The Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute (NBRRI) has attributed the cause of the building collapse at Saint Academy in Jos to substandard materials and poor construction work.

NBRRI’s director general, Samson Duna, disclosed this during a news conference on Tuesday in Jos.

At about 8:30 a.m. last Friday, a two-storey building collapsed at the school in the Busa-Buji community of the Jos North Local Government Area of Plateau.

The incident led to the death of 22 persons and 132 others severely injured.

The director general said the incident prompted NBRRI to constitute a committee headed by Fredrick Job of the University of Jos to investigate the remote and immediate causes of the building collapse.

Mr Duna said the committee’s preliminary investigation revealed that the collapsed structure was already ”distressed”.

“The committee discovered that the quantity of concrete was in doubt because there was no bond between the concrete and the steel reinforcement.

“The slab reinforcement anchorage provided was inadequate, and the sizes of the footing (foundation) provided were less than the required number of 1200 mm x 1200 mm,” he said.

Mr Duna said the mandate of the committee, approved by the Minister of Innovation, Science, and Technology, Uche Nnaji, was to uncover the causes and identify those responsible for the defect in the structure.

The director general added that the committee’s preliminary report was based on the evidence gathered through interviews with witnesses and experts.

He added that the committee’s further findings would be crucial to averting building collapse in the future.

Mr Duna assured Nigerians that the institute would leave no stone unturned to ensure that those responsible for the collapse of the school building were brought to book.

(NAN)