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| Deceased students |
Something is killing Nigerian
students, right in the institutions
where they are supposed to be
learning skills that will make them
useful to themselves, their families
and the nation. It is not violence,
cultism, hunger, illnesses or
terrorists.
The things that is killing them is the
very thing that should be keeping
them alive and fit to fulfil the
purpose that brought them to the
universities in the first place –
Hospitals, clinics, doctors, nurses and
the whole medical apparatus.
The most recent murder committed
by these supposed life savers was
witnessed on Tuesday the 8 of
September 2015, the black day on
which a potential first class graduate
of the University of Lagos (UNILAG),
Miss Oluchi Anekwe, died after an
unfortunate accident involving
electric cables.
The original story was that she was
electrocuted to death after the 330
KVA cable belonging to the Eko
Electricity Distribution Company
(EKEDC) fell on her.
First blames went to the UNILAG
authorities, then the attention turned
to EKEDC. No one knew that the
school medical team had something
to do with the loss of such a rare
national asset as Anekwe.
She is not a lone victim, as other like
Miss Kelechi Precious of the University
of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT), Mayowa
Alaran of the University of Ibadan (UI)
and Kolawole Fatai Morenikeji of the
Ladoke Akintola, University of
Technology (LAUTECH) Ogbomosho,
have all gone to ‘waste’ in similar
manner.
Before we go into the facts and
assumptions about their deaths, it is
important to state that, speaking as
candidly as possible, Nigerian
tertiary institutions are on a zero
level when it comes to welfare of the
students they are set up to serve.
When it comes to health and safety,
one can hardly point to one excellent
institution, more so with the State
and Federal Government owned
ones.
HOW DID THEY DIE?
1. Miss Oluchi Anekwe of the
University of Lagos (UNILAG) –
electrocuted on the street in August
2. Miss Kelechi Precious of the
University of Port Harcourt
(UNIPORT) – slumped in her hostel in
August
3. Kolawole Fatai Morenikeji of the
Ladoke Akintola, University of
Technology (LAUTECH) – slumped at
a football match in June
4. Mayowa Alaran of the University
of Ibadan (UI) – slumped while
watching a match in May
MAYOWA ALARAN, University of
Ibadan (UI) – slumped in May
The case of Mayowa Alaran , a 200
Level student of Human Kinetics at
the University of Ibadan (UI) is still
fresh on his colleagues’ minds. The
facts are not very clear, as students
and management present a different
version of events. What is certain is
that Alaran slumped while watching
the UEFA Champions League match
between Barcelona and Bayern
Munich with fellow students at the
Independence Hall of residence.
Students allege that they rushed him
to the University Health Services,
known as Jaja Hospital, where nurses
on duty requested for his clinic card
and matric number instead of
instantly attending to him.
He died before the issue could be
resolved. But the university had a
less damning version.
KOLAWOLE FATAI MORENIKEJI, Ladoke
Akintola, University of Technology
(LAUTECH) – slumped in June
Kolawole Fatai Morenikeji died in
June. He was until his death a 400
level Chemical Engineering student
of the Ladoke Akintola, University of
Technology (LAUTECH) Ogbomosho.
His death is a tragic one. He was
reported to have slumped while
playing a novelty match organized
by his Department and was rushed to
the school clinic where he died,
allegedly due to poor facilities and
negligence according to one of his
who spoke to Linda Ikeji.
“They gave him breathing tube and
tried to cajole us when they knew
there was no oxygen in the
cylinder,” the student said.
“It was when they knew things were
getting out of hand that they told us
to rush him to Bowen Hospital
Ogbomosho, few miles away from
the Campus.
“We requested for the Health center
Ambulance but we were told the
driver was sent to buy food, so we
hustled our way by hiring a car that
conveyed us.”
No matter the official spin that
followed, one fact remains that there
were inadequate facilities at the
clinic to offer the services that
students pay for.
KELECHI PRECIOUS of the University of
Port Harcourt (UNIPORT) – slumped in
August
On the 30 of August, a 200 level
student of Theatre Art and Film
Study of the University of Port
Harcourt (UNIPORT), Miss Kelechi
Precious, slumped in her bathroom
and died not too long after.
According to the testimony of her
roommate, one Kainti Dauebimoere
who spoke to The Nation, she was
rejected for lack of space at the
university’s teaching hospital. She
died before an alternative could be
found.
“That was how we got a car around
5:45 am to take her to UPTH at
accident and emergency ward. But
the doctors who were there said
there was no bed space,”
Dauebimoere said.
“We pleaded that we are going to use
the car as her bed, but they refused.”
Her testimony was backed by a final
year student of the same department
as the deceased, Judith Oyila, who
later led student protesters to shut
down the hospital.
“She died because of neglect by the
doctors and nurses in that hospital,”
Oyila said.
“How could it be that a student
slumped and students rushed her to
UPTH but the doctors left her for
over six hours without treatment and
the poor girl died?
Again, hospital staff indicted.
OLUCHI ANEKWE of the University of
Lagos (UNILAG) – electrocuted in
August
Barely two weeks after Miss Kelechi’s
passing, Nigeria lost another
promising student in the person of
Miss Oluchi Anekwe, a 300l Student of
the department of Accounting at
UNILAG who was gunning for a first
class degree.
She was just walking on her own
when a high tension cable fell on her
and electrocuted her, but she did not
die on the spot according to the
testimony of one Damilola Dairo
which was published by Osun
Defender. Dairo’s testimony indicted
the medical staff, again!
“When the incident happened, she
was rushed to the school’s Medical
Centre in the school.
“At the medical Centre the staff on
duty asked for her student
Identification card which she
couldn’t produce.
“The staff of the medical Centre left
her to her Fate which resulted in her
death around 9pm that same day.
Not the lie about her been rushed to
LUTH.”
What binds all these cases together is
the fact that medical staff negligence,
combined with poor facilities
actually killed these students.
By implication, their lives could have
been saved.
WHAT IS WRONG?
As an ordinary citizen that is not
knowledgeable about how a
university or a medical center is run,
one may not be able to give precise
suggestions or solutions, but it only
takes a bit of commonsense to know
that there are a lot wrong in
Nigerian universities:
1. There are inadequate medical
facilities at almost all tertiary
institutions
2. Most institutions have no
provision for first aid services or
trainings for students
3. Hospital staff have very poor
attitude to their patients and would
be patients
4. There seems to be a belief that
school health services are free when,
in actuality, students have paid for it
with their tuition
5. Acceptable safety standards are
not respected, especially in students
hostels
In addition, many students are ill
without even knowing it, as is seen
in three of the cases discussed above.
That three students collapsed and
died without clear reason indicates
that they have been ill for a while.
WHAT CAN BE DONE?
If progress must be made with
regards to provision of health
services and a reoccurrence of such
tragedies are to be forestalled, there
is a need for deliberate steps which
include:
1. Revamping university health
services
2. Providing compulsory routine
check-ups for all students
3. Instructing medical staff of
universities to first provide
treatment before observing protocols
4. Train students on basic first aid
techniques
5. Create and maintain mini clinics/
first aid centres across the
universities, especially student hubs
and hostels
6. Provide a functional university
helpline that all students can call
If we allow the death of Anekwe to
fall by the roadside of public
discourse, like the three before her,
there may be many more names yet
to be turned into trending hashtags
amongst the student populace.
Universities managements must be
forced to protect students and ensure
that health services are up to
standard and safety procedures are
followed.
Otherwise, let’s wait for the next life
to be wasted.
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