CITY NEWS House fire kills infant in Mpape Chinese government donates to Abuja school

Afour-month-old child was killed in a fire which broke out in a house at Katampe 1, Mpape, Abuja, on Monday.

City News gathered that the incident occurred at about 5:00 p.m. when the mother, who was also severely burnt in the inferno, was cooking in the kitchen and left the child in a chair in the living room.

A source, who spoke to our reporter, said: “The woman kept the child on the chair in the living room while she was cooking in the kitchen.

“Nobody knows where it started from and how it started but before she knew what happened, the fire had engulfed the house, reaching the chair that the child was lying on.

“She couldn’t stand and watch the fire burn her child, so, she attempted rescuing her baby and she got burnt. By then, the fire was already burning other things in the house so she ran out to seek for help but the doors were closed.

“People came to assist couldn’t enter the house through the door so they broke the windows and took the child out while others tried to put out the fire.”

Our reporter, who went to the scene of the fire, learnt that the woman and her son were taken to the hospital but the child died.

A resident of the area, Joy Michael, said that though there was electricity at the time of the incident, it was not clear if the fire was started by an electrical fault.

She said that the fire did not affect nearby houses. In a bid to sustain the existing partnership with the Federal Capital Territory Administration Universal Basic Education Board, the Chinese government has donated instructional and electronic materials to FCT China assisted model school Nyanya.

The items, presented to the school last Thursday, consisted of books, computers, air-conditioning units and exercise books.

The Director of FCT Universal Basic Education Board, Dr Adamu Jatau Noma (mni), who received the items on behalf of the board, said the materials would go a long way in promoting teaching and learning in the school and improve enrolment and retention of students.

Noma promised that the Federal Capital Territory Administration would build more classrooms in the school to accommodate students.

He said that the administration would ensure that pupils benefit from the electronic items donated.

The head teacher of the school, Hajiya Duduyemi Saudat, promised to make judicious use of the items.