Death toll rises to 12, several others injured in Zaria Central Mosque Collapse

No fewer than twelve people have reportedly died while several others sustained severe injuries after a mosque caved in on worshippers in Zaria, a city in Northern Kaduna state in Nigeria.

According to reports, a section of the Zaria Central Mosque collapsed on hundreds of worshippers while they were observing one of the traditional prayer sessions, Asr.

Emir of Zazzau, Mallam Ahmed Nuhu Bamalli, while confirming the incident said the victims were observing the Asr prayer around 4pm when the incident occurred.

He said, “we had earlier observed a crack on the wall of the mosque yesterday and were planning to deploy a team of civil engineers to effect repairs when this unfortunate incident happened.”

The Emir while condoling with the family of the deceased, directed that people should pray outside the mosque pending the repairs.

He also directed that the funeral prayer of all that died in the incident be observed yesterday by 8:30pm at his palace.

Meanwhile, sources have revealed that four people died on the spot while two others eventually died after they were rushed to the hospital, raising the total number of casualties to six while several others remain injured.

On his sick bed, Mallam Ibrahim Mohammed, one of the victims of the incident, while speaking to newsmen, explained that most of the people who sustained injuries was as a result of stampede and not the building collapse.

He said, “I was pushed to the ground and lots of people matched me which resulted in all the injuries I sustained.”

Another witness, Sani Salisu who is a routine worshipper in the mosque, blamed a structural defect on the building.

He said one of the pillars in the mosque had been leaking for almost five days following torrential rainfall yet, nothing had been done.

Reuters says “building collapses are frequent in Africa’s most populous country, where regulations are poorly enforced and construction materials often substandard.”

In 2022, the Building Collapse Prevention Guild, BCPG, recorded at least 62 building collapse or catastrophes, causing 84 deaths and injuring 113 persons.

Also in May, the Director-General of the Standards Organisation of Nigeria, Farouk Salim, had stated that Nigeria has the highest number of building collapses in Africa while calling for a radical response from the federal and state governments.

According to him, building collapses have recently escalated and Lagos is the epicentre.

He said “among the 221 cases recorded in the country in over four decades, Lagos, the country’s largest cosmopolitan centre accounts for 60 percent. This calls for urgent and effective remedial measures.”

Incessant building collapses in Nigeria have led to loss of lives, and jobs, and eroded confidence in the real estate industry.

Similarly, the Punch in a report, revealed that, 115 incidents of building collapse were recorded in Nigeria between 2012 and 2022, including one in May 2022, when a three-storey building collapsed in Ebute-Meta, claiming at least eight lives.

The report added that in March 2016, 35 persons died when another structure in Lekki Gardens collapsed. In September 2014, the multi-storey guesthouse of the Synagogue Church of all Nations collapsed, killing 116 people, including foreigners.

In lieu of this, the DG, Standard Organisatiom of Nigeria had also said “prolonged rainfall, indiscriminate erection of boreholes, and drainages also sabotage the integrity of buildings in a fragile topography. Therefore, environmental checks must be intensified; especially as national and international agencies have forewarned increased flooding nationwide.”