WALLS FELL, BUT NOT ONE SOUL WAS LOST: GOD’S HAND BEHIND THE MIRACULOUS ESCAPE
By Ade Adesokan
Students and teachers of Yemco Nursery, Primary and Comprehensive College, Aguda, Ogba, Lagos, are alive today — not by accident but by Providence.
Minutes after a full evacuation, their school building crumbled to rubble.
A school building in the Aguda area of Ogba collapsed on Monday, March 9, 2026. No one was inside. Every teacher and pupil had been evacuated minutes before.
The school was Yemco Nursery, Primary and Comprehensive College, located just behind County Hospital on Aguda Road.
Early that morning, it was reported that alert individuals noticed serious structural defects in the building. Cracks were visible. Unusual sounds were heard. Authorities acted immediately. Classes were suspended and a full evacuation was ordered.
Before the last person stepped clear, the structure gave way entirely. It did not tilt or partially crumble. It collapsed completely, leaving nothing standing.
What had been a school was reduced to heaps of concrete and twisted iron rods.
The speed and totality of the collapse left the surrounding community shaken. Yet not one life was lost. Not one child. Not one teacher. The people were out. The building came down alone.
Residents gathered quickly. “When we saw that the whole building had come down, our hearts stopped,” said Mrs. Funke, a neighbour who asked to be identified only by her first name. “Then someone told us all the children were already outside. We just started crying and thanking God.”
Parents who arrived at the scene found their children standing at a safe distance, teachers attending to them, the demolished structure behind them. Several parents knelt in prayer on the spot.
Religious leaders in the Ogba community were swift to speak. “The structures of men can fail, but the protection of God does not,” said Pastor Emmanuel Adeyemi of a church near the school. “Every single life was preserved. That is not coincidence. That is covenant.”
The incident has refocused attention on the state of school infrastructure across Lagos and Nigeria.
Safety experts noted the critical role of the prompt response by those on the ground. Lagos State Building Control Agency has been notified and is expected to assess the collapsed structure and neighbouring buildings.
Education advocates used the moment to renew calls for mandatory structural audits of all school buildings. “We were fortunate this time,” said one activist who declined to be named. “But fortune is not a safety policy. Every school in this country needs to be assessed. We cannot keep gambling with children’s lives.”
The Lagos State Ministry of Education had not issued an official statement by the time of filing. A spokesperson confirmed the Governor’s office had been briefed.
As Monday afternoon drew on, a praise and worship composition began circulating on WhatsApp groups across Ogba, Ikeja, and beyond. Its opening lines said what many residents felt but struggled to put into words:
“Before the crack ran through the wall,
Before the beams began to fall,
Before the morning turned to dread,
You, O Lord, had gone ahead.”
Lagos has known its share of building collapses. Many have been deadly. Aguda on March 9, 2026 told a different story.
The ruins of Yemco College do not speak of loss. They speak of mercy. A school fell and everyone lived. Lagos has a testimony.
The walls came down. The people did not. That is the miracle.
● Adesokan is a public affairs commentator and international human rights advocate.
