11 After death of 2 Queen’s College students, blame-game rages
In October, Queen’s College in Lagos, will mark its 90th anniversary. But one of the most-respected secondary schools in Nigeria will reflect soberly on the death of two of her students and the hospitalization of 10 others following an outbreak of cholera
Foremost secondary school for girls, Queen’s College Lagos, is now closed and the usual activities at its gates at Onike, Yaba, were nowhere to be found when Daily Trust visited the school. Two guards at the gate simply said the school was mourning. The somber atmosphere appeared to offer some explanation that indeed, all was not well.
A few days earlier, the school had some turbulence arising from the outbreak of a disease alleged to be cholera, wherein scores of students were stooling and vomiting. Although our correspondents were told different versions of the story, what appeared to be constant in all the accounts was the story of contaminated water and unhygienic toilets to which the students were said to be earlier exposed.
Two students-Vivian Osuinyi and BithiaItulua, did not survive the outbreak, while tens of others battled for survival in hospitals. “We saw it coming but we didn’t take it serious,” said Mrs. Veronica Ajei, a mother of three whose child is a student of the college.
“My daughter used to tell me that their hostel toilets were no longer being kept clean. She said since the beginning of the first term, she and her colleagues had noticed that no matter how bad the toilets and environment were, the cleaners were hardly ever on duty.”
To Ajei, the school management had been failing in its responsibility to keep the children safe in a conducive learning environment.
James Afolabi, who has two daughters in the college, was also displeased with the school management. But unlike Ajei, Afolabi said the blame must be extended to the leadership of the school’s chapter of the ParentTeacher Association (PTA) which he accused of working in conjunction with a former principal of the school, Dr. Lami Amodu, now transferred in the wake of the crisis and replaced by Bola Are.
“The PTA executive seemed to be in a romance with the school management, or should I say they were just too naïve to put her (Amodu) on her toes. You can see what they have caused. The PTA executive was supposed to be protecting the parents and the children’s interests, rather, they kept shielding the woman. If not, the issue would not have degenerated to this level. The mismanagement going on in the school would have come to the fore since. And to show our disaffection, some of us were very angry when we saw a female member of the PTA executive at the funeral of one of the late students. It was really painful,” Afolabi said.
Though none of his two daughters were affected, Afolabi recollected the good memorie sin his family about Queen’s College which necessitated the decision to send his daughters there. He lamented that recent events had caused concern, as the safety of their kids, more than the school’s fame, was all they cared about.
Afolabi’s reason for choosing the school was similar to Ajei’s, just like many other parents. Indeed, since its establishment on October 10, 1927, Queen’s College had thrived as a prime school in Nigeria. Established by colonialists, Queen’s College was known as Government Secondary School for Girls, but later changed to Queen’s College in Nigeria and was Gazetted on April 12, 1928.
From its humble beginning of about 20 students on Force Road, Marina, Lagos, the school has grown through decades to become one of the most soughtafter secondary schools in the country, and one often patronized by the wealthy and middleclass. Perhaps, of greater source of attraction to the school’s profile are its numerous academic excellence awards and achievements of the alumni over the years.
Today, Queen’s College is one of the 104 federal governmentowned Unity Schools across the country. It is run by the Federal Ministry of Education and is often headed by a director as principal and three deputy directors as vice principals.
“So far, the challenges confronting the school and the entire confusion over its situation are traceable to many years of neglect by the Federal Ministry of Education,” Sir (Dr.) John Ofobike, the PTA chairman, who will rather put the blame on the federal government, said.
On the death of the students, the PTA chairman said none of the children could be said to have died in the school clinic. He however pointed out that the clinic could only render skeletal services as a “sick bay and not a specialist hospital.” He also denied that his executive was shielding the former principal, insisting that the role of the PTA was only advisory.
Ofobike said when he came on board as the PTA chairman in October 2016, he realised an obvious shortage of staff in two areas of the school -- the kitchen and the cleaning departments. He recalled that on assumption, he discovered that there were just six workers in the kitchen to cook for about 3,200 boarding school students every day.
“From the handover note I got, I was made to understand that the PTA had been supporting the school with about 30 staff in the kitchen, 38 cleaning staff, four nurses in the clinic, three drivers, 45 qualified teachers and four PTA secretariat staff. All except the teachers and drivers were laid off because the previous PTA committee could no longer pay for their services. The PTA purse was lean as I was told and later found out.
“On assumption of office, I discovered that the salary of the 45 PTA staff teachers for the month of October was N2.175m and I met N1.517m, so we knew there would be problems. We realised we were also going to have a problem on our hands with the reports coming from the kitchen and the cleaning department as a result of insufficient staff, so we met with the school management and requested we hold an emergency meeting of parents and teachers. Atthat meeting, parents were amazed with the problems in the kitchen,” Ofobike said.
On the issue of contaminated water the children were said to be drinking, the PTA chairman who said he had to spend more than N4m of his own money to address the situation, said two weeks after the students resumed from the Christmas holiday, he received complaints of stooling and vomiting in the school.
“I was called upon but they were saying it was the kitchen and was perhaps the food they ate, no one was sure, especially with the number of students reporting to the clinic with vomiting and stooling. I was called to find out what was the issue and at a point they had to take samples of the water from the school to find out the problem. I was told it must be from the water because the tank waswashed and the corrosiveness must have led to the contamination.
“I then asked the school authorities to instruct the students not to take the water again. I went to the factory in the school to buy sachet water worth N295,000, about 3,000 bags in all. I asked that the sachet water be distributed to each of the students and soon after, there was no more admission at the school’s clinic,” he said.
My daughter used to tell me that their hostel toilets were no longer being kept clean. She said since the beginning of the first term, she and her colleagues had noticed that no matter how bad the toilets and environment were, the cleaners were hardly ever on duty