A prosecution witness, Wahab Ariyo, has told a Lagos State High Court in Ikeja that Chrisland School Opebi allegedly failed to take a compulsory risk assessment test of the Lagos Safety Commission on the day one of its students, Whitney Adeniran, died.
Ariyo, a safety officer with the commission, also told the trial judge, Justice Oyindamola Ogala, that there was no ambulance, poor emergency management system, poor emergency communication and no retainers hospital close to the venue.
The state government had dragged Chrisland School Limited and its principal, vice principal and two employees before the court on a two-count charge of Involuntary Manslaughter and Reckless and Negligent Acts contrary to Sections 224 & 251 of the Criminal Law, C17, Vol.3, Laws of Lagos State, 2015
Ademoye Adewale, Kuku Fatai, Mrs Belinda Amao, Nwatu Ugochi Victoria, and Chrisland School Limited were arraigned before the court.
The prosecution alleged that the defendants, on February 9, 2023, at about 1 pm, at the Agege Sports Stadium, Agege, Lagos, in the Ikeja Judicial Division, killed one Adeniran Omodesola Whitney by acting recklessly and negligently endangered the deceased life.
The defendants, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Ariyo, who was testifying as the fourth witness for the prosecution, was led in evidence by the Lagos State Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), Dr Babajide Martins.
Ariyo introduced himself as an engineer and safety officer with the Lagos State Safety Commission.
He told the court that his duty in the office involved responding to emergencies in the state and investigating accidents and incidents to uncover the roots and immediate causes.
Regarding the instant charge, the witness told the court that the commission conducted investigations to ascertain the root cause of the fatality and make recommendations to avoid its recurrence.
According to Ariyo, it is essential to obtain an Event Safety Permit for schools and public events having 250 guests.
He said the permit can be obtained by visiting the commission’s website to register the event.
Ariyo added that after this, the commission gets notified in its office, while an officer would be sent from the Events Department to the facility to conduct basic assessments.
The witness told the court that the commission would then provide the requirements for preventing accidents or emergencies at such events.
“Once we carry out risk assessment and all requirements are met, we then issue a permit,” he said
According to him, on the event day, the commission sends marshals from its office to ensure all safety conditions are in place.
The witness told the court that there were further protocols for events with over 250 guests, such as ensuring the availability of ambulances, first aid kits, and fire-fighting equipment.
On the Chrisland School fatality, he told the court that the commission became aware on Feb. 13, 2023, and visited the scene at the Agege Stadium.
He explained that the visit was to ascertain what went wrong, adding that they discovered that most of the evidence had been tampered with on arrival.
He noted that the team took photos and interrogated the school management and those who witnessed the event.
The witness said that fortunately for the team, another school hosted its inter-house sports at the same Agege stadium.
He added that the development presented an opportunity for feedback on what happened, as vendors were at the scene.
Based on his findings at the scene, he said the school failed to obtain an event permit from the Lagos Safety Commission and that no risk assessment was conducted.
He added that there was no ambulance, a poor emergency management system, poor emergency communication, and no retained hospital close to the venue.
He told the court that a second visit to the scene was solely done by the commission and was to ascertain the claim by the school that the candy machine was not close to the event scene.
The witness said their second visit showed that the candy machine was close to the scene.
“We also discovered that no restrictions were made to the vendors using power generating sets, and as a result, there was the possibility of straying wires dangling around.
“So, that confirmed our initial findings that no risk assessment was done,” he said.
The witness told the court that if the same had been done earlier, all the safety infractions would have been noticed, and recommendations would have been made to close the gaps.
He told the court that findings revealed that a school bus was used instead of an ambulance, which should have at least three certified nurses.
“We also noticed that the school had only one first aider, the school nurse, which is unacceptable. There was also no safety marshal,” he said.
At this point, the DPP sought an adjournment to tender Certified True Copies of some documents.
The trial will resume on July 1.
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