Students blame management for Yabatech fire
Although the fire outbreak that ravaged the Yaba College of Technology (Yabatech), Lagos, few days ago has since been put under control and injured students recuperating, the lack of trust between the institution’s management and the students keeps wideni
Like many other female residents of Bakassi Hall of Yabatech, which was ravaged by inferno in the early hours of Wednesday, November 23, 2016, Salewa Adejumo (not real names) was deeply involved in efforts to rescue two of her friends.
Narrating their ordeal to Daily Trust on Sunday, Adejumo said, “We were still asleep when the strident shouts of fire outbreak woke us. My roommates and I were in panic when those who first sighted the fire raised the alarm. We managed to run to the staircases. But the whole thing became disorderly and there was stampede. Two of my friends who were not that lucky were injured.
“Esther Okutoro, an ND II student of Banking and Finance, attempted to pick up her phone and she was trampled upon by others. I had to join a few others to rescue her out of the place. She sustained injuries which were later treated at the school clinic. The other person, Temitope, whose surname I can’t remember, a 300-Level student of Business Administration of the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN), Yabatech campus, simply fainted. But thank God that we revived her.
“I don’t even know what next to do. I think I have to go home.” Many of the students who spoke with our correspondent did not want their names published for fear of victimisation by the school authority.
“Those who were spotted by the school management during the protest that followed the death of our students earlier this year were rusticated. So if you want me to talk, don’t mention my name or take my picture. I will tell you what I know,” an HND I student of Mass Communication who simply identified herself as Bimbo said.
“I know a hostel mate who lost a three-month pregnancy. Those who were not injured lost valuables and cash to the fire. In fact, a female class governor lost an undisclosed amount of money collected from the sale of books for some lecturers. The list of students who had bought the books was also consumed by fire.
“Also, there were three ladies who said they went for shopping last night and all their cloths, jewellery and fashion accessories got burnt. My friend also told me of a lady who cried uncontrollably, saying she lost the sum of N100, 000 she withdrew from the ATM last night. The money was said to have been sent to her account by her brother who lives outside the country,” Bimbo said.
Many of the students who spoke to our correspondent expressed frustration at the management of the college, which negligence they said was responsible for the inferno. They argued that if the school management had fixed the recurrent cases of power surges being experienced at the hostel’s electrical points, the fire incident would have been avoided.
“Two weeks ago, some of us approached the hostel’s porters to lodge a complaint about incessant power surges at one of the electrical points. Together we proceeded to the campus electrical unit to lodge the complaint. They later claimed they had fixed it. Apparently, whatever they claimed to have fixed was a bad job because this fire outbreak started from a surge,” a member of the hostel executive said.
But the public relations officer of the college, Dr Charles Oni, refuted the allegation of negligence by the management of the institution and said the information at their disposal proved that the outbreak was actually from one of the rooms in the hostel. He insisted that if there was any form of negligence, it was on the part of students.
About 20 students of the college sustained various degrees of injury during the inferno.
It was gathered that the incident started when power was restored to the campus about 5:22 am when most of the students were still asleep.
“What they told me was that they had complained and the electrical unit of the school fixed the problem. The fire didn’t come from the place; it was from a room in the hostel. But we cannot exchange words with the students. Students are like children. In social psychology, they say children are like mad men; they always want to express themselves. A mad man doesn’t care if he is in the market or in front of a church. He can start shouting at anytime.
“They can say anything because they are far from the reality. They are being spoon-fed. These days many people worship their children. They buy illegal facilities that are not supposed to be brought into the hostels. However, that is not the issue. The issue is that we suffered an accident. Some institutions like the University of Lagos had suffered fire incidents three times in the last one year. So it is no big deal. That is why it is called an accident, something you cannot prevent,” Oni said.
The students, however, maintained that it was the same negligence from the school management that led to the recent outbreak that consumed parts of the School of Liberal Studies of the college two years ago.
“While the fire was on, the management couldn’t do anything until a considerable damage had been done. The fire could not be extinguished.
“In fact, when this particular fire broke out early today, we were all watching helplessly as it raged on from one room to another. The school fire service truck that came early had no water. It took about two hours before fire service men from the Lagos State government came to the rescue. By that time, some of our students had fainted, some had sustained injuries while others lost valuables,” Hakeem, an HND II student of the college, who claimed to have participated in rescue efforts, said.
The public relations officer of the college also refuted the above allegation. A statement hurriedly issued and signed by Oni read in part: “The management regrets misguided and outright falsehood on the social media and calls to certain radio stations that there was no water on campus to quell the fire. The truth is that firemen needed excavator to attend to the fire, which the college provided.”
In a subsequent interview with a correspondent, Oni further said, “Luckily, we have a Fire Service Department that is very proactive. When they got there and realised that the fire started from the uppermost floor, they had to go for the excavator. We thank God that we have the excavator, which has an inbuilt ladder and the rest of it. That was actually what saved the situation. Otherwise, the whole structure would have been engulfed by the fire.”
Oni added that about 20 of the students were injured in the confusion that followed the fire outbreak. He was, however, quick to add that many of them who sustained minor injuries had been discharged from the clinic.
But in another statement he issued hours after the interview with our correspondent, the public relations officer stated that the rector of the college, Dr. Margaret Kudirat Ladipo, had visited students who were on admission at the College Medical Centre and the Military Hospital.
“The students, numbering about 13, were prayed for and given gifts, including money by the rector. She reassured them that the school management was with them and would always be by their side to ensure that they returned to their studies before the weekend.
“Already, efforts are in top gear to redistribute the affected students to other available hostels, pending the repair of the burnt two floors. There are moves to evacuate students from the Bakassi Hostel to allow for structural test on the entire building following the accident.
“Earlier, the school management had suspended all academic activities between Wednesday and Friday to allow the college community get over the incident,” the statement read in part.