Three college students were killed and more than 200 others were injured after an examination hall, where they were taking the West African Examination Council (WAEC) exam, collapsed, a senior government official said Friday.
The incident occurred at about 6:38 p.m., local time on Thursday at a private secondary school at Mararaba, Donga Local Government in the northeast Taraba State, Chairman of Donga Local Government, Douglas Ndatse told GistMedia Nigeria.
Douglas said the storey building housing the examination hall carved in as the college students numbering over 500 were about to commence Biology Science exam.
A police source told GistMedia Nigeria that the students had barely been served their question papers for the day examination when the building suddenly collapsed.
A total of 560 candidates were writing WAEC in the school.
Some of the students were said to have complained of the building's cracks even before the commencement of their examinations.
Some of the injured persons who could not assess medical service at the community have been taken to the CRCN Hospital at Takum, a nearby town.
Hospital sources said 30 of the 200 injured students brought to the hospital were in critical condition, adding that some of them may be flown to Abuja and other Nigerian cities for better medical attention.
A high-profile Nigeria league match between champions Kano Pillars and Heartland was abandoned on Wednesday after police shot a fan at the Sani Abacha Stadium in Kano, northern Nigeria.
"The match was called off after Heartland refused to continue the game after a fan was shot in the foot by police inside the stadium and the fans protested," Pillars media officer Idris Malikawa disclosed.
"The fan was said to have done something illegal - he has been rushed to hospital."
The match was goalless after half an hour before this incident.
"Pillars fans would have to be commended for the way and manner they comported themselves during the problem," said Malikawa.
"The situation was brought to normal but Heartland refused to continue for fear of their safety despite assurances from the match officials."
However, Heartland media officer Cajetan Nwokpara gave a different account, saying some home fans invaded the pitch.
"Our match was inconclusive because some home fans invaded the pitch with knives, cutting the net and trying to remove the goal post after they had done so with the corner flags," he said.
"I don't really know what caused this. We were escorted to our hotel by the security and everybody in our team is okay."
Interestingly the same fixture last season also ended in controversy after Heartland claimed they were manhandled by their home fans after they managed a 1-1 draw in Kano.
At least 31 people have been killed and houses and vehicles were burnt after a disagreement over ownership of a football pitch set off sectarian violence in northern Nigerian state of Taraba.
Violence erupted when Muslim and Christian football teams argued over which team had the right to a football pitch.
Scores were also injured in the fracas which the state acting governor Garba Umar tried to quell by declaring a round-the-clock curfew in the Wukari city where the crisis emanated late yesterday.
Residents of Wukari were forced to flee their homes to take refuge in neighbouring towns.
Nine health workers administering a polio vaccination programme in northern Nigeria were murdered yesterday by gunmen on motorbikes.
No one claimed responsibility for the attack in the city of Kano, but Islamist militant group Boko Haram, a sect that has condemned the use of what it sees as Western medicine, has been blamed for carrying out a spate of assaults on security forces in the city in recent weeks.
It is the second time this year that polio workers have come under attack by Islamist militants after gunmen killed aid workers tackling the disease in Pakistan last month.
