As Lagosians continue to
count their losses following
last weekend’s unfortunate
pipeline explosion in Abule
Ado, the Catholic Archbishop of La-
gos Most Rev Alfred Adewale Matins
has condoled with all the victims, as-
suring them that they are not alone at
this period of grief.
The Archbishop who was one of the
early August visitors to the explosion
site, barely few hours into the inci-
dent which claimed several lives and
injured many, also said the Catholic
Church will join the State Govern-
ment in doing all within its ability to
cushion the effect of the explosion on
residents of the community.
Archbishop Martins took time to
condole with the management, staff,
parents and students of Bethlehem
College owned by the Church who
were attending Mass when the explo-
sion occurred.
From the last count, about 276 per-
sons were reportedly displaced, 5
schools affected while over 130 houses
were either largely or moderately af-
fected by the explosion. Interestingly,
the Grotto of the Blessed Virgin Mary
was unaffected by the blast with the
Statue standing untouched.
He was also at the Navy Hospital,
Ojo to visit and prayed with the in-
jured students, and revealed that all of
them were saved. Most of them have
been treated and discharged to their
different homes.
In a release he made available shortly
after his visit, the Archbishop revealed
that the Principal of the College, Rev
Sister Henrietta Alokha paid the su-
preme price while trying to move the
students to safety.
“Unfortunately, the Administrator
of the school, Rev. Sr. Dr. Henrietta
Alokha SSH and one female security
guard, Miss Bidemi Johnson and three
others died in the process of taking
care that the students were safe. Sr.
Henrietta Alokha SSH and other staff
that died have paid the supreme price
in their bid to lead all her students to
safety. May their souls rest in peace. It
is important to confirm that no priest
died during the incident. The priest
who was celebrating the Mass helped
in rescuing the students and he him-
self is safe.”
“The Staff quarters, Administrative
Building, the refectory and hostel
buildings were levelled to the ground
as a result of the impact of the ex-
plosion with no essential building
standing except the convent housing
the nuns in charge of the school,” the
Archbishop stated.
Meanwhile, as part of its proactive
measures to ensure that the academ-
ic pursuit of the affected students of
Bethlehem College is not disrupted,
the Director of Education, Catholic
Archdiocese of Lagos, Msgr Jerome
Oduntan, revealed that the students
of Bethlehem Girls College will be ac-
commodated in the other schools run
by the Catholic Church.
Here him, “For the continued stud-
ies of the students, all the SS3 students
will be sent to Marywood Girls Col-
lege, Ebute-Metta to complete their
secondary education with the im-
pending WAEC on the way. The JSS3
students on the hand will be sent to
Maryland Comprehensive Secondary
School, Maryland, Lagos to complete
their Junior WAEC. The rest students
will be accordingly distributed across
the Catholic Schools in Lagos.
Msgr Oduntan who met recently
with the Parents Teachers Association
of Bethlehem Girls College, revealed
the properties of the students that
have been savaged were currently be-
ing evacuated to Holy Family Catholic
Church, Festac Town. Parents will be
informed at a later date when to come
with their girls to identify and pick
their properties.
Other measures also being taken in-
cludes:
Redeployment of the staffs of Bethle-
hem Girls College, Abule Ado to other
Catholic schools in Lagos; providing
psychological Counseling for all stu-
dents and their parents by experts
Requiem Mass for the deceased to
hold on Monday 23rd March 2020
at the Chapel of Maryland Compre-
hensive Secondary School, Maryland,
Lagos at 11am with the Archbishop
presiding over the mass.
The state government has already set
up a committee to look into the causes
of the explosion.
THE COLLEGE
The land measuring 3.766 hectares
in Abule Ado Festac Town Exten-
sion Off Badagry Expressway, Lagos
on which Bethlehem Girl’s College
is erected was allocated by the Fed-
eral Housing Authority(FHA) to the
Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos on 4th
September, 1992. The Holy Family
Catholic Church, Festac Town start-
ed the fencing of the land in 2004 and
was completed in 2006 with the com-
pletion of the fence, An access road
was constructed for the neighbouring
communities in order to enable the
Catholic Church take full possession
of the land in March, 2007 construc-
tion work on site commenced.
The school commenced operation
on Septemebr 2012
