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From Jude Chinedu, Enugu
Students of Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT), Agbani, have decided to go spiritual following the deaths of some of their colleagues mostly outside the school campus, in the past one month.
It was alleged that some students of the institution died in the last one month, with some falling ill before dying, even as one or two others died in auto accidents. Another student in her final year was reportedly found dead in a room with her male friend unconscious.
While many of the students and parents are hysterical, there has been no nexus connecting the various deaths, most of which occurred outside the campus.
The situation came to the fore last week when the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) called for the closure of the institution over the alleged deaths, even as the body alleged insensitivity on the part of the school administration. The students’ body said the authorities had gone on to conduct academic activities under such a situation as if nothing happened.
NANS Coordinator for Zone-F, South-East, Chidi Nzekwe in a statement, expressed sadness at the alleged deaths, attributing it to high level of negligence on the part of the school administration.
NANS said its investigation showed that the school’s non-functional clinic was a major factor for the unfortunate death of the students. It 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 shut down 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.
In their reaction, both ESUT’s spokesman, Ikechukwu Ezianioma, and the Students Union Government (SUG) President, Donatus Okolieuwam, denied the allegations by NANS. They insisted that the student body did not get appropriate information before issuing its memo.
According to the institution’s PRO, the NANS report was “spurious, fallacious, unfounded and tendentious, and aimed 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 independent cases, adding that “five of the deaths occurred outside the four walls of the University while only one occurred in the school.”
He also said that no student has died in the medical facility of the school since the inception of the current Vice Chancellor of the University, Prof. Aloysius-Michaels Okolie, a year ago, claiming that facilities at the clinic had been upgraded
Also, the SUG President alleged that some factional NANS leadership wanted to tarnish the image of the institution.
Similarly, the Enugu State Government said the report of sudden death of students over negligence of the institution was fake and fabricated.
Governor Peter Mbah, who was represented at a fact-finding visit to the school by the Secretary to the State Government, Prof Chidiebere Onyia said the fake report was fabricated to mislead the members of the public.
“We have inspected the facilities now, and from what we have seen and heard, we are clear that the intention behind the social media post may have been to mislead members of the public. But one thing is important, the state government is committed to the safety of students’ lives, and to provide them a conducive learning environment,” he stated.
Enugu State Commissioner for Health, Prof Emmanuel Obi, said people who had no experience on health, rushed to the social media to push the falsehood.
The Vice Chancellor of ESUT, Okolie, linked the purported report to the outcome of the July 17, 2023 election of the institution’s chapter of NANS, alleging that some students, who lost out protested their loss and decided to resort to fake news and blackmail against the institution.
He, however, acknowledged loss of lives both from students and non-students who died outside the school environment as a result of varying factors such as accidents and terminal illnesses, among others.
Saturday Sun visited the school on Tuesday and observed that normal academic activities were going on without hitches.
But some of the students, who spoke to our reporter in confidence, said the school clinic was not fully equipped. They said that the school management quickly stocked the facility with drugs before the visit of the governor’s representatives.
It was also gathered that the facility closes by 7pm. As such, ailing students were usually asked to leave the clinic whenever it was 7pm to return the next day despite the patient’s health condition.
The student that took the reporter to various dump sites located behind each hostel, said the students had complained severally over lack of water in the school, but noted that the school authorities paid deaf ears to their pleas.
Saturday Sun 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.
“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,” the governor, a female, wrote.
Other students who did not also want their names in print 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. They said it was malaria and typhoid that killed her. She died in the hospital..
“The other one was an accident. They even did candle night for the guy. He stayed in the boys’ hostel. But most of the things we’ve been seeing are pictures and some of them are said to have suffered from malaria.”
She said many students have joined prayer groups, disclosing that prayer meetings were recently held at the school garden, Hall C, the school auditorium and Love Garden, among others.
“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,” the source stated.
Another student, Michael, who also didn’t want his full name mentioned, said it was very scary hearing the rumours and also seeing students falling sick.
He said: “There were so many speculations and a lot of people were attributing it to the water the inmates of the hostels are using.
“Some other persons are saying it is rituals because most of the victims are ladies. They were even saying it might be because the ladies were busy moving around doing wayward things, that 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.
“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.”
A student, Precious Emmanuel said the rumours might have been exaggerated. But she said the clinic actually needed massive overhauling to ensure that it was able to meet the health needs of the university community.
“Assuming we had a good medical centre, some of the deaths would have been prevented. Health should be the priority of the school, especially with a new administration. They should focus on that aspect,” Emmanuel stated.
Saturday Sun confronted the NANS leader, Nzekwe whose claims were dismissed by the institution, government and the Students Union. He said he personally reached out to six parents whose children died in August.
Nzekwe said that he was ready to defend his findings to any level since he was fighting for the welfare of Nigerian students.
“I was invited for a meeting with the 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.
“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,” Nzekwe said.
This reporter also contacted the SUG President, Okolieuwam who also dismissed the NANS report. But he admitted that the medical centre was not adequate to meet the needs of the ESUT community. He disclosed that the students have been demanding that the clinic 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.
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.
The SUG President said: “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 unto God to seek his intervention.
“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.”
