The management of the Federal University of Technology, Akure, Ondo State on Friday mourned the death of a student of the institution.
The deceased student, Ayomide Akeredolu, reportedly died on Thursday evening as he was said to have slumped in his hostel before passing away.
The incident sparked off a mini protest by the students who they accused the institution of playing with the student’s lives as a result of the alleged poor state of the health centre of the school.
However, in a statement issued by the Director of Corporate Communications of the varsity, Adegbenro Adebanjo, on Friday, the institution said the deceased had passed on before being brought to the health centre.
According to the statement, the student was brought to the medical facility of the school dead.
He stated in the statement, “According to the doctor on duty, the (deceased) student was rushed to the health centre at about 8:50 pm on Thursday, August 24, 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.
“Understandably, his friends and colleagues are 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. May the Good Lord grant his soul eternal repose and give the family and friends the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss.”
Students embarked on a protest on Friday. The FUTA spokesman said the protest came about as a result of some perceived misgivings about services at the university health centre, noting that the protest was not directly related to the death of the student.
He added that the representatives of the students had met with the management and vice chancellor of the institution and pointed out some lacunas 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,” Adebanjo explained.
The students had staged a peaceful protest to express their displeasure over the sudden death of the 500-level student.
The protest led to gridlock of vehicular movement on the Akure-Ilesa expressway for several hours, with many travellers stranded on the road.
During the protest, one of the students alleged that “the student (Ayomide) had slumped while in his hostel (Akindeko Hall of Residence) and was rushed to the university health (a proposed university teaching hospital), due to the lack of basic amenities, he lost his life at the university clinic.”
Another student, who claimed to be one of those who rushed the deceased to the hospital, stated that “We rushed the guy to the health center around 8:30 pm, when we got there, there was power outage, and throughout the oxygen set up, CPR and injections they gave him, the light wasn’t restored, we had to use our flashlights, hard to believe that there’s no backup power supply in the hospital.