The Lagos State Government has said the classroom block that partially collapsed at a public school in the Odo-Kekere community, Ikorodu, had been marked for demolition before the incident.
The state disclosed this in a statement on Friday by the Special Committee on Rehabilitation of Public Schools (SCRPS).
Residents of the Odo-Kekere community were thrown into panic on Thursday evening when a section of a structure within the public school gave way after school hours.
Videos of the incident circulating online showed residents and parents rushing to the school to ascertain the safety of their children.
First responders from the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, LASEMA, and the Lagos State Building Control Agency LASBCA, raced to the scene promptly and cordoned off the area for safety purposes.
Preliminary reports confirmed that students were not in the classrooms at the time of the collapse.
Emergency teams also carried out checks to ensure that no security personnel or staff members were trapped in the rubble.
Giving updates in its statement, the SCRPS said the bungalow classroom block had already been identified for demolition to allow for the construction of a new classroom structure to cater to the student population of the school.
The committee added that no casualty was recorded in the incident and that all students were safe.
“The classroom block had already been marked for demolition in order to construct a befitting classroom edifice that would accommodate the population of students in the school,” the statement said.
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, according to the statement, has directed that the students be relocated to nearby schools to prevent disruption of academic activities.
The SCRPS said its officials would visit the school to assess the situation and work out plans for the commencement of construction of a new classroom block.
