Victim of Ebute Metta Building Collapse Yet to be Mobilised, Says NYSC

 Funmi Ogundare

Contrary to the information going round that one of the victims of the collapsed building at Ebute Metta area of Lagos, Miss Adekemi Zainab Adekunle, was a serving Corps member, the management of National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) yesterday said she was yet to be mobilised for the scheme as at the time of the incident.

Oluwakemi was reported to be a corps member and among the 10 tenants of a distressed three-storey building which collapsed in the Ebute Meta area of Lagos.

The Lagos State NYSC Coordinator, Yetunde Baderinwa, in a statement made available to THISDAY yesterday, described the online information as misleading, saying the victim was in the process of getting her certificate from her institution before the unfortunate incident happened.

The statement read in parts: “The attention of the management of National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has been drawn to misleading online information that one of the victims of the collapsed building at Ebute Metta area of Lagos, Adekemi Zainab Adekunle, was a serving corps member.

“From our findings, and according to the deceased’s elder sister, the late

Adekunle, who graduated from the History Department, Tai Solrarin University of Education, Ijagun, Ijebu-Ode in Ogun State was yet to be mobilised for the NYSC as at the time of the incident.”

The coordinator said she was in the process of getting her certificate from her institution of graduation before the unfortunate incident happened, adding that the scheme also discovered that the deceased was with her parent on a visit by the time the building collapsed.

According to Baderinwa, “While the scheme condoles and shares in the pain of the bereaved families, it also prays that God should repose the souls of the departed.”

The scheme, however, appealed to journalists to be objective in their reports, verify claims and uphold the ethics of journalism in their news coverage to avoid sensationalism that can mislead the public.