The Senate has urged the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) to thoroughly investigate circumstances surrounding the death of a toddler, David Udo, in a crèche/nursery school in Aba, Abia State.

The toddler reportedly fell off the last floor of the three-story building to the ground, and suffered head and body injuries.

Senate’s request came after the adoption of a motion at plenary, last Tuesday, on ‘Urgent need to mandate schools to locate their crèche and nursery classes to the ground floors of their high-rise buildings and implement safety protocols’, sponsored by Sen. Oluranti Adebule (APC, Lagos West).

In her presentation, Adebule decried the death of the toddler on October 24, 2003 in Emerald International School, Aba.

She said the incident brought to the fore the issue of safety in schools, particularly for toddlers in crèche and nursery schools across the country, noting that accidents do occur, including falls from multi-floor buildings in schools, resulting in injuries, disabilities and, in some cases, death.

Many of the accidents, according to her, may not have been reported appropriately to the supervisory state authorities to cause the activation of necessary investigation and possible sanctions.

She said: “The ultimate is for investigations to cause state policy direction that will permanently prevent recurrence of these heinous accidents,”

“The case of Master David Udo was a pathetic and heart-breaking incident that required the Senate to critically look into the safety issues and protocols in schools across the country, including school building and facilities design and arrangement.”

Sen. Victor Umeh (LP, Anambra Central) said the toddler’s death exposed negligence in the systems by relevant authorities.

“What we are suffering in this country is lack of control and design approval. We cannot build a house that will not pass building approval. Building of schools must pass through the approval,” he said.

The former National Chairman of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) commended the sponsor of the motion, describing her as a nationalist from Lagos but sponsored a motion of a human-interest incident that occurred in Abia.

Other senators, who decried the incident and condoled the family of the deceased toddler, included Abba Moro (PDP, Benue South) and Barau Jibrin (APC, Kano North).