…say they lack water, electricity on campus.
…ill equipped campus clinic closes by 7pm.
…waste generated by students are burnt behind school hostels.
There was palpable fear among students of the Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT) over a series of unexplained deaths of students both within and outside the school campus in the past one month.
The situation caught public attention last week when the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) called for the closure of the school over the alleged deaths and the consequent insensitivity on the part of the school administration who had gone on to conduct academic activities under such a situation.
The NANS Coordinator for Zone-F, Southeast, Chidi Nzekwe in a statement expresses sadness over the alleged sudden deaths, attributing it to high level of negligence on the part of the school administration.
They said that from their investigation, the school’s non-functional clinic was a major factor for the unfortunate death of the students. They therefore called for the school to be shut down so they could meet with relevant stakeholders, including the university management, medical experts, security agencies and student representatives.
“Failure to shutdown the institution with immediate effect, we will be compelled to escalate our actions and the university management should get ready to contend with the armless battalion army of Nigerian students in the zone, ” they said.
On the contrary, both ESUT Spokesman, Ikechukwu Ezianioma, and the SUG President Donatus Okolieuwa denied the allegations by NANS insisting that the student body did not get appropriate information before issuing their memo.
The PRO, said the Institution described the report as “spurious, fallacious, unfounded and tendentious at tarnishing the image of the University and Enugu State as a whole.”
Ezeanioma further explained that six students of the University who died in recent months were as a result of independent cases, adding five of the deaths occurred outside the four walls of the University while only one occurred in the school.
Also, the SUG President dismissed the report as false, malicious and a calculated attempt by some factional NANS leadership to tarnish the image of the institution.
Also in a swift reaction, the Enugu State Government described the report of the sudden death of students over negligence of the institution as fake and fabricated.
The state Governor, Peter Mbah who was represented at a fact finding visit to the school by the Secretary to the state Government, Prof Chidiebere Onyia dismissed the report as fake news fabricated to mislead the members of the public.
Also speaking, the Commissioner for Health, Prof Emmanuel Obi, described the rumour of students’ death in the university campus as an unverified report on the social media, noting that people, who had no experience on health, rushed to the social media to push the falsehood.
On his part, the Vice Chancellor of ESUT, Prof. Aloysius Okolie, linked the fake news to the outcome of the July 17, 2023 election of ESUT chapter of NANS, saying some students, who lost out, protested their loss and decided to resort to fake news and blackmail against the institution.
However, when this journalist visited the school, it was observed that while academic activities were going on without hitches, the students were apprehensive due to the development and had adopted some measures to stay alive.
One of ESUT students who died recently
Our reporter learnt that despite claims that the clinic was fully equipped, the school management had quickly stocked the clinic with drugs before the visit of the state government entourage.
It was also learnt that students were asked to leave the clinic whenever it was 7pm to return the next day despite the students’ health condition as the clinic closes by 7pm.
A student who did not want his name in print had said that on one occasion, he was really sick and had gone to the hospital for treatment, but once it was 7pm, the nurses asked him to leave. He said they forced him to leave despite informing them that he was still very sick. .
The student who took our reporter to various dump sites located behind each hostel on the campus also said that the students have complained severally over lack of water but the school always paid a deaf ear to their pleas.
One of the refuse dump sites
This reporter also intercepted a letter written by one of the hotel Governors requesting for urgent intervention by the hostel management to address the acute water crisis and poor state of her hostel.
She had described the condition as unendurable stating that the students have “reached a critical point, and we believe immediate action is necessary to rectify these issues.
“The consistent lack of electricity and water has severely impacted our living conditions and academic pursuits. It is becoming increasingly difficult to study, maintain personal hygiene, and even carry out basic daily activities due to these shortages.
Other students who did not also want their names in print for fear of victimization by the school authorities disclosed that they sought spiritual help by joining fellowships and attending prayer meetings, vigil and prayer marches in the heat of the development.
Esther Nnamani, (Not real name) who resides in one of the hostels said, “I know of a girl that died in our hotel. They said it was malaria and typhoid that killed. She stays in the hostel but she died at the hospital. We saw the video as they were carrying her corpse from the hospital.
“The other one was an accident. They even did candle night for the guy. He stays in the boys hostel. Then the ones we’ve been hearing have been on videos. One is from the Applied Microbiology Department. We saw the picture. So most of the things we’ve been seeing are pictures and some of them are said to have suffered from malaria.
“But till now they can’t really pick what exactly is responsible for their deaths. I don’t know of the other deaths they have been saying. The one I know is the one I have mentioned now. There are just three that I know of and one other person they said died inside the room in her lodge while she was with someone. But the guy did not die.
Another ESUT student who died recently
“So for now we were just told to avoid using the water to cook. That’s just the thing. The remaining ones, I don’t know if they are rumors or anything but students are saying they are not rumours. From what I have heard, there have been about 10 persons that have died. I wasn’t afraid when I heard the news but at the same time I was worried because these are students. “But then we are still waiting for the SUG or the school management to actually confirm everything and tell the students the right thing.
She said that while many students were worried, some joined prayer groups, stating that, “I participated in one of the prayer meetings that was held at the school garden. There were prayer meetings at Hall C, the school auditorium and Love Garden.
“They actually did revival programmes there because of the deaths. They were having the prayers everyday within that period. The first church that came did a three day revival programme, the second church was two days. The second church programme was organised by the school management because they said that all students should come together to the Love Garden and pray.
“We got the information from our Whatsapp group. We also had other prayer sessions in our hostels by 5am. The atmosphere at the prayer meetings was hot. You know students, everyone was scared because hearing different news is scary and nobody knows who’s next to die.
Another student, Nkiru Ezemba (Not real name), said that students tried to link the deaths to a trending video where a man said to be owed some money by the school management brought a coffin to the school and dumped it in front of the Secondary School section.
“I also say the video. Students then started trying to link the video to what is happening. But what people were complaining of was malaria and typhoid. A lot of students have been sick even till now. People have been trying to treat themselves.
“I just recovered from one myself. Anytime I am coming out of the hostel, it is either they are carrying a girl out for one ailment or the other. Last week, someone in 300 level was taken out of the hostel. She slumped in her room. They said that she had low blood sugar and low blood pressure so they took her to the hospital.
“She came back and still slumped again in the class. From what I heard, they said she is recovering already. Death did not come to my mind when I fell sick because I know I won’t die.
“Being the type of person I am, I knew it was the time for me to have it because it’s been a long time since I had malaria. So when I came to class I was feeling week somI decided to go and run tests. It was really serious on me but I treated myself and I am fine now.
For Michael Kingsley (Not real name) it was very scary hearing the rumours and also seeing a huge number of students falling sick.
“I was sick last week too. I was really scared hearing the things that have been going on in the school but I knew it won’t get to the point of death because I know my body. There were so many speculations and a lot of people were attributing it to the water the hostelers are using.
“Some other persons are saying it is rituals because most of the victims are ladies so they were saying that it was because the ladies were not staying in one place and maybe that could be the cause of the deaths. But up till now, nobody has been able to say the exact cause of the whole deaths. We are still depending on the school investigation.
Another late ESUT student
“The school has said there would be an autopsy on the ones that died so we are still waiting for the result of the autopsy so we can know the exact thing that happened. For now we don’t know. These students get sick here and die in hospitals outside the school. Some others died in their lodges also but none happened inside the school premises.
Another Student, Precious Emmanuel said that though the rumour must have been exaggerated, the medical centre was in shambles and needed massive overhauling to ensure that it is able meet the health needs of the students.
“Assuming we had a good medical centre some of the deaths would have been prevented. So the thing is that they leave the important things they are supposed to do and focus on things that are not important. Health should be the priority of the school, especially with a new administration. They should focus on that aspect. This is not a good testimony for the new administration.
He said that, “When all these things came out, we heard a lot of things. The religious people said their own, the medical people said their own all from their own perspective. That was why they initiated the prayer march.
“They also created a Whatsapp platform for the prayer march. I don’t know if the school authority is aware of the prayer. But we were all trying to get solutions since the school authority was not able to provide solution people were now seeking solution for themselves.”
Another late ESUT student
Following two dismissal of his findings as fake news by the school authorities and the state government, our reporter contacted the South East Coordinator of NANS, Chidi Nzekwe who insisted on his earlier statement accusing the school of trying to cover their lapses by denying the true situation of things at the school.
Nzekwe said that aside the inadequacies at the clinic, the students have complained of poor condition of the hostels and poor management of refuse dumps close to the hostels adding that the school’s SUG has in a memo raised these issues but were possibly compelled to withdraw it.
He said he had personally reached out to six parents whose children died in August alone, insisting that he was ready to defend his findings to any extent since he was fighting for the welfare of Nigerian students.
“I deemed it fit to reach the school management through the Dean of Students Affair after I got reports not what was going on in the school. But it was obvious that they don’t care about the Welfare of the Nigerian students.
“When I called him he said that it was a serious matter that six people died in six weeks, but he was just saying it casually. When I requested to come to the school to meet with the management Students Affairs Department, he was talking about an ongoing quiz in the school instead.
“I shocked that we are talking about the death of students and the school management cannot even for the sake of these students whose parents are in deep agony at that moment to suspend the quiz which is merely between faculties and have a day set apart for mourning or for a prayer session for the peaceful repose of these students and they were going about their normal activities.
Another late student
“I felt their approach to issues is inhuman. That was when I felt there was a need for us to shut the school down for the time being so that we can call them back to the fact that these are human beings not animals.
I was invited for a meeting with DSS. I went there, the Vice Chancellor said a lot of things at the meeting. I asked him a simple question, how come they just brought light to the campus immediately after I raised my memo? He said that he gave some contractors money to be supplying diesel but that he didn’t know that they had not been supplying the diesel.
“He also said that the Dean only wrote to him informing him about one death. To me, there is a foul play in that because there is no way he will tell me he is not aware. From information I got, he is on a Whatsapp platform known as ESUT VIP where I am sure he is seeing all the messages in that platform.
“And for me, if you have an ineffective Dean, the best thing you can do is to remove him. You cannot have someone who will tarnish your image as a VC or the image of the institution and yet you allow him to be there. To me what played out there was politics. He knew but he was just using the Dean so it will look like there was a bridge of communication that the Dean did not inform him.
“When they said it was only two or three persons, we went further seek the contacts of the deceased parents and I have spoken with six of them one on one. These are the ones that happened between the first week of August till now. I am excluding the ones that happened outside August.
“These are the ones I am able to get their contacts. I believe there are others but I’m telling you the ones I am able to reach out to. There at the DSS they were saying that it is media propaganda. We have also gone to see the environment of the hostel. You see refuse dumps behind the hostel and the general atmosphere there.
“For me the management of ESUT is not doing enough when it comes to student welfare. Because you have to be alive to obtain education. It is not just enough to read and pass exams.
“Those are important but you have to be healthy for you to acquire the much talked about character and learning. There is no water in the hostel and nothing is done about it even when these and more are paid for by the students. It is sad. I will soon make my own official statement because all they have released are all lies.
This reporter also reached out to the SUG President, Okolieuwa who despite dismissing the report of NANS admitted that the clinic was not adequate to meet the needs of the students, adding that they as students have been demanding for the clinic to be upgraded to a cottage hospital.
He said that though about three students who live on campus died, none of them died at the clinic. He also admitted that the clinic closes by 7pm during which every patient is discharged while those whose cases are serious are transferred to ESUT teaching hospital for further treatment.
Despite speaking highly of the sanitation standards of the school, Okolieuwam said that the refuse which are dumped behind the hostels are burnt when they form a heap but said that could not be the cause of the sickness.
He said that at the heat of the deaths, the SUG organised a two-day prayer session in conjunction with the Joint Campus Christian Body (JCCB) to ward off whatever spirit that was responsible for the deaths.
“Some for malaria, others for accidents. Some died in their lodge and no one knows why. I can’t say the deaths are unusual because people die of malaria every day. Malaria is not unusual. Those that died were taken to the hospital and were diagnosed with malaria typhoid and all that. About three or four persons died in three months by my calculation.
“Yes, I conducted a prayer session. I did that because one of the students died in an accident. He was the only one that died on the bus. Some of these people died within a month, some of them. So there was fear in the school. That was why I said it was good for us to call into God to seek his intervention.
“The prayer we the SUG in conjunction with the Joint Campus Christian Body (JCCB) organised lasted for two days. Like I said the people who died are not all staying inside school so there is no reason to link the water taking gave rise to this. What of those staying outside the school, are they taking the same water?
“Yea, after heaping those refuse, we used to burn it in the daytime behind the hostel but that may not necessarily be the reason for the problem. I have also been to the hostels of other schools and what we have here is more hygienic and conducive than what we have here.
“That place is a clinic and not a hospital. It’s not all the cases that they can handle there. So they refer cases they can’t handle to the town. ESUT has a medical school, Parklane. We have an ambulance here and any case that can’t be handled here at the campus is referred to the hospital.
“When you come to the standard of a clinic, it is of standard. But what we are pushing for as SUG is for them to upgrade it from just being a clinic to a cottage hospital so there will be improvements in what is done there.
“Yes they usually close by 7pm but we are also making moves as SUG to make sure that they start working 24 hours because some students stay in the hostel. If there is a case of emergency there should be people there to attend to them.
“When they look at a situation and there is nobody there to attend to the patient, they can discharge them or refer them to Parklane. Even if it is at the closing time of 7pm, we have a school ambulance that can convey the patient to the hospital. I never heard that anyone slumped in any part of the school
“I disclaimed the statement from NANS South East because they didn’t get the actual facts. You know this is politics. Everyone is seeking relevance and all that. I instructed the students to go about their normal activities.”
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