The Chair, Alliance on Surviving Covid 19 and Past (ASCAB), Femi Falana (SAN), has described as felony negligent the dying of two college students of the Nasarawa State College which occurred through the distribution of the state authorities palliative on the state college’s convocation sq. final Friday morning.
The state Governor, Abdullahi Sule, was reported to have ordered the distribution of two 7.5 kg baggage of rice and N5,000 to every pupil of the State College at Keffi.
The distribution of the palliative was scheduled to carry on the state college’s convocation sq. final Friday morning. Because the distribution train was not properly organised, there was a stampede of hundreds of scholars on the venue. The stampede led to tragedy as many college students have been injured.
Nonetheless, Falana in a press release lamented that: “It’s unlucky that the authorities of the college failed to attract any lesson from the latest stampede which claimed the lives of seven individuals through the distribution of 25kg baggage of rice in Lagos by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS). Little question, the tragedy would have been averted if the college administration had distributed the 7 kg baggage of rice to the scholars via their departments.
“Certainly, there was no justification to have assembled hundreds of scholars and not using a standby ambulance. As if that was not sufficient, the college well being centre was not outfitted to take care of the injured college students. Therefore, they have been rushed to the Federal Medical Centre in Keffi the place two feminine college students have been licensed useless.
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria added: “Having regard to the information and circumstances of the tragic incident, the Nassarawa State Police Command must be directed to research the allegations of felony negligence which led to the unlucky dying of the 2 college students. The culprits must be prosecuted at once. In view of the official assertion that hoodlums hijacked the distribution train the state authorities and the college administration are required by legislation to compensate the bereaved households of the 2 college students.”
Because the college well being centre was ill-equipped to deal with the injured college students, they have been rushed to the Federal Medical Centre in Keffi, Nassarawa State.
In the meantime, because the injured college students weren’t promptly attended to, two feminine college students have been pronounced useless whereas 17 others have been left with various levels of accidents arising from the suffocation on the venue of the distribution of rice. Our ideas and condolences go to the households and associates of the deceased college students.
The state authorities mentioned the tragic incident occurred “when suspected hoodlums and a few misguided college students pressured their means into the varsity’s convocation floor to cart away the rice saved on the venue meant for distribution as palliatives to college students.”
However the Vice-chancellor of the college, Prof Suleiman Bala, determined in charge the tragedy on the victims of the official negligence. He was reported to have acknowledged that “our college students weren’t affected person sufficient to observe the method of accessing these palliatives.”