How Nigerian student died days to final exams

The tragic death of a 500 level student of the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA) has been blamed on the poor condition of facilities at the university’s health centre.

Ayomide Akeredolu was taken to the health clinic on Thursday night by his colleagues after he slumped in his room.

While the university’s authorities said he was already dead when he arrived at the health centre, students insisted that he was in coma but could not be revived due to the poor condition of the health facility.

The students on Friday staged a peaceful protest to express their anger over the reported poor condition of health facilities in the school and what they considered Akeredolu’s avoidable death.

The protest led to a gridlock of vehicles on the Akure-Ilesa expressway for several hours.

One of the protesters recounted their efforts to save the life of Mr Akeredolu at the hospital.

“The student slumped in his hostel (Akindeko Hall of Residence) and was rushed to the University Health Centre,” the protester who declined to give his name said.

“Due to the lack of basic amenities, he lost his life at the university clinic.

“We rushed the guy to the health centre around 8:30 p.m. When we got there, there was power outage, and throughout the process of giving him oxygen, CPR and injections the light wasn’t restored. We had to use our flashlights. Hard to believe that there’s no back up power supply in the clinic.”

He said the health centre had refused to attend to another sick student on Thursday who is the Voice President of the FUTA Student Union because he was not with his identity card.

The health officials, he said, refused to attend to him even though the said student was in a critical condition.

“The students are expressing their displeasure with a peaceful demonstration and calls on the government to come to their aid as there has been series of similar incidents in the past and demonstrations ended with unfulfilled promises,” the protesting students said.

Reacting to the development, the university’s management admitted that its health centres face challenges and promised to fix them.

“From reports pieced together, Ayomide Akeredolu slumped in his hostel and all attempts and medical intervention at resuscitation even at the Health Centre failed with the doctors recording that he was brought in dead,” a statement by the institution’s spokesperson, Adegbenro Adebanjo, said.

“The student was rushed to the Health Centre at about 8:50 p.m. on Thursday 24th August, 2023. He was brought in dead. Efforts to resuscitate him through cardiopulmonary resuscitation and oxygen therapy proved abortive. He was subsequently taken to the UNIMED Teaching Hospital, Akure by the medical personnel on duty inside the University ambulance.”

He said it was understandable that Mr Akeredolu’s friends and colleagues were devastated by the sad development.

“The management joins them to mourn at this very difficult time. Our thoughts and prayers are with our students and the bereaved family,” he said.

“May the Good Lord grant his soul eternal repose and give the family and friends the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss.

“However due to some perceived misgivings about services at the University Health Centre, students embarked on a protest on Friday August 25, 2023.

“It is important to point out that the protest was not directly related to the death of the student.

“The representatives of the students, at a meeting with management called at the behest of the Vice Chancellor, pointed out some lacuna in the process of accessing services at the health centre .

“The management in the course of the meeting directed that immediate remedial measures be taken to address the lacuna and other issues raised by the students.

“The corrective measures will be reviewed from time to time to ensure that they are being implemented to the letter and satisfaction of the students .

“Again we commiserate with the family of our beloved student and pray for comfort from the Lord.”

Akeredolu was in the department of quantity surveying and was to commence his final exams next Monday.