakWhy traders shouldn’t use detergent to wash fruits – Nutritionists“I have lost my children; I lost their mother and four of them. Only my brother, who is a Staff Sergeant in the Nigerian Army, is alive. I have lost five of them according to the information I got from those in the hospital; others are responding to treatment.”His account initially differed from the official casualty figure released by emergency authorities during the rescue operation.The Kwara State Fire Service had confirmed four deaths and four survivors at the scene.“We have recovered four people dead and rescued four people alive,” the Public Relations Officer of the Kwara State Fire Service, Hassan Adekunle, toldSunday PUNCHduring the operation.Adekunle said the agency’s immediate priority was to rescue the trapped occupants.“We immediately mobilised to the scene and commenced rescue operation. This kind of situation is not something the fire service can handle alone,” he said.He added that officials of the Hospitals Management Board, the NSCDC and other emergency agencies joined the operation.Authorities speakThe Kwara State Emergency Management Agency also confirmed that eight people were trapped in the building, with four rescued alive and four initially confirmed dead.Its Secretary, Magaji Saadudeen, said the rescued victims were receiving treatment while the bodies recovered from the rubble had been evacuated.“The rescued persons are receiving treatment presently,” Saadudeen said.As the emergency operation progressed, attention turned to the safety of the remaining structure.The Commissioner of Police, Kwara State Command, Adekimi Ojo, described the structure as a three-storey building and said the portion that collapsed was the boys’ quarters.“It was a three-storey building that collapsed. Our findings showed that the boys’ quarters of the building collapsed. Information gathered revealed that eight people were trapped in the building,” he said.“For now, the situation is under control. We will examine the remaining building and see how people can be secured. But for now, we have evacuated everybody from the main building.”The remaining portion was subsequently declared unsafe after an integrity assessment, with the family agreeing to demolish the structure.The decision brought to an end the immediate question of whether the old building could continue to accommodate residents.The building had reportedly stood for decades, but its age, condition and structural integrity became subjects of renewed concern following the collapse.The Chairman of the Kwara State Technical Committee of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, Bashir Lawal, called for a comprehensive audit of old and ageing buildings across the state to prevent a recurrence.The development also renewed calls for residents to report visible signs of structural weakness and evacuate buildings whenever they notice conditions that could threaten their safety.Representing Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq at the scene, the state Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Lawal Olohungbebe, described the incident as unfortunate and commiserated with the victims’ families.“The rescue mission began immediately after the collapse and, to the Grace of God, some were rescued, but unfortunately, we have to take it as this,” he said.Olohungbebe stressed the importance of accessible roads in residential areas, saying the access route to the building contributed to the ease with which emergency responders reached the scene.“One of the things that made it very easy for us to rescue the few people we were able to rescue is the access route,” he said.He urged residents and developers to respect building and town-planning regulations, particularly those relating to access roads.The commissioner commended the Ministries of Health and Environment, COREN, SEMA, NEMA, the Fire Service, Civil Defence, the Red Cross and other responders for their intervention.Ladan, who monitored the rescue operation, also commended the emergency agencies and residents for their prompt response.He urged residents to report structural defects promptly and evacuate buildings whenever they notice signs of possible collapse.“Whenever you discover something like this, please escalate it. Get to the point of evacuating yourself and your family members from that building. Life is the priority,” he said.He also advised prospective developers to use quality construction materials and engage qualified professionals to supervise their projects.But behind the official statements, casualty figures and emergency operations were the story of one family whose morning began like any other.For Olarewaju, the tragedy was not merely the collapse of an old building. It was the sudden loss of his children, their mother and other members of his family; the destruction of a home that had sheltered generations; and the beginning of an uncertain future for those left behind.“The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. Six to seven ambulances were also deployed to evacuate victims for medical attention, according to the Chairman of Ilorin West Local Government Area, AbdulRahman Babatunde Ladan.Five dead, four survivorsThe operation eventually produced four survivors. Four other people were recovered from the rubble and initially confirmed dead. But the casualty figure would later change.Some of the rescued victims had been rushed to hospital, where they received treatment for injuries sustained in the collapse.By the following day, the death toll had risen to five after another victim died from injuries sustained in the disaster.The five victims were identified as a mother and her four children.They were subsequently buried according to Islamic rites at the Muslim Cemetery in Oko-Olowo, Ilorin, less than 24 hours after the bodies were recovered from the rubble.The father and two surviving children remained in hospital receiving treatment.The tragedy was particularly painful for Olarewaju, who had initially struggled to establish the extent of the family’s losses while victims were being taken to different hospitals.“From all indications, from the information I am getting from those in the hospital, we have lost five of them,” he said.Related NewsOlukoyede’s ledger without a witnessPlateau shuts schools over diphtheria outbreakWhy traders shouldn’t use detergent to wash fruits – Nutritionists“I have lost my children; I lost their mother and four of them. Only my brother, who is a Staff Sergeant in the Nigerian Army, is alive. I have lost five of them according to the information I got from those in the hospital; others are responding to treatment.”His account initially differed from the official casualty figure released by emergency authorities during the rescue operation.The Kwara State Fire Service had confirmed four deaths and four survivors at the scene.“We have recovered four people dead and rescued four people alive,” the Public Relations Officer of the Kwara State Fire Service, Hassan Adekunle, toldSunday PUNCHduring the operation.Adekunle said the agency’s immediate priority was to rescue the trapped occupants.“We immediately mobilised to the scene and commenced rescue operation. This kind of situation is not something the fire service can handle alone,” he said.He added that officials of the Hospitals Management Board, the NSCDC and other emergency agencies joined the operation.Authorities speakThe Kwara State Emergency Management Agency also confirmed that eight people were trapped in the building, with four rescued alive and four initially confirmed dead.Its Secretary, Magaji Saadudeen, said the rescued victims were receiving treatment while the bodies recovered from the rubble had been evacuated.“The rescued persons are receiving treatment presently,” Saadudeen said.As the emergency operation progressed, attention turned to the safety of the remaining structure.The Commissioner of Police, Kwara State Command, Adekimi Ojo, described the structure as a three-storey building and said the portion that collapsed was the boys’ quarters.“It was a three-storey building that collapsed. Our findings showed that the boys’ quarters of the building collapsed. Information gathered revealed that eight people were trapped in the building,” he said.“For now, the situation is under control. We will examine the remaining building and see how people can be secured. But for now, we have evacuated everybody from the main building.”The remaining portion was subsequently declared unsafe after an integrity assessment, with the family agreeing to demolish the structure.The decision brought to an end the immediate question of whether the old building could continue to accommodate residents.The building had reportedly stood for decades, but its age, condition and structural integrity became subjects of renewed concern following the collapse.The Chairman of the Kwara State Technical Committee of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, Bashir Lawal, called for a comprehensive audit of old and ageing buildings across the state to prevent a recurrence.The development also renewed calls for residents to report visible signs of structural weakness and evacuate buildings whenever they notice conditions that could threaten their safety.Representing Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq at the scene, the state Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Lawal Olohungbebe, described the incident as unfortunate and commiserated with the victims’ families.“The rescue mission began immediately after the collapse and, to the Grace of God, some were rescued, but unfortunately, we have to take it as this,” he said.Olohungbebe stressed the importance of accessible roads in residential areas, saying the access route to the building contributed to the ease with which emergency responders reached the scene.“One of the things that made it very easy for us to rescue the few people we were able to rescue is the access route,” he said.He urged residents and developers to respect building and town-planning regulations, particularly those relating to access roads.The commissioner commended the Ministries of Health and Environment, COREN, SEMA, NEMA, the Fire Service, Civil Defence, the Red Cross and other responders for their intervention.Ladan, who monitored the rescue operation, also commended the emergency agencies and residents for their prompt response.He urged residents to report structural defects promptly and evacuate buildings whenever they notice signs of possible collapse.“Whenever you discover something like this, please escalate it. Get to the point of evacuating yourself and your family members from that building. Life is the priority,” he said.He also advised prospective developers to use quality construction materials and engage qualified professionals to supervise their projects.But behind the official statements, casualty figures and emergency operations were the story of one family whose morning began like any other.For Olarewaju, the tragedy was not merely the collapse of an old building. It was the sudden loss of his children, their mother and other members of his family; the destruction of a home that had sheltered generations; and the beginning of an uncertain future for those left behind.“The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. Five dead, four survivorsThe operation eventually produced four survivors. Four other people were recovered from the rubble and initially confirmed dead. But the casualty figure would later change.Some of the rescued victims had been rushed to hospital, where they received treatment for injuries sustained in the collapse.By the following day, the death toll had risen to five after another victim died from injuries sustained in the disaster.The five victims were identified as a mother and her four children.They were subsequently buried according to Islamic rites at the Muslim Cemetery in Oko-Olowo, Ilorin, less than 24 hours after the bodies were recovered from the rubble.The father and two surviving children remained in hospital receiving treatment.The tragedy was particularly painful for Olarewaju, who had initially struggled to establish the extent of the family’s losses while victims were being taken to different hospitals.“From all indications, from the information I am getting from those in the hospital, we have lost five of them,” he said.Related NewsOlukoyede’s ledger without a witnessPlateau shuts schools over diphtheria outbreakWhy traders shouldn’t use detergent to wash fruits – Nutritionists“I have lost my children; I lost their mother and four of them. Only my brother, who is a Staff Sergeant in the Nigerian Army, is alive. I have lost five of them according to the information I got from those in the hospital; others are responding to treatment.”His account initially differed from the official casualty figure released by emergency authorities during the rescue operation.The Kwara State Fire Service had confirmed four deaths and four survivors at the scene.“We have recovered four people dead and rescued four people alive,” the Public Relations Officer of the Kwara State Fire Service, Hassan Adekunle, toldSunday PUNCHduring the operation.Adekunle said the agency’s immediate priority was to rescue the trapped occupants.“We immediately mobilised to the scene and commenced rescue operation. This kind of situation is not something the fire service can handle alone,” he said.He added that officials of the Hospitals Management Board, the NSCDC and other emergency agencies joined the operation.Authorities speakThe Kwara State Emergency Management Agency also confirmed that eight people were trapped in the building, with four rescued alive and four initially confirmed dead.Its Secretary, Magaji Saadudeen, said the rescued victims were receiving treatment while the bodies recovered from the rubble had been evacuated.“The rescued persons are receiving treatment presently,” Saadudeen said.As the emergency operation progressed, attention turned to the safety of the remaining structure.The Commissioner of Police, Kwara State Command, Adekimi Ojo, described the structure as a three-storey building and said the portion that collapsed was the boys’ quarters.“It was a three-storey building that collapsed. Our findings showed that the boys’ quarters of the building collapsed. Information gathered revealed that eight people were trapped in the building,” he said.“For now, the situation is under control. We will examine the remaining building and see how people can be secured. But for now, we have evacuated everybody from the main building.”The remaining portion was subsequently declared unsafe after an integrity assessment, with the family agreeing to demolish the structure.The decision brought to an end the immediate question of whether the old building could continue to accommodate residents.The building had reportedly stood for decades, but its age, condition and structural integrity became subjects of renewed concern following the collapse.The Chairman of the Kwara State Technical Committee of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, Bashir Lawal, called for a comprehensive audit of old and ageing buildings across the state to prevent a recurrence.The development also renewed calls for residents to report visible signs of structural weakness and evacuate buildings whenever they notice conditions that could threaten their safety.Representing Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq at the scene, the state Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Lawal Olohungbebe, described the incident as unfortunate and commiserated with the victims’ families.“The rescue mission began immediately after the collapse and, to the Grace of God, some were rescued, but unfortunately, we have to take it as this,” he said.Olohungbebe stressed the importance of accessible roads in residential areas, saying the access route to the building contributed to the ease with which emergency responders reached the scene.“One of the things that made it very easy for us to rescue the few people we were able to rescue is the access route,” he said.He urged residents and developers to respect building and town-planning regulations, particularly those relating to access roads.The commissioner commended the Ministries of Health and Environment, COREN, SEMA, NEMA, the Fire Service, Civil Defence, the Red Cross and other responders for their intervention.Ladan, who monitored the rescue operation, also commended the emergency agencies and residents for their prompt response.He urged residents to report structural defects promptly and evacuate buildings whenever they notice signs of possible collapse.“Whenever you discover something like this, please escalate it. Get to the point of evacuating yourself and your family members from that building. Life is the priority,” he said.He also advised prospective developers to use quality construction materials and engage qualified professionals to supervise their projects.But behind the official statements, casualty figures and emergency operations were the story of one family whose morning began like any other.For Olarewaju, the tragedy was not merely the collapse of an old building. It was the sudden loss of his children, their mother and other members of his family; the destruction of a home that had sheltered generations; and the beginning of an uncertain future for those left behind.“The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. The operation eventually produced four survivors. Four other people were recovered from the rubble and initially confirmed dead. But the casualty figure would later change.Some of the rescued victims had been rushed to hospital, where they received treatment for injuries sustained in the collapse.By the following day, the death toll had risen to five after another victim died from injuries sustained in the disaster.The five victims were identified as a mother and her four children.They were subsequently buried according to Islamic rites at the Muslim Cemetery in Oko-Olowo, Ilorin, less than 24 hours after the bodies were recovered from the rubble.The father and two surviving children remained in hospital receiving treatment.The tragedy was particularly painful for Olarewaju, who had initially struggled to establish the extent of the family’s losses while victims were being taken to different hospitals.“From all indications, from the information I am getting from those in the hospital, we have lost five of them,” he said.Related NewsOlukoyede’s ledger without a witnessPlateau shuts schools over diphtheria outbreakWhy traders shouldn’t use detergent to wash fruits – Nutritionists“I have lost my children; I lost their mother and four of them. Only my brother, who is a Staff Sergeant in the Nigerian Army, is alive. I have lost five of them according to the information I got from those in the hospital; others are responding to treatment.”His account initially differed from the official casualty figure released by emergency authorities during the rescue operation.The Kwara State Fire Service had confirmed four deaths and four survivors at the scene.“We have recovered four people dead and rescued four people alive,” the Public Relations Officer of the Kwara State Fire Service, Hassan Adekunle, toldSunday PUNCHduring the operation.Adekunle said the agency’s immediate priority was to rescue the trapped occupants.“We immediately mobilised to the scene and commenced rescue operation. This kind of situation is not something the fire service can handle alone,” he said.He added that officials of the Hospitals Management Board, the NSCDC and other emergency agencies joined the operation.Authorities speakThe Kwara State Emergency Management Agency also confirmed that eight people were trapped in the building, with four rescued alive and four initially confirmed dead.Its Secretary, Magaji Saadudeen, said the rescued victims were receiving treatment while the bodies recovered from the rubble had been evacuated.“The rescued persons are receiving treatment presently,” Saadudeen said.As the emergency operation progressed, attention turned to the safety of the remaining structure.The Commissioner of Police, Kwara State Command, Adekimi Ojo, described the structure as a three-storey building and said the portion that collapsed was the boys’ quarters.“It was a three-storey building that collapsed. Our findings showed that the boys’ quarters of the building collapsed. Information gathered revealed that eight people were trapped in the building,” he said.“For now, the situation is under control. We will examine the remaining building and see how people can be secured. But for now, we have evacuated everybody from the main building.”The remaining portion was subsequently declared unsafe after an integrity assessment, with the family agreeing to demolish the structure.The decision brought to an end the immediate question of whether the old building could continue to accommodate residents.The building had reportedly stood for decades, but its age, condition and structural integrity became subjects of renewed concern following the collapse.The Chairman of the Kwara State Technical Committee of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, Bashir Lawal, called for a comprehensive audit of old and ageing buildings across the state to prevent a recurrence.The development also renewed calls for residents to report visible signs of structural weakness and evacuate buildings whenever they notice conditions that could threaten their safety.Representing Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq at the scene, the state Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Lawal Olohungbebe, described the incident as unfortunate and commiserated with the victims’ families.“The rescue mission began immediately after the collapse and, to the Grace of God, some were rescued, but unfortunately, we have to take it as this,” he said.Olohungbebe stressed the importance of accessible roads in residential areas, saying the access route to the building contributed to the ease with which emergency responders reached the scene.“One of the things that made it very easy for us to rescue the few people we were able to rescue is the access route,” he said.He urged residents and developers to respect building and town-planning regulations, particularly those relating to access roads.The commissioner commended the Ministries of Health and Environment, COREN, SEMA, NEMA, the Fire Service, Civil Defence, the Red Cross and other responders for their intervention.Ladan, who monitored the rescue operation, also commended the emergency agencies and residents for their prompt response.He urged residents to report structural defects promptly and evacuate buildings whenever they notice signs of possible collapse.“Whenever you discover something like this, please escalate it. Get to the point of evacuating yourself and your family members from that building. Life is the priority,” he said.He also advised prospective developers to use quality construction materials and engage qualified professionals to supervise their projects.But behind the official statements, casualty figures and emergency operations were the story of one family whose morning began like any other.For Olarewaju, the tragedy was not merely the collapse of an old building. It was the sudden loss of his children, their mother and other members of his family; the destruction of a home that had sheltered generations; and the beginning of an uncertain future for those left behind.“The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. Some of the rescued victims had been rushed to hospital, where they received treatment for injuries sustained in the collapse.By the following day, the death toll had risen to five after another victim died from injuries sustained in the disaster.The five victims were identified as a mother and her four children.They were subsequently buried according to Islamic rites at the Muslim Cemetery in Oko-Olowo, Ilorin, less than 24 hours after the bodies were recovered from the rubble.The father and two surviving children remained in hospital receiving treatment.The tragedy was particularly painful for Olarewaju, who had initially struggled to establish the extent of the family’s losses while victims were being taken to different hospitals.“From all indications, from the information I am getting from those in the hospital, we have lost five of them,” he said.Related NewsOlukoyede’s ledger without a witnessPlateau shuts schools over diphtheria outbreakWhy traders shouldn’t use detergent to wash fruits – Nutritionists“I have lost my children; I lost their mother and four of them. Only my brother, who is a Staff Sergeant in the Nigerian Army, is alive. I have lost five of them according to the information I got from those in the hospital; others are responding to treatment.”His account initially differed from the official casualty figure released by emergency authorities during the rescue operation.The Kwara State Fire Service had confirmed four deaths and four survivors at the scene.“We have recovered four people dead and rescued four people alive,” the Public Relations Officer of the Kwara State Fire Service, Hassan Adekunle, toldSunday PUNCHduring the operation.Adekunle said the agency’s immediate priority was to rescue the trapped occupants.“We immediately mobilised to the scene and commenced rescue operation. This kind of situation is not something the fire service can handle alone,” he said.He added that officials of the Hospitals Management Board, the NSCDC and other emergency agencies joined the operation.Authorities speakThe Kwara State Emergency Management Agency also confirmed that eight people were trapped in the building, with four rescued alive and four initially confirmed dead.Its Secretary, Magaji Saadudeen, said the rescued victims were receiving treatment while the bodies recovered from the rubble had been evacuated.“The rescued persons are receiving treatment presently,” Saadudeen said.As the emergency operation progressed, attention turned to the safety of the remaining structure.The Commissioner of Police, Kwara State Command, Adekimi Ojo, described the structure as a three-storey building and said the portion that collapsed was the boys’ quarters.“It was a three-storey building that collapsed. Our findings showed that the boys’ quarters of the building collapsed. Information gathered revealed that eight people were trapped in the building,” he said.“For now, the situation is under control. We will examine the remaining building and see how people can be secured. But for now, we have evacuated everybody from the main building.”The remaining portion was subsequently declared unsafe after an integrity assessment, with the family agreeing to demolish the structure.The decision brought to an end the immediate question of whether the old building could continue to accommodate residents.The building had reportedly stood for decades, but its age, condition and structural integrity became subjects of renewed concern following the collapse.The Chairman of the Kwara State Technical Committee of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, Bashir Lawal, called for a comprehensive audit of old and ageing buildings across the state to prevent a recurrence.The development also renewed calls for residents to report visible signs of structural weakness and evacuate buildings whenever they notice conditions that could threaten their safety.Representing Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq at the scene, the state Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Lawal Olohungbebe, described the incident as unfortunate and commiserated with the victims’ families.“The rescue mission began immediately after the collapse and, to the Grace of God, some were rescued, but unfortunately, we have to take it as this,” he said.Olohungbebe stressed the importance of accessible roads in residential areas, saying the access route to the building contributed to the ease with which emergency responders reached the scene.“One of the things that made it very easy for us to rescue the few people we were able to rescue is the access route,” he said.He urged residents and developers to respect building and town-planning regulations, particularly those relating to access roads.The commissioner commended the Ministries of Health and Environment, COREN, SEMA, NEMA, the Fire Service, Civil Defence, the Red Cross and other responders for their intervention.Ladan, who monitored the rescue operation, also commended the emergency agencies and residents for their prompt response.He urged residents to report structural defects promptly and evacuate buildings whenever they notice signs of possible collapse.“Whenever you discover something like this, please escalate it. Get to the point of evacuating yourself and your family members from that building. Life is the priority,” he said.He also advised prospective developers to use quality construction materials and engage qualified professionals to supervise their projects.But behind the official statements, casualty figures and emergency operations were the story of one family whose morning began like any other.For Olarewaju, the tragedy was not merely the collapse of an old building. It was the sudden loss of his children, their mother and other members of his family; the destruction of a home that had sheltered generations; and the beginning of an uncertain future for those left behind.“The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. By the following day, the death toll had risen to five after another victim died from injuries sustained in the disaster.The five victims were identified as a mother and her four children.They were subsequently buried according to Islamic rites at the Muslim Cemetery in Oko-Olowo, Ilorin, less than 24 hours after the bodies were recovered from the rubble.The father and two surviving children remained in hospital receiving treatment.The tragedy was particularly painful for Olarewaju, who had initially struggled to establish the extent of the family’s losses while victims were being taken to different hospitals.“From all indications, from the information I am getting from those in the hospital, we have lost five of them,” he said.Related NewsOlukoyede’s ledger without a witnessPlateau shuts schools over diphtheria outbreakWhy traders shouldn’t use detergent to wash fruits – Nutritionists“I have lost my children; I lost their mother and four of them. Only my brother, who is a Staff Sergeant in the Nigerian Army, is alive. I have lost five of them according to the information I got from those in the hospital; others are responding to treatment.”His account initially differed from the official casualty figure released by emergency authorities during the rescue operation.The Kwara State Fire Service had confirmed four deaths and four survivors at the scene.“We have recovered four people dead and rescued four people alive,” the Public Relations Officer of the Kwara State Fire Service, Hassan Adekunle, toldSunday PUNCHduring the operation.Adekunle said the agency’s immediate priority was to rescue the trapped occupants.“We immediately mobilised to the scene and commenced rescue operation. This kind of situation is not something the fire service can handle alone,” he said.He added that officials of the Hospitals Management Board, the NSCDC and other emergency agencies joined the operation.Authorities speakThe Kwara State Emergency Management Agency also confirmed that eight people were trapped in the building, with four rescued alive and four initially confirmed dead.Its Secretary, Magaji Saadudeen, said the rescued victims were receiving treatment while the bodies recovered from the rubble had been evacuated.“The rescued persons are receiving treatment presently,” Saadudeen said.As the emergency operation progressed, attention turned to the safety of the remaining structure.The Commissioner of Police, Kwara State Command, Adekimi Ojo, described the structure as a three-storey building and said the portion that collapsed was the boys’ quarters.“It was a three-storey building that collapsed. Our findings showed that the boys’ quarters of the building collapsed. Information gathered revealed that eight people were trapped in the building,” he said.“For now, the situation is under control. We will examine the remaining building and see how people can be secured. But for now, we have evacuated everybody from the main building.”The remaining portion was subsequently declared unsafe after an integrity assessment, with the family agreeing to demolish the structure.The decision brought to an end the immediate question of whether the old building could continue to accommodate residents.The building had reportedly stood for decades, but its age, condition and structural integrity became subjects of renewed concern following the collapse.The Chairman of the Kwara State Technical Committee of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, Bashir Lawal, called for a comprehensive audit of old and ageing buildings across the state to prevent a recurrence.The development also renewed calls for residents to report visible signs of structural weakness and evacuate buildings whenever they notice conditions that could threaten their safety.Representing Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq at the scene, the state Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Lawal Olohungbebe, described the incident as unfortunate and commiserated with the victims’ families.“The rescue mission began immediately after the collapse and, to the Grace of God, some were rescued, but unfortunately, we have to take it as this,” he said.Olohungbebe stressed the importance of accessible roads in residential areas, saying the access route to the building contributed to the ease with which emergency responders reached the scene.“One of the things that made it very easy for us to rescue the few people we were able to rescue is the access route,” he said.He urged residents and developers to respect building and town-planning regulations, particularly those relating to access roads.The commissioner commended the Ministries of Health and Environment, COREN, SEMA, NEMA, the Fire Service, Civil Defence, the Red Cross and other responders for their intervention.Ladan, who monitored the rescue operation, also commended the emergency agencies and residents for their prompt response.He urged residents to report structural defects promptly and evacuate buildings whenever they notice signs of possible collapse.“Whenever you discover something like this, please escalate it. Get to the point of evacuating yourself and your family members from that building. Life is the priority,” he said.He also advised prospective developers to use quality construction materials and engage qualified professionals to supervise their projects.But behind the official statements, casualty figures and emergency operations were the story of one family whose morning began like any other.For Olarewaju, the tragedy was not merely the collapse of an old building. It was the sudden loss of his children, their mother and other members of his family; the destruction of a home that had sheltered generations; and the beginning of an uncertain future for those left behind.“The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. The five victims were identified as a mother and her four children.They were subsequently buried according to Islamic rites at the Muslim Cemetery in Oko-Olowo, Ilorin, less than 24 hours after the bodies were recovered from the rubble.The father and two surviving children remained in hospital receiving treatment.The tragedy was particularly painful for Olarewaju, who had initially struggled to establish the extent of the family’s losses while victims were being taken to different hospitals.“From all indications, from the information I am getting from those in the hospital, we have lost five of them,” he said.Related NewsOlukoyede’s ledger without a witnessPlateau shuts schools over diphtheria outbreakWhy traders shouldn’t use detergent to wash fruits – Nutritionists“I have lost my children; I lost their mother and four of them. Only my brother, who is a Staff Sergeant in the Nigerian Army, is alive. I have lost five of them according to the information I got from those in the hospital; others are responding to treatment.”His account initially differed from the official casualty figure released by emergency authorities during the rescue operation.The Kwara State Fire Service had confirmed four deaths and four survivors at the scene.“We have recovered four people dead and rescued four people alive,” the Public Relations Officer of the Kwara State Fire Service, Hassan Adekunle, toldSunday PUNCHduring the operation.Adekunle said the agency’s immediate priority was to rescue the trapped occupants.“We immediately mobilised to the scene and commenced rescue operation. This kind of situation is not something the fire service can handle alone,” he said.He added that officials of the Hospitals Management Board, the NSCDC and other emergency agencies joined the operation.Authorities speakThe Kwara State Emergency Management Agency also confirmed that eight people were trapped in the building, with four rescued alive and four initially confirmed dead.Its Secretary, Magaji Saadudeen, said the rescued victims were receiving treatment while the bodies recovered from the rubble had been evacuated.“The rescued persons are receiving treatment presently,” Saadudeen said.As the emergency operation progressed, attention turned to the safety of the remaining structure.The Commissioner of Police, Kwara State Command, Adekimi Ojo, described the structure as a three-storey building and said the portion that collapsed was the boys’ quarters.“It was a three-storey building that collapsed. Our findings showed that the boys’ quarters of the building collapsed. Information gathered revealed that eight people were trapped in the building,” he said.“For now, the situation is under control. We will examine the remaining building and see how people can be secured. But for now, we have evacuated everybody from the main building.”The remaining portion was subsequently declared unsafe after an integrity assessment, with the family agreeing to demolish the structure.The decision brought to an end the immediate question of whether the old building could continue to accommodate residents.The building had reportedly stood for decades, but its age, condition and structural integrity became subjects of renewed concern following the collapse.The Chairman of the Kwara State Technical Committee of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, Bashir Lawal, called for a comprehensive audit of old and ageing buildings across the state to prevent a recurrence.The development also renewed calls for residents to report visible signs of structural weakness and evacuate buildings whenever they notice conditions that could threaten their safety.Representing Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq at the scene, the state Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Lawal Olohungbebe, described the incident as unfortunate and commiserated with the victims’ families.“The rescue mission began immediately after the collapse and, to the Grace of God, some were rescued, but unfortunately, we have to take it as this,” he said.Olohungbebe stressed the importance of accessible roads in residential areas, saying the access route to the building contributed to the ease with which emergency responders reached the scene.“One of the things that made it very easy for us to rescue the few people we were able to rescue is the access route,” he said.He urged residents and developers to respect building and town-planning regulations, particularly those relating to access roads.The commissioner commended the Ministries of Health and Environment, COREN, SEMA, NEMA, the Fire Service, Civil Defence, the Red Cross and other responders for their intervention.Ladan, who monitored the rescue operation, also commended the emergency agencies and residents for their prompt response.He urged residents to report structural defects promptly and evacuate buildings whenever they notice signs of possible collapse.“Whenever you discover something like this, please escalate it. Get to the point of evacuating yourself and your family members from that building. Life is the priority,” he said.He also advised prospective developers to use quality construction materials and engage qualified professionals to supervise their projects.But behind the official statements, casualty figures and emergency operations were the story of one family whose morning began like any other.For Olarewaju, the tragedy was not merely the collapse of an old building. It was the sudden loss of his children, their mother and other members of his family; the destruction of a home that had sheltered generations; and the beginning of an uncertain future for those left behind.“The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. They were subsequently buried according to Islamic rites at the Muslim Cemetery in Oko-Olowo, Ilorin, less than 24 hours after the bodies were recovered from the rubble.The father and two surviving children remained in hospital receiving treatment.The tragedy was particularly painful for Olarewaju, who had initially struggled to establish the extent of the family’s losses while victims were being taken to different hospitals.“From all indications, from the information I am getting from those in the hospital, we have lost five of them,” he said.Related NewsOlukoyede’s ledger without a witnessPlateau shuts schools over diphtheria outbreakWhy traders shouldn’t use detergent to wash fruits – Nutritionists“I have lost my children; I lost their mother and four of them. Only my brother, who is a Staff Sergeant in the Nigerian Army, is alive. I have lost five of them according to the information I got from those in the hospital; others are responding to treatment.”His account initially differed from the official casualty figure released by emergency authorities during the rescue operation.The Kwara State Fire Service had confirmed four deaths and four survivors at the scene.“We have recovered four people dead and rescued four people alive,” the Public Relations Officer of the Kwara State Fire Service, Hassan Adekunle, toldSunday PUNCHduring the operation.Adekunle said the agency’s immediate priority was to rescue the trapped occupants.“We immediately mobilised to the scene and commenced rescue operation. This kind of situation is not something the fire service can handle alone,” he said.He added that officials of the Hospitals Management Board, the NSCDC and other emergency agencies joined the operation.Authorities speakThe Kwara State Emergency Management Agency also confirmed that eight people were trapped in the building, with four rescued alive and four initially confirmed dead.Its Secretary, Magaji Saadudeen, said the rescued victims were receiving treatment while the bodies recovered from the rubble had been evacuated.“The rescued persons are receiving treatment presently,” Saadudeen said.As the emergency operation progressed, attention turned to the safety of the remaining structure.The Commissioner of Police, Kwara State Command, Adekimi Ojo, described the structure as a three-storey building and said the portion that collapsed was the boys’ quarters.“It was a three-storey building that collapsed. Our findings showed that the boys’ quarters of the building collapsed. Information gathered revealed that eight people were trapped in the building,” he said.“For now, the situation is under control. We will examine the remaining building and see how people can be secured. But for now, we have evacuated everybody from the main building.”The remaining portion was subsequently declared unsafe after an integrity assessment, with the family agreeing to demolish the structure.The decision brought to an end the immediate question of whether the old building could continue to accommodate residents.The building had reportedly stood for decades, but its age, condition and structural integrity became subjects of renewed concern following the collapse.The Chairman of the Kwara State Technical Committee of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, Bashir Lawal, called for a comprehensive audit of old and ageing buildings across the state to prevent a recurrence.The development also renewed calls for residents to report visible signs of structural weakness and evacuate buildings whenever they notice conditions that could threaten their safety.Representing Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq at the scene, the state Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Lawal Olohungbebe, described the incident as unfortunate and commiserated with the victims’ families.“The rescue mission began immediately after the collapse and, to the Grace of God, some were rescued, but unfortunately, we have to take it as this,” he said.Olohungbebe stressed the importance of accessible roads in residential areas, saying the access route to the building contributed to the ease with which emergency responders reached the scene.“One of the things that made it very easy for us to rescue the few people we were able to rescue is the access route,” he said.He urged residents and developers to respect building and town-planning regulations, particularly those relating to access roads.The commissioner commended the Ministries of Health and Environment, COREN, SEMA, NEMA, the Fire Service, Civil Defence, the Red Cross and other responders for their intervention.Ladan, who monitored the rescue operation, also commended the emergency agencies and residents for their prompt response.He urged residents to report structural defects promptly and evacuate buildings whenever they notice signs of possible collapse.“Whenever you discover something like this, please escalate it. Get to the point of evacuating yourself and your family members from that building. Life is the priority,” he said.He also advised prospective developers to use quality construction materials and engage qualified professionals to supervise their projects.But behind the official statements, casualty figures and emergency operations were the story of one family whose morning began like any other.For Olarewaju, the tragedy was not merely the collapse of an old building. It was the sudden loss of his children, their mother and other members of his family; the destruction of a home that had sheltered generations; and the beginning of an uncertain future for those left behind.“The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. The father and two surviving children remained in hospital receiving treatment.The tragedy was particularly painful for Olarewaju, who had initially struggled to establish the extent of the family’s losses while victims were being taken to different hospitals.“From all indications, from the information I am getting from those in the hospital, we have lost five of them,” he said.Related NewsOlukoyede’s ledger without a witnessPlateau shuts schools over diphtheria outbreakWhy traders shouldn’t use detergent to wash fruits – Nutritionists“I have lost my children; I lost their mother and four of them. Only my brother, who is a Staff Sergeant in the Nigerian Army, is alive. I have lost five of them according to the information I got from those in the hospital; others are responding to treatment.”His account initially differed from the official casualty figure released by emergency authorities during the rescue operation.The Kwara State Fire Service had confirmed four deaths and four survivors at the scene.“We have recovered four people dead and rescued four people alive,” the Public Relations Officer of the Kwara State Fire Service, Hassan Adekunle, toldSunday PUNCHduring the operation.Adekunle said the agency’s immediate priority was to rescue the trapped occupants.“We immediately mobilised to the scene and commenced rescue operation. This kind of situation is not something the fire service can handle alone,” he said.He added that officials of the Hospitals Management Board, the NSCDC and other emergency agencies joined the operation.Authorities speakThe Kwara State Emergency Management Agency also confirmed that eight people were trapped in the building, with four rescued alive and four initially confirmed dead.Its Secretary, Magaji Saadudeen, said the rescued victims were receiving treatment while the bodies recovered from the rubble had been evacuated.“The rescued persons are receiving treatment presently,” Saadudeen said.As the emergency operation progressed, attention turned to the safety of the remaining structure.The Commissioner of Police, Kwara State Command, Adekimi Ojo, described the structure as a three-storey building and said the portion that collapsed was the boys’ quarters.“It was a three-storey building that collapsed. Our findings showed that the boys’ quarters of the building collapsed. Information gathered revealed that eight people were trapped in the building,” he said.“For now, the situation is under control. We will examine the remaining building and see how people can be secured. But for now, we have evacuated everybody from the main building.”The remaining portion was subsequently declared unsafe after an integrity assessment, with the family agreeing to demolish the structure.The decision brought to an end the immediate question of whether the old building could continue to accommodate residents.The building had reportedly stood for decades, but its age, condition and structural integrity became subjects of renewed concern following the collapse.The Chairman of the Kwara State Technical Committee of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, Bashir Lawal, called for a comprehensive audit of old and ageing buildings across the state to prevent a recurrence.The development also renewed calls for residents to report visible signs of structural weakness and evacuate buildings whenever they notice conditions that could threaten their safety.Representing Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq at the scene, the state Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Lawal Olohungbebe, described the incident as unfortunate and commiserated with the victims’ families.“The rescue mission began immediately after the collapse and, to the Grace of God, some were rescued, but unfortunately, we have to take it as this,” he said.Olohungbebe stressed the importance of accessible roads in residential areas, saying the access route to the building contributed to the ease with which emergency responders reached the scene.“One of the things that made it very easy for us to rescue the few people we were able to rescue is the access route,” he said.He urged residents and developers to respect building and town-planning regulations, particularly those relating to access roads.The commissioner commended the Ministries of Health and Environment, COREN, SEMA, NEMA, the Fire Service, Civil Defence, the Red Cross and other responders for their intervention.Ladan, who monitored the rescue operation, also commended the emergency agencies and residents for their prompt response.He urged residents to report structural defects promptly and evacuate buildings whenever they notice signs of possible collapse.“Whenever you discover something like this, please escalate it. Get to the point of evacuating yourself and your family members from that building. Life is the priority,” he said.He also advised prospective developers to use quality construction materials and engage qualified professionals to supervise their projects.But behind the official statements, casualty figures and emergency operations were the story of one family whose morning began like any other.For Olarewaju, the tragedy was not merely the collapse of an old building. It was the sudden loss of his children, their mother and other members of his family; the destruction of a home that had sheltered generations; and the beginning of an uncertain future for those left behind.“The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. The tragedy was particularly painful for Olarewaju, who had initially struggled to establish the extent of the family’s losses while victims were being taken to different hospitals.“From all indications, from the information I am getting from those in the hospital, we have lost five of them,” he said.Related NewsOlukoyede’s ledger without a witnessPlateau shuts schools over diphtheria outbreakWhy traders shouldn’t use detergent to wash fruits – Nutritionists“I have lost my children; I lost their mother and four of them. Only my brother, who is a Staff Sergeant in the Nigerian Army, is alive. I have lost five of them according to the information I got from those in the hospital; others are responding to treatment.”His account initially differed from the official casualty figure released by emergency authorities during the rescue operation.The Kwara State Fire Service had confirmed four deaths and four survivors at the scene.“We have recovered four people dead and rescued four people alive,” the Public Relations Officer of the Kwara State Fire Service, Hassan Adekunle, toldSunday PUNCHduring the operation.Adekunle said the agency’s immediate priority was to rescue the trapped occupants.“We immediately mobilised to the scene and commenced rescue operation. This kind of situation is not something the fire service can handle alone,” he said.He added that officials of the Hospitals Management Board, the NSCDC and other emergency agencies joined the operation.Authorities speakThe Kwara State Emergency Management Agency also confirmed that eight people were trapped in the building, with four rescued alive and four initially confirmed dead.Its Secretary, Magaji Saadudeen, said the rescued victims were receiving treatment while the bodies recovered from the rubble had been evacuated.“The rescued persons are receiving treatment presently,” Saadudeen said.As the emergency operation progressed, attention turned to the safety of the remaining structure.The Commissioner of Police, Kwara State Command, Adekimi Ojo, described the structure as a three-storey building and said the portion that collapsed was the boys’ quarters.“It was a three-storey building that collapsed. Our findings showed that the boys’ quarters of the building collapsed. Information gathered revealed that eight people were trapped in the building,” he said.“For now, the situation is under control. We will examine the remaining building and see how people can be secured. But for now, we have evacuated everybody from the main building.”The remaining portion was subsequently declared unsafe after an integrity assessment, with the family agreeing to demolish the structure.The decision brought to an end the immediate question of whether the old building could continue to accommodate residents.The building had reportedly stood for decades, but its age, condition and structural integrity became subjects of renewed concern following the collapse.The Chairman of the Kwara State Technical Committee of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, Bashir Lawal, called for a comprehensive audit of old and ageing buildings across the state to prevent a recurrence.The development also renewed calls for residents to report visible signs of structural weakness and evacuate buildings whenever they notice conditions that could threaten their safety.Representing Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq at the scene, the state Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Lawal Olohungbebe, described the incident as unfortunate and commiserated with the victims’ families.“The rescue mission began immediately after the collapse and, to the Grace of God, some were rescued, but unfortunately, we have to take it as this,” he said.Olohungbebe stressed the importance of accessible roads in residential areas, saying the access route to the building contributed to the ease with which emergency responders reached the scene.“One of the things that made it very easy for us to rescue the few people we were able to rescue is the access route,” he said.He urged residents and developers to respect building and town-planning regulations, particularly those relating to access roads.The commissioner commended the Ministries of Health and Environment, COREN, SEMA, NEMA, the Fire Service, Civil Defence, the Red Cross and other responders for their intervention.Ladan, who monitored the rescue operation, also commended the emergency agencies and residents for their prompt response.He urged residents to report structural defects promptly and evacuate buildings whenever they notice signs of possible collapse.“Whenever you discover something like this, please escalate it. Get to the point of evacuating yourself and your family members from that building. Life is the priority,” he said.He also advised prospective developers to use quality construction materials and engage qualified professionals to supervise their projects.But behind the official statements, casualty figures and emergency operations were the story of one family whose morning began like any other.For Olarewaju, the tragedy was not merely the collapse of an old building. It was the sudden loss of his children, their mother and other members of his family; the destruction of a home that had sheltered generations; and the beginning of an uncertain future for those left behind.“The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. “From all indications, from the information I am getting from those in the hospital, we have lost five of them,” he said.Related NewsOlukoyede’s ledger without a witnessPlateau shuts schools over diphtheria outbreakWhy traders shouldn’t use detergent to wash fruits – Nutritionists“I have lost my children; I lost their mother and four of them. Only my brother, who is a Staff Sergeant in the Nigerian Army, is alive. I have lost five of them according to the information I got from those in the hospital; others are responding to treatment.”His account initially differed from the official casualty figure released by emergency authorities during the rescue operation.The Kwara State Fire Service had confirmed four deaths and four survivors at the scene.“We have recovered four people dead and rescued four people alive,” the Public Relations Officer of the Kwara State Fire Service, Hassan Adekunle, toldSunday PUNCHduring the operation.Adekunle said the agency’s immediate priority was to rescue the trapped occupants.“We immediately mobilised to the scene and commenced rescue operation. This kind of situation is not something the fire service can handle alone,” he said.He added that officials of the Hospitals Management Board, the NSCDC and other emergency agencies joined the operation.Authorities speakThe Kwara State Emergency Management Agency also confirmed that eight people were trapped in the building, with four rescued alive and four initially confirmed dead.Its Secretary, Magaji Saadudeen, said the rescued victims were receiving treatment while the bodies recovered from the rubble had been evacuated.“The rescued persons are receiving treatment presently,” Saadudeen said.As the emergency operation progressed, attention turned to the safety of the remaining structure.The Commissioner of Police, Kwara State Command, Adekimi Ojo, described the structure as a three-storey building and said the portion that collapsed was the boys’ quarters.“It was a three-storey building that collapsed. Our findings showed that the boys’ quarters of the building collapsed. Information gathered revealed that eight people were trapped in the building,” he said.“For now, the situation is under control. We will examine the remaining building and see how people can be secured. But for now, we have evacuated everybody from the main building.”The remaining portion was subsequently declared unsafe after an integrity assessment, with the family agreeing to demolish the structure.The decision brought to an end the immediate question of whether the old building could continue to accommodate residents.The building had reportedly stood for decades, but its age, condition and structural integrity became subjects of renewed concern following the collapse.The Chairman of the Kwara State Technical Committee of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, Bashir Lawal, called for a comprehensive audit of old and ageing buildings across the state to prevent a recurrence.The development also renewed calls for residents to report visible signs of structural weakness and evacuate buildings whenever they notice conditions that could threaten their safety.Representing Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq at the scene, the state Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Lawal Olohungbebe, described the incident as unfortunate and commiserated with the victims’ families.“The rescue mission began immediately after the collapse and, to the Grace of God, some were rescued, but unfortunately, we have to take it as this,” he said.Olohungbebe stressed the importance of accessible roads in residential areas, saying the access route to the building contributed to the ease with which emergency responders reached the scene.“One of the things that made it very easy for us to rescue the few people we were able to rescue is the access route,” he said.He urged residents and developers to respect building and town-planning regulations, particularly those relating to access roads.The commissioner commended the Ministries of Health and Environment, COREN, SEMA, NEMA, the Fire Service, Civil Defence, the Red Cross and other responders for their intervention.Ladan, who monitored the rescue operation, also commended the emergency agencies and residents for their prompt response.He urged residents to report structural defects promptly and evacuate buildings whenever they notice signs of possible collapse.“Whenever you discover something like this, please escalate it. Get to the point of evacuating yourself and your family members from that building. Life is the priority,” he said.He also advised prospective developers to use quality construction materials and engage qualified professionals to supervise their projects.But behind the official statements, casualty figures and emergency operations were the story of one family whose morning began like any other.For Olarewaju, the tragedy was not merely the collapse of an old building. It was the sudden loss of his children, their mother and other members of his family; the destruction of a home that had sheltered generations; and the beginning of an uncertain future for those left behind.“The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. “I have lost my children; I lost their mother and four of them. Only my brother, who is a Staff Sergeant in the Nigerian Army, is alive. I have lost five of them according to the information I got from those in the hospital; others are responding to treatment.”His account initially differed from the official casualty figure released by emergency authorities during the rescue operation.The Kwara State Fire Service had confirmed four deaths and four survivors at the scene.“We have recovered four people dead and rescued four people alive,” the Public Relations Officer of the Kwara State Fire Service, Hassan Adekunle, toldSunday PUNCHduring the operation.Adekunle said the agency’s immediate priority was to rescue the trapped occupants.“We immediately mobilised to the scene and commenced rescue operation. This kind of situation is not something the fire service can handle alone,” he said.He added that officials of the Hospitals Management Board, the NSCDC and other emergency agencies joined the operation.Authorities speakThe Kwara State Emergency Management Agency also confirmed that eight people were trapped in the building, with four rescued alive and four initially confirmed dead.Its Secretary, Magaji Saadudeen, said the rescued victims were receiving treatment while the bodies recovered from the rubble had been evacuated.“The rescued persons are receiving treatment presently,” Saadudeen said.As the emergency operation progressed, attention turned to the safety of the remaining structure.The Commissioner of Police, Kwara State Command, Adekimi Ojo, described the structure as a three-storey building and said the portion that collapsed was the boys’ quarters.“It was a three-storey building that collapsed. Our findings showed that the boys’ quarters of the building collapsed. Information gathered revealed that eight people were trapped in the building,” he said.“For now, the situation is under control. We will examine the remaining building and see how people can be secured. But for now, we have evacuated everybody from the main building.”The remaining portion was subsequently declared unsafe after an integrity assessment, with the family agreeing to demolish the structure.The decision brought to an end the immediate question of whether the old building could continue to accommodate residents.The building had reportedly stood for decades, but its age, condition and structural integrity became subjects of renewed concern following the collapse.The Chairman of the Kwara State Technical Committee of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, Bashir Lawal, called for a comprehensive audit of old and ageing buildings across the state to prevent a recurrence.The development also renewed calls for residents to report visible signs of structural weakness and evacuate buildings whenever they notice conditions that could threaten their safety.Representing Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq at the scene, the state Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Lawal Olohungbebe, described the incident as unfortunate and commiserated with the victims’ families.“The rescue mission began immediately after the collapse and, to the Grace of God, some were rescued, but unfortunately, we have to take it as this,” he said.Olohungbebe stressed the importance of accessible roads in residential areas, saying the access route to the building contributed to the ease with which emergency responders reached the scene.“One of the things that made it very easy for us to rescue the few people we were able to rescue is the access route,” he said.He urged residents and developers to respect building and town-planning regulations, particularly those relating to access roads.The commissioner commended the Ministries of Health and Environment, COREN, SEMA, NEMA, the Fire Service, Civil Defence, the Red Cross and other responders for their intervention.Ladan, who monitored the rescue operation, also commended the emergency agencies and residents for their prompt response.He urged residents to report structural defects promptly and evacuate buildings whenever they notice signs of possible collapse.“Whenever you discover something like this, please escalate it. Get to the point of evacuating yourself and your family members from that building. Life is the priority,” he said.He also advised prospective developers to use quality construction materials and engage qualified professionals to supervise their projects.But behind the official statements, casualty figures and emergency operations were the story of one family whose morning began like any other.For Olarewaju, the tragedy was not merely the collapse of an old building. It was the sudden loss of his children, their mother and other members of his family; the destruction of a home that had sheltered generations; and the beginning of an uncertain future for those left behind.“The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. His account initially differed from the official casualty figure released by emergency authorities during the rescue operation.The Kwara State Fire Service had confirmed four deaths and four survivors at the scene.“We have recovered four people dead and rescued four people alive,” the Public Relations Officer of the Kwara State Fire Service, Hassan Adekunle, toldSunday PUNCHduring the operation.Adekunle said the agency’s immediate priority was to rescue the trapped occupants.“We immediately mobilised to the scene and commenced rescue operation. This kind of situation is not something the fire service can handle alone,” he said.He added that officials of the Hospitals Management Board, the NSCDC and other emergency agencies joined the operation.Authorities speakThe Kwara State Emergency Management Agency also confirmed that eight people were trapped in the building, with four rescued alive and four initially confirmed dead.Its Secretary, Magaji Saadudeen, said the rescued victims were receiving treatment while the bodies recovered from the rubble had been evacuated.“The rescued persons are receiving treatment presently,” Saadudeen said.As the emergency operation progressed, attention turned to the safety of the remaining structure.The Commissioner of Police, Kwara State Command, Adekimi Ojo, described the structure as a three-storey building and said the portion that collapsed was the boys’ quarters.“It was a three-storey building that collapsed. Our findings showed that the boys’ quarters of the building collapsed. Information gathered revealed that eight people were trapped in the building,” he said.“For now, the situation is under control. We will examine the remaining building and see how people can be secured. But for now, we have evacuated everybody from the main building.”The remaining portion was subsequently declared unsafe after an integrity assessment, with the family agreeing to demolish the structure.The decision brought to an end the immediate question of whether the old building could continue to accommodate residents.The building had reportedly stood for decades, but its age, condition and structural integrity became subjects of renewed concern following the collapse.The Chairman of the Kwara State Technical Committee of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, Bashir Lawal, called for a comprehensive audit of old and ageing buildings across the state to prevent a recurrence.The development also renewed calls for residents to report visible signs of structural weakness and evacuate buildings whenever they notice conditions that could threaten their safety.Representing Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq at the scene, the state Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Lawal Olohungbebe, described the incident as unfortunate and commiserated with the victims’ families.“The rescue mission began immediately after the collapse and, to the Grace of God, some were rescued, but unfortunately, we have to take it as this,” he said.Olohungbebe stressed the importance of accessible roads in residential areas, saying the access route to the building contributed to the ease with which emergency responders reached the scene.“One of the things that made it very easy for us to rescue the few people we were able to rescue is the access route,” he said.He urged residents and developers to respect building and town-planning regulations, particularly those relating to access roads.The commissioner commended the Ministries of Health and Environment, COREN, SEMA, NEMA, the Fire Service, Civil Defence, the Red Cross and other responders for their intervention.Ladan, who monitored the rescue operation, also commended the emergency agencies and residents for their prompt response.He urged residents to report structural defects promptly and evacuate buildings whenever they notice signs of possible collapse.“Whenever you discover something like this, please escalate it. Get to the point of evacuating yourself and your family members from that building. Life is the priority,” he said.He also advised prospective developers to use quality construction materials and engage qualified professionals to supervise their projects.But behind the official statements, casualty figures and emergency operations were the story of one family whose morning began like any other.For Olarewaju, the tragedy was not merely the collapse of an old building. It was the sudden loss of his children, their mother and other members of his family; the destruction of a home that had sheltered generations; and the beginning of an uncertain future for those left behind.“The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. The Kwara State Fire Service had confirmed four deaths and four survivors at the scene.“We have recovered four people dead and rescued four people alive,” the Public Relations Officer of the Kwara State Fire Service, Hassan Adekunle, toldSunday PUNCHduring the operation.Adekunle said the agency’s immediate priority was to rescue the trapped occupants.“We immediately mobilised to the scene and commenced rescue operation. This kind of situation is not something the fire service can handle alone,” he said.He added that officials of the Hospitals Management Board, the NSCDC and other emergency agencies joined the operation.Authorities speakThe Kwara State Emergency Management Agency also confirmed that eight people were trapped in the building, with four rescued alive and four initially confirmed dead.Its Secretary, Magaji Saadudeen, said the rescued victims were receiving treatment while the bodies recovered from the rubble had been evacuated.“The rescued persons are receiving treatment presently,” Saadudeen said.As the emergency operation progressed, attention turned to the safety of the remaining structure.The Commissioner of Police, Kwara State Command, Adekimi Ojo, described the structure as a three-storey building and said the portion that collapsed was the boys’ quarters.“It was a three-storey building that collapsed. Our findings showed that the boys’ quarters of the building collapsed. Information gathered revealed that eight people were trapped in the building,” he said.“For now, the situation is under control. We will examine the remaining building and see how people can be secured. But for now, we have evacuated everybody from the main building.”The remaining portion was subsequently declared unsafe after an integrity assessment, with the family agreeing to demolish the structure.The decision brought to an end the immediate question of whether the old building could continue to accommodate residents.The building had reportedly stood for decades, but its age, condition and structural integrity became subjects of renewed concern following the collapse.The Chairman of the Kwara State Technical Committee of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, Bashir Lawal, called for a comprehensive audit of old and ageing buildings across the state to prevent a recurrence.The development also renewed calls for residents to report visible signs of structural weakness and evacuate buildings whenever they notice conditions that could threaten their safety.Representing Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq at the scene, the state Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Lawal Olohungbebe, described the incident as unfortunate and commiserated with the victims’ families.“The rescue mission began immediately after the collapse and, to the Grace of God, some were rescued, but unfortunately, we have to take it as this,” he said.Olohungbebe stressed the importance of accessible roads in residential areas, saying the access route to the building contributed to the ease with which emergency responders reached the scene.“One of the things that made it very easy for us to rescue the few people we were able to rescue is the access route,” he said.He urged residents and developers to respect building and town-planning regulations, particularly those relating to access roads.The commissioner commended the Ministries of Health and Environment, COREN, SEMA, NEMA, the Fire Service, Civil Defence, the Red Cross and other responders for their intervention.Ladan, who monitored the rescue operation, also commended the emergency agencies and residents for their prompt response.He urged residents to report structural defects promptly and evacuate buildings whenever they notice signs of possible collapse.“Whenever you discover something like this, please escalate it. Get to the point of evacuating yourself and your family members from that building. Life is the priority,” he said.He also advised prospective developers to use quality construction materials and engage qualified professionals to supervise their projects.But behind the official statements, casualty figures and emergency operations were the story of one family whose morning began like any other.For Olarewaju, the tragedy was not merely the collapse of an old building. It was the sudden loss of his children, their mother and other members of his family; the destruction of a home that had sheltered generations; and the beginning of an uncertain future for those left behind.“The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. “We have recovered four people dead and rescued four people alive,” the Public Relations Officer of the Kwara State Fire Service, Hassan Adekunle, toldSunday PUNCHduring the operation.Adekunle said the agency’s immediate priority was to rescue the trapped occupants.“We immediately mobilised to the scene and commenced rescue operation. This kind of situation is not something the fire service can handle alone,” he said.He added that officials of the Hospitals Management Board, the NSCDC and other emergency agencies joined the operation.Authorities speakThe Kwara State Emergency Management Agency also confirmed that eight people were trapped in the building, with four rescued alive and four initially confirmed dead.Its Secretary, Magaji Saadudeen, said the rescued victims were receiving treatment while the bodies recovered from the rubble had been evacuated.“The rescued persons are receiving treatment presently,” Saadudeen said.As the emergency operation progressed, attention turned to the safety of the remaining structure.The Commissioner of Police, Kwara State Command, Adekimi Ojo, described the structure as a three-storey building and said the portion that collapsed was the boys’ quarters.“It was a three-storey building that collapsed. Our findings showed that the boys’ quarters of the building collapsed. Information gathered revealed that eight people were trapped in the building,” he said.“For now, the situation is under control. We will examine the remaining building and see how people can be secured. But for now, we have evacuated everybody from the main building.”The remaining portion was subsequently declared unsafe after an integrity assessment, with the family agreeing to demolish the structure.The decision brought to an end the immediate question of whether the old building could continue to accommodate residents.The building had reportedly stood for decades, but its age, condition and structural integrity became subjects of renewed concern following the collapse.The Chairman of the Kwara State Technical Committee of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, Bashir Lawal, called for a comprehensive audit of old and ageing buildings across the state to prevent a recurrence.The development also renewed calls for residents to report visible signs of structural weakness and evacuate buildings whenever they notice conditions that could threaten their safety.Representing Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq at the scene, the state Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Lawal Olohungbebe, described the incident as unfortunate and commiserated with the victims’ families.“The rescue mission began immediately after the collapse and, to the Grace of God, some were rescued, but unfortunately, we have to take it as this,” he said.Olohungbebe stressed the importance of accessible roads in residential areas, saying the access route to the building contributed to the ease with which emergency responders reached the scene.“One of the things that made it very easy for us to rescue the few people we were able to rescue is the access route,” he said.He urged residents and developers to respect building and town-planning regulations, particularly those relating to access roads.The commissioner commended the Ministries of Health and Environment, COREN, SEMA, NEMA, the Fire Service, Civil Defence, the Red Cross and other responders for their intervention.Ladan, who monitored the rescue operation, also commended the emergency agencies and residents for their prompt response.He urged residents to report structural defects promptly and evacuate buildings whenever they notice signs of possible collapse.“Whenever you discover something like this, please escalate it. Get to the point of evacuating yourself and your family members from that building. Life is the priority,” he said.He also advised prospective developers to use quality construction materials and engage qualified professionals to supervise their projects.But behind the official statements, casualty figures and emergency operations were the story of one family whose morning began like any other.For Olarewaju, the tragedy was not merely the collapse of an old building. It was the sudden loss of his children, their mother and other members of his family; the destruction of a home that had sheltered generations; and the beginning of an uncertain future for those left behind.“The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. Adekunle said the agency’s immediate priority was to rescue the trapped occupants.“We immediately mobilised to the scene and commenced rescue operation. This kind of situation is not something the fire service can handle alone,” he said.He added that officials of the Hospitals Management Board, the NSCDC and other emergency agencies joined the operation.Authorities speakThe Kwara State Emergency Management Agency also confirmed that eight people were trapped in the building, with four rescued alive and four initially confirmed dead.Its Secretary, Magaji Saadudeen, said the rescued victims were receiving treatment while the bodies recovered from the rubble had been evacuated.“The rescued persons are receiving treatment presently,” Saadudeen said.As the emergency operation progressed, attention turned to the safety of the remaining structure.The Commissioner of Police, Kwara State Command, Adekimi Ojo, described the structure as a three-storey building and said the portion that collapsed was the boys’ quarters.“It was a three-storey building that collapsed. Our findings showed that the boys’ quarters of the building collapsed. Information gathered revealed that eight people were trapped in the building,” he said.“For now, the situation is under control. We will examine the remaining building and see how people can be secured. But for now, we have evacuated everybody from the main building.”The remaining portion was subsequently declared unsafe after an integrity assessment, with the family agreeing to demolish the structure.The decision brought to an end the immediate question of whether the old building could continue to accommodate residents.The building had reportedly stood for decades, but its age, condition and structural integrity became subjects of renewed concern following the collapse.The Chairman of the Kwara State Technical Committee of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, Bashir Lawal, called for a comprehensive audit of old and ageing buildings across the state to prevent a recurrence.The development also renewed calls for residents to report visible signs of structural weakness and evacuate buildings whenever they notice conditions that could threaten their safety.Representing Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq at the scene, the state Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Lawal Olohungbebe, described the incident as unfortunate and commiserated with the victims’ families.“The rescue mission began immediately after the collapse and, to the Grace of God, some were rescued, but unfortunately, we have to take it as this,” he said.Olohungbebe stressed the importance of accessible roads in residential areas, saying the access route to the building contributed to the ease with which emergency responders reached the scene.“One of the things that made it very easy for us to rescue the few people we were able to rescue is the access route,” he said.He urged residents and developers to respect building and town-planning regulations, particularly those relating to access roads.The commissioner commended the Ministries of Health and Environment, COREN, SEMA, NEMA, the Fire Service, Civil Defence, the Red Cross and other responders for their intervention.Ladan, who monitored the rescue operation, also commended the emergency agencies and residents for their prompt response.He urged residents to report structural defects promptly and evacuate buildings whenever they notice signs of possible collapse.“Whenever you discover something like this, please escalate it. Get to the point of evacuating yourself and your family members from that building. Life is the priority,” he said.He also advised prospective developers to use quality construction materials and engage qualified professionals to supervise their projects.But behind the official statements, casualty figures and emergency operations were the story of one family whose morning began like any other.For Olarewaju, the tragedy was not merely the collapse of an old building. It was the sudden loss of his children, their mother and other members of his family; the destruction of a home that had sheltered generations; and the beginning of an uncertain future for those left behind.“The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. “We immediately mobilised to the scene and commenced rescue operation. This kind of situation is not something the fire service can handle alone,” he said.He added that officials of the Hospitals Management Board, the NSCDC and other emergency agencies joined the operation.Authorities speakThe Kwara State Emergency Management Agency also confirmed that eight people were trapped in the building, with four rescued alive and four initially confirmed dead.Its Secretary, Magaji Saadudeen, said the rescued victims were receiving treatment while the bodies recovered from the rubble had been evacuated.“The rescued persons are receiving treatment presently,” Saadudeen said.As the emergency operation progressed, attention turned to the safety of the remaining structure.The Commissioner of Police, Kwara State Command, Adekimi Ojo, described the structure as a three-storey building and said the portion that collapsed was the boys’ quarters.“It was a three-storey building that collapsed. Our findings showed that the boys’ quarters of the building collapsed. Information gathered revealed that eight people were trapped in the building,” he said.“For now, the situation is under control. We will examine the remaining building and see how people can be secured. But for now, we have evacuated everybody from the main building.”The remaining portion was subsequently declared unsafe after an integrity assessment, with the family agreeing to demolish the structure.The decision brought to an end the immediate question of whether the old building could continue to accommodate residents.The building had reportedly stood for decades, but its age, condition and structural integrity became subjects of renewed concern following the collapse.The Chairman of the Kwara State Technical Committee of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, Bashir Lawal, called for a comprehensive audit of old and ageing buildings across the state to prevent a recurrence.The development also renewed calls for residents to report visible signs of structural weakness and evacuate buildings whenever they notice conditions that could threaten their safety.Representing Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq at the scene, the state Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Lawal Olohungbebe, described the incident as unfortunate and commiserated with the victims’ families.“The rescue mission began immediately after the collapse and, to the Grace of God, some were rescued, but unfortunately, we have to take it as this,” he said.Olohungbebe stressed the importance of accessible roads in residential areas, saying the access route to the building contributed to the ease with which emergency responders reached the scene.“One of the things that made it very easy for us to rescue the few people we were able to rescue is the access route,” he said.He urged residents and developers to respect building and town-planning regulations, particularly those relating to access roads.The commissioner commended the Ministries of Health and Environment, COREN, SEMA, NEMA, the Fire Service, Civil Defence, the Red Cross and other responders for their intervention.Ladan, who monitored the rescue operation, also commended the emergency agencies and residents for their prompt response.He urged residents to report structural defects promptly and evacuate buildings whenever they notice signs of possible collapse.“Whenever you discover something like this, please escalate it. Get to the point of evacuating yourself and your family members from that building. Life is the priority,” he said.He also advised prospective developers to use quality construction materials and engage qualified professionals to supervise their projects.But behind the official statements, casualty figures and emergency operations were the story of one family whose morning began like any other.For Olarewaju, the tragedy was not merely the collapse of an old building. It was the sudden loss of his children, their mother and other members of his family; the destruction of a home that had sheltered generations; and the beginning of an uncertain future for those left behind.“The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. He added that officials of the Hospitals Management Board, the NSCDC and other emergency agencies joined the operation.Authorities speakThe Kwara State Emergency Management Agency also confirmed that eight people were trapped in the building, with four rescued alive and four initially confirmed dead.Its Secretary, Magaji Saadudeen, said the rescued victims were receiving treatment while the bodies recovered from the rubble had been evacuated.“The rescued persons are receiving treatment presently,” Saadudeen said.As the emergency operation progressed, attention turned to the safety of the remaining structure.The Commissioner of Police, Kwara State Command, Adekimi Ojo, described the structure as a three-storey building and said the portion that collapsed was the boys’ quarters.“It was a three-storey building that collapsed. Our findings showed that the boys’ quarters of the building collapsed. Information gathered revealed that eight people were trapped in the building,” he said.“For now, the situation is under control. We will examine the remaining building and see how people can be secured. But for now, we have evacuated everybody from the main building.”The remaining portion was subsequently declared unsafe after an integrity assessment, with the family agreeing to demolish the structure.The decision brought to an end the immediate question of whether the old building could continue to accommodate residents.The building had reportedly stood for decades, but its age, condition and structural integrity became subjects of renewed concern following the collapse.The Chairman of the Kwara State Technical Committee of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, Bashir Lawal, called for a comprehensive audit of old and ageing buildings across the state to prevent a recurrence.The development also renewed calls for residents to report visible signs of structural weakness and evacuate buildings whenever they notice conditions that could threaten their safety.Representing Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq at the scene, the state Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Lawal Olohungbebe, described the incident as unfortunate and commiserated with the victims’ families.“The rescue mission began immediately after the collapse and, to the Grace of God, some were rescued, but unfortunately, we have to take it as this,” he said.Olohungbebe stressed the importance of accessible roads in residential areas, saying the access route to the building contributed to the ease with which emergency responders reached the scene.“One of the things that made it very easy for us to rescue the few people we were able to rescue is the access route,” he said.He urged residents and developers to respect building and town-planning regulations, particularly those relating to access roads.The commissioner commended the Ministries of Health and Environment, COREN, SEMA, NEMA, the Fire Service, Civil Defence, the Red Cross and other responders for their intervention.Ladan, who monitored the rescue operation, also commended the emergency agencies and residents for their prompt response.He urged residents to report structural defects promptly and evacuate buildings whenever they notice signs of possible collapse.“Whenever you discover something like this, please escalate it. Get to the point of evacuating yourself and your family members from that building. Life is the priority,” he said.He also advised prospective developers to use quality construction materials and engage qualified professionals to supervise their projects.But behind the official statements, casualty figures and emergency operations were the story of one family whose morning began like any other.For Olarewaju, the tragedy was not merely the collapse of an old building. It was the sudden loss of his children, their mother and other members of his family; the destruction of a home that had sheltered generations; and the beginning of an uncertain future for those left behind.“The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. Authorities speakThe Kwara State Emergency Management Agency also confirmed that eight people were trapped in the building, with four rescued alive and four initially confirmed dead.Its Secretary, Magaji Saadudeen, said the rescued victims were receiving treatment while the bodies recovered from the rubble had been evacuated.“The rescued persons are receiving treatment presently,” Saadudeen said.As the emergency operation progressed, attention turned to the safety of the remaining structure.The Commissioner of Police, Kwara State Command, Adekimi Ojo, described the structure as a three-storey building and said the portion that collapsed was the boys’ quarters.“It was a three-storey building that collapsed. Our findings showed that the boys’ quarters of the building collapsed. Information gathered revealed that eight people were trapped in the building,” he said.“For now, the situation is under control. We will examine the remaining building and see how people can be secured. But for now, we have evacuated everybody from the main building.”The remaining portion was subsequently declared unsafe after an integrity assessment, with the family agreeing to demolish the structure.The decision brought to an end the immediate question of whether the old building could continue to accommodate residents.The building had reportedly stood for decades, but its age, condition and structural integrity became subjects of renewed concern following the collapse.The Chairman of the Kwara State Technical Committee of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, Bashir Lawal, called for a comprehensive audit of old and ageing buildings across the state to prevent a recurrence.The development also renewed calls for residents to report visible signs of structural weakness and evacuate buildings whenever they notice conditions that could threaten their safety.Representing Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq at the scene, the state Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Lawal Olohungbebe, described the incident as unfortunate and commiserated with the victims’ families.“The rescue mission began immediately after the collapse and, to the Grace of God, some were rescued, but unfortunately, we have to take it as this,” he said.Olohungbebe stressed the importance of accessible roads in residential areas, saying the access route to the building contributed to the ease with which emergency responders reached the scene.“One of the things that made it very easy for us to rescue the few people we were able to rescue is the access route,” he said.He urged residents and developers to respect building and town-planning regulations, particularly those relating to access roads.The commissioner commended the Ministries of Health and Environment, COREN, SEMA, NEMA, the Fire Service, Civil Defence, the Red Cross and other responders for their intervention.Ladan, who monitored the rescue operation, also commended the emergency agencies and residents for their prompt response.He urged residents to report structural defects promptly and evacuate buildings whenever they notice signs of possible collapse.“Whenever you discover something like this, please escalate it. Get to the point of evacuating yourself and your family members from that building. Life is the priority,” he said.He also advised prospective developers to use quality construction materials and engage qualified professionals to supervise their projects.But behind the official statements, casualty figures and emergency operations were the story of one family whose morning began like any other.For Olarewaju, the tragedy was not merely the collapse of an old building. It was the sudden loss of his children, their mother and other members of his family; the destruction of a home that had sheltered generations; and the beginning of an uncertain future for those left behind.“The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. The Kwara State Emergency Management Agency also confirmed that eight people were trapped in the building, with four rescued alive and four initially confirmed dead.Its Secretary, Magaji Saadudeen, said the rescued victims were receiving treatment while the bodies recovered from the rubble had been evacuated.“The rescued persons are receiving treatment presently,” Saadudeen said.As the emergency operation progressed, attention turned to the safety of the remaining structure.The Commissioner of Police, Kwara State Command, Adekimi Ojo, described the structure as a three-storey building and said the portion that collapsed was the boys’ quarters.“It was a three-storey building that collapsed. Our findings showed that the boys’ quarters of the building collapsed. Information gathered revealed that eight people were trapped in the building,” he said.“For now, the situation is under control. We will examine the remaining building and see how people can be secured. But for now, we have evacuated everybody from the main building.”The remaining portion was subsequently declared unsafe after an integrity assessment, with the family agreeing to demolish the structure.The decision brought to an end the immediate question of whether the old building could continue to accommodate residents.The building had reportedly stood for decades, but its age, condition and structural integrity became subjects of renewed concern following the collapse.The Chairman of the Kwara State Technical Committee of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, Bashir Lawal, called for a comprehensive audit of old and ageing buildings across the state to prevent a recurrence.The development also renewed calls for residents to report visible signs of structural weakness and evacuate buildings whenever they notice conditions that could threaten their safety.Representing Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq at the scene, the state Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Lawal Olohungbebe, described the incident as unfortunate and commiserated with the victims’ families.“The rescue mission began immediately after the collapse and, to the Grace of God, some were rescued, but unfortunately, we have to take it as this,” he said.Olohungbebe stressed the importance of accessible roads in residential areas, saying the access route to the building contributed to the ease with which emergency responders reached the scene.“One of the things that made it very easy for us to rescue the few people we were able to rescue is the access route,” he said.He urged residents and developers to respect building and town-planning regulations, particularly those relating to access roads.The commissioner commended the Ministries of Health and Environment, COREN, SEMA, NEMA, the Fire Service, Civil Defence, the Red Cross and other responders for their intervention.Ladan, who monitored the rescue operation, also commended the emergency agencies and residents for their prompt response.He urged residents to report structural defects promptly and evacuate buildings whenever they notice signs of possible collapse.“Whenever you discover something like this, please escalate it. Get to the point of evacuating yourself and your family members from that building. Life is the priority,” he said.He also advised prospective developers to use quality construction materials and engage qualified professionals to supervise their projects.But behind the official statements, casualty figures and emergency operations were the story of one family whose morning began like any other.For Olarewaju, the tragedy was not merely the collapse of an old building. It was the sudden loss of his children, their mother and other members of his family; the destruction of a home that had sheltered generations; and the beginning of an uncertain future for those left behind.“The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. Its Secretary, Magaji Saadudeen, said the rescued victims were receiving treatment while the bodies recovered from the rubble had been evacuated.“The rescued persons are receiving treatment presently,” Saadudeen said.As the emergency operation progressed, attention turned to the safety of the remaining structure.The Commissioner of Police, Kwara State Command, Adekimi Ojo, described the structure as a three-storey building and said the portion that collapsed was the boys’ quarters.“It was a three-storey building that collapsed. Our findings showed that the boys’ quarters of the building collapsed. Information gathered revealed that eight people were trapped in the building,” he said.“For now, the situation is under control. We will examine the remaining building and see how people can be secured. But for now, we have evacuated everybody from the main building.”The remaining portion was subsequently declared unsafe after an integrity assessment, with the family agreeing to demolish the structure.The decision brought to an end the immediate question of whether the old building could continue to accommodate residents.The building had reportedly stood for decades, but its age, condition and structural integrity became subjects of renewed concern following the collapse.The Chairman of the Kwara State Technical Committee of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, Bashir Lawal, called for a comprehensive audit of old and ageing buildings across the state to prevent a recurrence.The development also renewed calls for residents to report visible signs of structural weakness and evacuate buildings whenever they notice conditions that could threaten their safety.Representing Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq at the scene, the state Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Lawal Olohungbebe, described the incident as unfortunate and commiserated with the victims’ families.“The rescue mission began immediately after the collapse and, to the Grace of God, some were rescued, but unfortunately, we have to take it as this,” he said.Olohungbebe stressed the importance of accessible roads in residential areas, saying the access route to the building contributed to the ease with which emergency responders reached the scene.“One of the things that made it very easy for us to rescue the few people we were able to rescue is the access route,” he said.He urged residents and developers to respect building and town-planning regulations, particularly those relating to access roads.The commissioner commended the Ministries of Health and Environment, COREN, SEMA, NEMA, the Fire Service, Civil Defence, the Red Cross and other responders for their intervention.Ladan, who monitored the rescue operation, also commended the emergency agencies and residents for their prompt response.He urged residents to report structural defects promptly and evacuate buildings whenever they notice signs of possible collapse.“Whenever you discover something like this, please escalate it. Get to the point of evacuating yourself and your family members from that building. Life is the priority,” he said.He also advised prospective developers to use quality construction materials and engage qualified professionals to supervise their projects.But behind the official statements, casualty figures and emergency operations were the story of one family whose morning began like any other.For Olarewaju, the tragedy was not merely the collapse of an old building. It was the sudden loss of his children, their mother and other members of his family; the destruction of a home that had sheltered generations; and the beginning of an uncertain future for those left behind.“The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. “The rescued persons are receiving treatment presently,” Saadudeen said.As the emergency operation progressed, attention turned to the safety of the remaining structure.The Commissioner of Police, Kwara State Command, Adekimi Ojo, described the structure as a three-storey building and said the portion that collapsed was the boys’ quarters.“It was a three-storey building that collapsed. Our findings showed that the boys’ quarters of the building collapsed. Information gathered revealed that eight people were trapped in the building,” he said.“For now, the situation is under control. We will examine the remaining building and see how people can be secured. But for now, we have evacuated everybody from the main building.”The remaining portion was subsequently declared unsafe after an integrity assessment, with the family agreeing to demolish the structure.The decision brought to an end the immediate question of whether the old building could continue to accommodate residents.The building had reportedly stood for decades, but its age, condition and structural integrity became subjects of renewed concern following the collapse.The Chairman of the Kwara State Technical Committee of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, Bashir Lawal, called for a comprehensive audit of old and ageing buildings across the state to prevent a recurrence.The development also renewed calls for residents to report visible signs of structural weakness and evacuate buildings whenever they notice conditions that could threaten their safety.Representing Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq at the scene, the state Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Lawal Olohungbebe, described the incident as unfortunate and commiserated with the victims’ families.“The rescue mission began immediately after the collapse and, to the Grace of God, some were rescued, but unfortunately, we have to take it as this,” he said.Olohungbebe stressed the importance of accessible roads in residential areas, saying the access route to the building contributed to the ease with which emergency responders reached the scene.“One of the things that made it very easy for us to rescue the few people we were able to rescue is the access route,” he said.He urged residents and developers to respect building and town-planning regulations, particularly those relating to access roads.The commissioner commended the Ministries of Health and Environment, COREN, SEMA, NEMA, the Fire Service, Civil Defence, the Red Cross and other responders for their intervention.Ladan, who monitored the rescue operation, also commended the emergency agencies and residents for their prompt response.He urged residents to report structural defects promptly and evacuate buildings whenever they notice signs of possible collapse.“Whenever you discover something like this, please escalate it. Get to the point of evacuating yourself and your family members from that building. Life is the priority,” he said.He also advised prospective developers to use quality construction materials and engage qualified professionals to supervise their projects.But behind the official statements, casualty figures and emergency operations were the story of one family whose morning began like any other.For Olarewaju, the tragedy was not merely the collapse of an old building. It was the sudden loss of his children, their mother and other members of his family; the destruction of a home that had sheltered generations; and the beginning of an uncertain future for those left behind.“The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. As the emergency operation progressed, attention turned to the safety of the remaining structure.The Commissioner of Police, Kwara State Command, Adekimi Ojo, described the structure as a three-storey building and said the portion that collapsed was the boys’ quarters.“It was a three-storey building that collapsed. Our findings showed that the boys’ quarters of the building collapsed. Information gathered revealed that eight people were trapped in the building,” he said.“For now, the situation is under control. We will examine the remaining building and see how people can be secured. But for now, we have evacuated everybody from the main building.”The remaining portion was subsequently declared unsafe after an integrity assessment, with the family agreeing to demolish the structure.The decision brought to an end the immediate question of whether the old building could continue to accommodate residents.The building had reportedly stood for decades, but its age, condition and structural integrity became subjects of renewed concern following the collapse.The Chairman of the Kwara State Technical Committee of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, Bashir Lawal, called for a comprehensive audit of old and ageing buildings across the state to prevent a recurrence.The development also renewed calls for residents to report visible signs of structural weakness and evacuate buildings whenever they notice conditions that could threaten their safety.Representing Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq at the scene, the state Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Lawal Olohungbebe, described the incident as unfortunate and commiserated with the victims’ families.“The rescue mission began immediately after the collapse and, to the Grace of God, some were rescued, but unfortunately, we have to take it as this,” he said.Olohungbebe stressed the importance of accessible roads in residential areas, saying the access route to the building contributed to the ease with which emergency responders reached the scene.“One of the things that made it very easy for us to rescue the few people we were able to rescue is the access route,” he said.He urged residents and developers to respect building and town-planning regulations, particularly those relating to access roads.The commissioner commended the Ministries of Health and Environment, COREN, SEMA, NEMA, the Fire Service, Civil Defence, the Red Cross and other responders for their intervention.Ladan, who monitored the rescue operation, also commended the emergency agencies and residents for their prompt response.He urged residents to report structural defects promptly and evacuate buildings whenever they notice signs of possible collapse.“Whenever you discover something like this, please escalate it. Get to the point of evacuating yourself and your family members from that building. Life is the priority,” he said.He also advised prospective developers to use quality construction materials and engage qualified professionals to supervise their projects.But behind the official statements, casualty figures and emergency operations were the story of one family whose morning began like any other.For Olarewaju, the tragedy was not merely the collapse of an old building. It was the sudden loss of his children, their mother and other members of his family; the destruction of a home that had sheltered generations; and the beginning of an uncertain future for those left behind.“The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. The Commissioner of Police, Kwara State Command, Adekimi Ojo, described the structure as a three-storey building and said the portion that collapsed was the boys’ quarters.“It was a three-storey building that collapsed. Our findings showed that the boys’ quarters of the building collapsed. Information gathered revealed that eight people were trapped in the building,” he said.“For now, the situation is under control. We will examine the remaining building and see how people can be secured. But for now, we have evacuated everybody from the main building.”The remaining portion was subsequently declared unsafe after an integrity assessment, with the family agreeing to demolish the structure.The decision brought to an end the immediate question of whether the old building could continue to accommodate residents.The building had reportedly stood for decades, but its age, condition and structural integrity became subjects of renewed concern following the collapse.The Chairman of the Kwara State Technical Committee of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, Bashir Lawal, called for a comprehensive audit of old and ageing buildings across the state to prevent a recurrence.The development also renewed calls for residents to report visible signs of structural weakness and evacuate buildings whenever they notice conditions that could threaten their safety.Representing Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq at the scene, the state Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Lawal Olohungbebe, described the incident as unfortunate and commiserated with the victims’ families.“The rescue mission began immediately after the collapse and, to the Grace of God, some were rescued, but unfortunately, we have to take it as this,” he said.Olohungbebe stressed the importance of accessible roads in residential areas, saying the access route to the building contributed to the ease with which emergency responders reached the scene.“One of the things that made it very easy for us to rescue the few people we were able to rescue is the access route,” he said.He urged residents and developers to respect building and town-planning regulations, particularly those relating to access roads.The commissioner commended the Ministries of Health and Environment, COREN, SEMA, NEMA, the Fire Service, Civil Defence, the Red Cross and other responders for their intervention.Ladan, who monitored the rescue operation, also commended the emergency agencies and residents for their prompt response.He urged residents to report structural defects promptly and evacuate buildings whenever they notice signs of possible collapse.“Whenever you discover something like this, please escalate it. Get to the point of evacuating yourself and your family members from that building. Life is the priority,” he said.He also advised prospective developers to use quality construction materials and engage qualified professionals to supervise their projects.But behind the official statements, casualty figures and emergency operations were the story of one family whose morning began like any other.For Olarewaju, the tragedy was not merely the collapse of an old building. It was the sudden loss of his children, their mother and other members of his family; the destruction of a home that had sheltered generations; and the beginning of an uncertain future for those left behind.“The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. “It was a three-storey building that collapsed. Our findings showed that the boys’ quarters of the building collapsed. Information gathered revealed that eight people were trapped in the building,” he said.“For now, the situation is under control. We will examine the remaining building and see how people can be secured. But for now, we have evacuated everybody from the main building.”The remaining portion was subsequently declared unsafe after an integrity assessment, with the family agreeing to demolish the structure.The decision brought to an end the immediate question of whether the old building could continue to accommodate residents.The building had reportedly stood for decades, but its age, condition and structural integrity became subjects of renewed concern following the collapse.The Chairman of the Kwara State Technical Committee of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, Bashir Lawal, called for a comprehensive audit of old and ageing buildings across the state to prevent a recurrence.The development also renewed calls for residents to report visible signs of structural weakness and evacuate buildings whenever they notice conditions that could threaten their safety.Representing Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq at the scene, the state Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Lawal Olohungbebe, described the incident as unfortunate and commiserated with the victims’ families.“The rescue mission began immediately after the collapse and, to the Grace of God, some were rescued, but unfortunately, we have to take it as this,” he said.Olohungbebe stressed the importance of accessible roads in residential areas, saying the access route to the building contributed to the ease with which emergency responders reached the scene.“One of the things that made it very easy for us to rescue the few people we were able to rescue is the access route,” he said.He urged residents and developers to respect building and town-planning regulations, particularly those relating to access roads.The commissioner commended the Ministries of Health and Environment, COREN, SEMA, NEMA, the Fire Service, Civil Defence, the Red Cross and other responders for their intervention.Ladan, who monitored the rescue operation, also commended the emergency agencies and residents for their prompt response.He urged residents to report structural defects promptly and evacuate buildings whenever they notice signs of possible collapse.“Whenever you discover something like this, please escalate it. Get to the point of evacuating yourself and your family members from that building. Life is the priority,” he said.He also advised prospective developers to use quality construction materials and engage qualified professionals to supervise their projects.But behind the official statements, casualty figures and emergency operations were the story of one family whose morning began like any other.For Olarewaju, the tragedy was not merely the collapse of an old building. It was the sudden loss of his children, their mother and other members of his family; the destruction of a home that had sheltered generations; and the beginning of an uncertain future for those left behind.“The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. “For now, the situation is under control. We will examine the remaining building and see how people can be secured. But for now, we have evacuated everybody from the main building.”The remaining portion was subsequently declared unsafe after an integrity assessment, with the family agreeing to demolish the structure.The decision brought to an end the immediate question of whether the old building could continue to accommodate residents.The building had reportedly stood for decades, but its age, condition and structural integrity became subjects of renewed concern following the collapse.The Chairman of the Kwara State Technical Committee of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, Bashir Lawal, called for a comprehensive audit of old and ageing buildings across the state to prevent a recurrence.The development also renewed calls for residents to report visible signs of structural weakness and evacuate buildings whenever they notice conditions that could threaten their safety.Representing Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq at the scene, the state Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Lawal Olohungbebe, described the incident as unfortunate and commiserated with the victims’ families.“The rescue mission began immediately after the collapse and, to the Grace of God, some were rescued, but unfortunately, we have to take it as this,” he said.Olohungbebe stressed the importance of accessible roads in residential areas, saying the access route to the building contributed to the ease with which emergency responders reached the scene.“One of the things that made it very easy for us to rescue the few people we were able to rescue is the access route,” he said.He urged residents and developers to respect building and town-planning regulations, particularly those relating to access roads.The commissioner commended the Ministries of Health and Environment, COREN, SEMA, NEMA, the Fire Service, Civil Defence, the Red Cross and other responders for their intervention.Ladan, who monitored the rescue operation, also commended the emergency agencies and residents for their prompt response.He urged residents to report structural defects promptly and evacuate buildings whenever they notice signs of possible collapse.“Whenever you discover something like this, please escalate it. Get to the point of evacuating yourself and your family members from that building. Life is the priority,” he said.He also advised prospective developers to use quality construction materials and engage qualified professionals to supervise their projects.But behind the official statements, casualty figures and emergency operations were the story of one family whose morning began like any other.For Olarewaju, the tragedy was not merely the collapse of an old building. It was the sudden loss of his children, their mother and other members of his family; the destruction of a home that had sheltered generations; and the beginning of an uncertain future for those left behind.“The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. The remaining portion was subsequently declared unsafe after an integrity assessment, with the family agreeing to demolish the structure.The decision brought to an end the immediate question of whether the old building could continue to accommodate residents.The building had reportedly stood for decades, but its age, condition and structural integrity became subjects of renewed concern following the collapse.The Chairman of the Kwara State Technical Committee of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, Bashir Lawal, called for a comprehensive audit of old and ageing buildings across the state to prevent a recurrence.The development also renewed calls for residents to report visible signs of structural weakness and evacuate buildings whenever they notice conditions that could threaten their safety.Representing Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq at the scene, the state Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Lawal Olohungbebe, described the incident as unfortunate and commiserated with the victims’ families.“The rescue mission began immediately after the collapse and, to the Grace of God, some were rescued, but unfortunately, we have to take it as this,” he said.Olohungbebe stressed the importance of accessible roads in residential areas, saying the access route to the building contributed to the ease with which emergency responders reached the scene.“One of the things that made it very easy for us to rescue the few people we were able to rescue is the access route,” he said.He urged residents and developers to respect building and town-planning regulations, particularly those relating to access roads.The commissioner commended the Ministries of Health and Environment, COREN, SEMA, NEMA, the Fire Service, Civil Defence, the Red Cross and other responders for their intervention.Ladan, who monitored the rescue operation, also commended the emergency agencies and residents for their prompt response.He urged residents to report structural defects promptly and evacuate buildings whenever they notice signs of possible collapse.“Whenever you discover something like this, please escalate it. Get to the point of evacuating yourself and your family members from that building. Life is the priority,” he said.He also advised prospective developers to use quality construction materials and engage qualified professionals to supervise their projects.But behind the official statements, casualty figures and emergency operations were the story of one family whose morning began like any other.For Olarewaju, the tragedy was not merely the collapse of an old building. It was the sudden loss of his children, their mother and other members of his family; the destruction of a home that had sheltered generations; and the beginning of an uncertain future for those left behind.“The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. The decision brought to an end the immediate question of whether the old building could continue to accommodate residents.The building had reportedly stood for decades, but its age, condition and structural integrity became subjects of renewed concern following the collapse.The Chairman of the Kwara State Technical Committee of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, Bashir Lawal, called for a comprehensive audit of old and ageing buildings across the state to prevent a recurrence.The development also renewed calls for residents to report visible signs of structural weakness and evacuate buildings whenever they notice conditions that could threaten their safety.Representing Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq at the scene, the state Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Lawal Olohungbebe, described the incident as unfortunate and commiserated with the victims’ families.“The rescue mission began immediately after the collapse and, to the Grace of God, some were rescued, but unfortunately, we have to take it as this,” he said.Olohungbebe stressed the importance of accessible roads in residential areas, saying the access route to the building contributed to the ease with which emergency responders reached the scene.“One of the things that made it very easy for us to rescue the few people we were able to rescue is the access route,” he said.He urged residents and developers to respect building and town-planning regulations, particularly those relating to access roads.The commissioner commended the Ministries of Health and Environment, COREN, SEMA, NEMA, the Fire Service, Civil Defence, the Red Cross and other responders for their intervention.Ladan, who monitored the rescue operation, also commended the emergency agencies and residents for their prompt response.He urged residents to report structural defects promptly and evacuate buildings whenever they notice signs of possible collapse.“Whenever you discover something like this, please escalate it. Get to the point of evacuating yourself and your family members from that building. Life is the priority,” he said.He also advised prospective developers to use quality construction materials and engage qualified professionals to supervise their projects.But behind the official statements, casualty figures and emergency operations were the story of one family whose morning began like any other.For Olarewaju, the tragedy was not merely the collapse of an old building. It was the sudden loss of his children, their mother and other members of his family; the destruction of a home that had sheltered generations; and the beginning of an uncertain future for those left behind.“The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. The building had reportedly stood for decades, but its age, condition and structural integrity became subjects of renewed concern following the collapse.The Chairman of the Kwara State Technical Committee of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, Bashir Lawal, called for a comprehensive audit of old and ageing buildings across the state to prevent a recurrence.The development also renewed calls for residents to report visible signs of structural weakness and evacuate buildings whenever they notice conditions that could threaten their safety.Representing Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq at the scene, the state Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Lawal Olohungbebe, described the incident as unfortunate and commiserated with the victims’ families.“The rescue mission began immediately after the collapse and, to the Grace of God, some were rescued, but unfortunately, we have to take it as this,” he said.Olohungbebe stressed the importance of accessible roads in residential areas, saying the access route to the building contributed to the ease with which emergency responders reached the scene.“One of the things that made it very easy for us to rescue the few people we were able to rescue is the access route,” he said.He urged residents and developers to respect building and town-planning regulations, particularly those relating to access roads.The commissioner commended the Ministries of Health and Environment, COREN, SEMA, NEMA, the Fire Service, Civil Defence, the Red Cross and other responders for their intervention.Ladan, who monitored the rescue operation, also commended the emergency agencies and residents for their prompt response.He urged residents to report structural defects promptly and evacuate buildings whenever they notice signs of possible collapse.“Whenever you discover something like this, please escalate it. Get to the point of evacuating yourself and your family members from that building. Life is the priority,” he said.He also advised prospective developers to use quality construction materials and engage qualified professionals to supervise their projects.But behind the official statements, casualty figures and emergency operations were the story of one family whose morning began like any other.For Olarewaju, the tragedy was not merely the collapse of an old building. It was the sudden loss of his children, their mother and other members of his family; the destruction of a home that had sheltered generations; and the beginning of an uncertain future for those left behind.“The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. The Chairman of the Kwara State Technical Committee of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, Bashir Lawal, called for a comprehensive audit of old and ageing buildings across the state to prevent a recurrence.The development also renewed calls for residents to report visible signs of structural weakness and evacuate buildings whenever they notice conditions that could threaten their safety.Representing Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq at the scene, the state Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Lawal Olohungbebe, described the incident as unfortunate and commiserated with the victims’ families.“The rescue mission began immediately after the collapse and, to the Grace of God, some were rescued, but unfortunately, we have to take it as this,” he said.Olohungbebe stressed the importance of accessible roads in residential areas, saying the access route to the building contributed to the ease with which emergency responders reached the scene.“One of the things that made it very easy for us to rescue the few people we were able to rescue is the access route,” he said.He urged residents and developers to respect building and town-planning regulations, particularly those relating to access roads.The commissioner commended the Ministries of Health and Environment, COREN, SEMA, NEMA, the Fire Service, Civil Defence, the Red Cross and other responders for their intervention.Ladan, who monitored the rescue operation, also commended the emergency agencies and residents for their prompt response.He urged residents to report structural defects promptly and evacuate buildings whenever they notice signs of possible collapse.“Whenever you discover something like this, please escalate it. Get to the point of evacuating yourself and your family members from that building. Life is the priority,” he said.He also advised prospective developers to use quality construction materials and engage qualified professionals to supervise their projects.But behind the official statements, casualty figures and emergency operations were the story of one family whose morning began like any other.For Olarewaju, the tragedy was not merely the collapse of an old building. It was the sudden loss of his children, their mother and other members of his family; the destruction of a home that had sheltered generations; and the beginning of an uncertain future for those left behind.“The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. The development also renewed calls for residents to report visible signs of structural weakness and evacuate buildings whenever they notice conditions that could threaten their safety.Representing Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq at the scene, the state Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Lawal Olohungbebe, described the incident as unfortunate and commiserated with the victims’ families.“The rescue mission began immediately after the collapse and, to the Grace of God, some were rescued, but unfortunately, we have to take it as this,” he said.Olohungbebe stressed the importance of accessible roads in residential areas, saying the access route to the building contributed to the ease with which emergency responders reached the scene.“One of the things that made it very easy for us to rescue the few people we were able to rescue is the access route,” he said.He urged residents and developers to respect building and town-planning regulations, particularly those relating to access roads.The commissioner commended the Ministries of Health and Environment, COREN, SEMA, NEMA, the Fire Service, Civil Defence, the Red Cross and other responders for their intervention.Ladan, who monitored the rescue operation, also commended the emergency agencies and residents for their prompt response.He urged residents to report structural defects promptly and evacuate buildings whenever they notice signs of possible collapse.“Whenever you discover something like this, please escalate it. Get to the point of evacuating yourself and your family members from that building. Life is the priority,” he said.He also advised prospective developers to use quality construction materials and engage qualified professionals to supervise their projects.But behind the official statements, casualty figures and emergency operations were the story of one family whose morning began like any other.For Olarewaju, the tragedy was not merely the collapse of an old building. It was the sudden loss of his children, their mother and other members of his family; the destruction of a home that had sheltered generations; and the beginning of an uncertain future for those left behind.“The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. Representing Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq at the scene, the state Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Lawal Olohungbebe, described the incident as unfortunate and commiserated with the victims’ families.“The rescue mission began immediately after the collapse and, to the Grace of God, some were rescued, but unfortunately, we have to take it as this,” he said.Olohungbebe stressed the importance of accessible roads in residential areas, saying the access route to the building contributed to the ease with which emergency responders reached the scene.“One of the things that made it very easy for us to rescue the few people we were able to rescue is the access route,” he said.He urged residents and developers to respect building and town-planning regulations, particularly those relating to access roads.The commissioner commended the Ministries of Health and Environment, COREN, SEMA, NEMA, the Fire Service, Civil Defence, the Red Cross and other responders for their intervention.Ladan, who monitored the rescue operation, also commended the emergency agencies and residents for their prompt response.He urged residents to report structural defects promptly and evacuate buildings whenever they notice signs of possible collapse.“Whenever you discover something like this, please escalate it. Get to the point of evacuating yourself and your family members from that building. Life is the priority,” he said.He also advised prospective developers to use quality construction materials and engage qualified professionals to supervise their projects.But behind the official statements, casualty figures and emergency operations were the story of one family whose morning began like any other.For Olarewaju, the tragedy was not merely the collapse of an old building. It was the sudden loss of his children, their mother and other members of his family; the destruction of a home that had sheltered generations; and the beginning of an uncertain future for those left behind.“The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. “The rescue mission began immediately after the collapse and, to the Grace of God, some were rescued, but unfortunately, we have to take it as this,” he said.Olohungbebe stressed the importance of accessible roads in residential areas, saying the access route to the building contributed to the ease with which emergency responders reached the scene.“One of the things that made it very easy for us to rescue the few people we were able to rescue is the access route,” he said.He urged residents and developers to respect building and town-planning regulations, particularly those relating to access roads.The commissioner commended the Ministries of Health and Environment, COREN, SEMA, NEMA, the Fire Service, Civil Defence, the Red Cross and other responders for their intervention.Ladan, who monitored the rescue operation, also commended the emergency agencies and residents for their prompt response.He urged residents to report structural defects promptly and evacuate buildings whenever they notice signs of possible collapse.“Whenever you discover something like this, please escalate it. Get to the point of evacuating yourself and your family members from that building. Life is the priority,” he said.He also advised prospective developers to use quality construction materials and engage qualified professionals to supervise their projects.But behind the official statements, casualty figures and emergency operations were the story of one family whose morning began like any other.For Olarewaju, the tragedy was not merely the collapse of an old building. It was the sudden loss of his children, their mother and other members of his family; the destruction of a home that had sheltered generations; and the beginning of an uncertain future for those left behind.“The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. Olohungbebe stressed the importance of accessible roads in residential areas, saying the access route to the building contributed to the ease with which emergency responders reached the scene.“One of the things that made it very easy for us to rescue the few people we were able to rescue is the access route,” he said.He urged residents and developers to respect building and town-planning regulations, particularly those relating to access roads.The commissioner commended the Ministries of Health and Environment, COREN, SEMA, NEMA, the Fire Service, Civil Defence, the Red Cross and other responders for their intervention.Ladan, who monitored the rescue operation, also commended the emergency agencies and residents for their prompt response.He urged residents to report structural defects promptly and evacuate buildings whenever they notice signs of possible collapse.“Whenever you discover something like this, please escalate it. Get to the point of evacuating yourself and your family members from that building. Life is the priority,” he said.He also advised prospective developers to use quality construction materials and engage qualified professionals to supervise their projects.But behind the official statements, casualty figures and emergency operations were the story of one family whose morning began like any other.For Olarewaju, the tragedy was not merely the collapse of an old building. It was the sudden loss of his children, their mother and other members of his family; the destruction of a home that had sheltered generations; and the beginning of an uncertain future for those left behind.“The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. “One of the things that made it very easy for us to rescue the few people we were able to rescue is the access route,” he said.He urged residents and developers to respect building and town-planning regulations, particularly those relating to access roads.The commissioner commended the Ministries of Health and Environment, COREN, SEMA, NEMA, the Fire Service, Civil Defence, the Red Cross and other responders for their intervention.Ladan, who monitored the rescue operation, also commended the emergency agencies and residents for their prompt response.He urged residents to report structural defects promptly and evacuate buildings whenever they notice signs of possible collapse.“Whenever you discover something like this, please escalate it. Get to the point of evacuating yourself and your family members from that building. Life is the priority,” he said.He also advised prospective developers to use quality construction materials and engage qualified professionals to supervise their projects.But behind the official statements, casualty figures and emergency operations were the story of one family whose morning began like any other.For Olarewaju, the tragedy was not merely the collapse of an old building. It was the sudden loss of his children, their mother and other members of his family; the destruction of a home that had sheltered generations; and the beginning of an uncertain future for those left behind.“The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. He urged residents and developers to respect building and town-planning regulations, particularly those relating to access roads.The commissioner commended the Ministries of Health and Environment, COREN, SEMA, NEMA, the Fire Service, Civil Defence, the Red Cross and other responders for their intervention.Ladan, who monitored the rescue operation, also commended the emergency agencies and residents for their prompt response.He urged residents to report structural defects promptly and evacuate buildings whenever they notice signs of possible collapse.“Whenever you discover something like this, please escalate it. Get to the point of evacuating yourself and your family members from that building. Life is the priority,” he said.He also advised prospective developers to use quality construction materials and engage qualified professionals to supervise their projects.But behind the official statements, casualty figures and emergency operations were the story of one family whose morning began like any other.For Olarewaju, the tragedy was not merely the collapse of an old building. It was the sudden loss of his children, their mother and other members of his family; the destruction of a home that had sheltered generations; and the beginning of an uncertain future for those left behind.“The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. The commissioner commended the Ministries of Health and Environment, COREN, SEMA, NEMA, the Fire Service, Civil Defence, the Red Cross and other responders for their intervention.Ladan, who monitored the rescue operation, also commended the emergency agencies and residents for their prompt response.He urged residents to report structural defects promptly and evacuate buildings whenever they notice signs of possible collapse.“Whenever you discover something like this, please escalate it. Get to the point of evacuating yourself and your family members from that building. Life is the priority,” he said.He also advised prospective developers to use quality construction materials and engage qualified professionals to supervise their projects.But behind the official statements, casualty figures and emergency operations were the story of one family whose morning began like any other.For Olarewaju, the tragedy was not merely the collapse of an old building. It was the sudden loss of his children, their mother and other members of his family; the destruction of a home that had sheltered generations; and the beginning of an uncertain future for those left behind.“The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. Ladan, who monitored the rescue operation, also commended the emergency agencies and residents for their prompt response.He urged residents to report structural defects promptly and evacuate buildings whenever they notice signs of possible collapse.“Whenever you discover something like this, please escalate it. Get to the point of evacuating yourself and your family members from that building. Life is the priority,” he said.He also advised prospective developers to use quality construction materials and engage qualified professionals to supervise their projects.But behind the official statements, casualty figures and emergency operations were the story of one family whose morning began like any other.For Olarewaju, the tragedy was not merely the collapse of an old building. It was the sudden loss of his children, their mother and other members of his family; the destruction of a home that had sheltered generations; and the beginning of an uncertain future for those left behind.“The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. He urged residents to report structural defects promptly and evacuate buildings whenever they notice signs of possible collapse.“Whenever you discover something like this, please escalate it. Get to the point of evacuating yourself and your family members from that building. Life is the priority,” he said.He also advised prospective developers to use quality construction materials and engage qualified professionals to supervise their projects.But behind the official statements, casualty figures and emergency operations were the story of one family whose morning began like any other.For Olarewaju, the tragedy was not merely the collapse of an old building. It was the sudden loss of his children, their mother and other members of his family; the destruction of a home that had sheltered generations; and the beginning of an uncertain future for those left behind.“The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. “Whenever you discover something like this, please escalate it. Get to the point of evacuating yourself and your family members from that building. Life is the priority,” he said.He also advised prospective developers to use quality construction materials and engage qualified professionals to supervise their projects.But behind the official statements, casualty figures and emergency operations were the story of one family whose morning began like any other.For Olarewaju, the tragedy was not merely the collapse of an old building. It was the sudden loss of his children, their mother and other members of his family; the destruction of a home that had sheltered generations; and the beginning of an uncertain future for those left behind.“The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. He also advised prospective developers to use quality construction materials and engage qualified professionals to supervise their projects.But behind the official statements, casualty figures and emergency operations were the story of one family whose morning began like any other.For Olarewaju, the tragedy was not merely the collapse of an old building. It was the sudden loss of his children, their mother and other members of his family; the destruction of a home that had sheltered generations; and the beginning of an uncertain future for those left behind.“The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. But behind the official statements, casualty figures and emergency operations were the story of one family whose morning began like any other.For Olarewaju, the tragedy was not merely the collapse of an old building. It was the sudden loss of his children, their mother and other members of his family; the destruction of a home that had sheltered generations; and the beginning of an uncertain future for those left behind.“The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. For Olarewaju, the tragedy was not merely the collapse of an old building. It was the sudden loss of his children, their mother and other members of his family; the destruction of a home that had sheltered generations; and the beginning of an uncertain future for those left behind.“The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. “The building is gone,” he lamented. For a family that had lived there for decades, the building represented a place where generations had grown up and shared memories.Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. Its collapse meant that those memories were now permanently intertwined with the deaths of five members of the family. The structure would be demolished.But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home. But for the survivors, the harder task had already begun: learning to live with the spaces left behind by those who would never return home.