The Federal University of Technology, Akure, management has been given 72 hours to identify the reason for the death of a final-year student or face widespread protests from the National Association of Nigerian Students, or NANS.
The student body claimed that Akeredolu Clinton Ayomide's death was caused by medical staff malpractice at the university's health centre in a statement released on Friday night by the National Vice President for External Affairs, Comrade Akinteye Afeez.
“The demise of a dear student of ours came to us a rude shock, words cannot express how disheartening we are as a body whose sole objective is to see to the welfare of Nigerian students. We are perplexed and disturbed that an ugly scenario of this nature was not happening for the first time and the management of the institution (FUTA) alongside the health care unit are not seeing the need for an end to this disastrous passing on of our students.
“The loss of a final year student in just few days to examination is so disheartening, melancholic and unpalatable that words cannot express the gravity of the loss. This is a loss that could have been averted. We cannot stand aloof and watch an ugly event like this persist in our institutions without putting in place measures that would put an end to such occurrences.
“To our greatest dismay, having made a thorough and proper close examination, we have come to the realization that FUTA health care center is nothing to write home about with poor facilities that cannot save lives or meet emergencies.
“It is also on record that as at when the deceased was rushed down to the school’s health center, there was power outage and students had to use the flashlights to enable the oxygen setups and injections. There is no backup power supply at the institution’s health care center that’s supposed to run for 24 hours and 7 days weekly. This is worrisome and only shows the negligence of the institution towards adequate healthcare.
