By Adesina Wahab
The National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, has given the management of the Federal University of Technology, Akure, FUTA, 72 hours to get to the root cause of the death of a final year student or risk mass action.
The student body, in a statement on Friday night by the National Vice President, External Affairs, Comrade Akinteye Afeez, alleged that the death of Akeredolu Clinton Ayomide was due to negligence by medical personnel at the university’s health centre.
“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.
To this effect, in solidarity, the leadership of National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) calls for a mass action against this inhumane and callous act. We are demanding for the resignation of the healthcare director or his suspension, and for the management of FUTA to properly and effectively equip the University’s health center in the next 72 hours to avert further occurrence.
“Consequently, we beckon on the Zonal Structure of NANS (Southwest) and Ondo JCC to prepare for a mass action on Tuesday 29th of August, 2023 as we ground FUTA North and South Gate should our demands not be met within the timeframe of 72 hours by FUTA Management.’
Source: Vanguard