“Hold PHCN responsible for Oluchi’s death” – UNILAG authorities tell protesting students
By Aramide Kamal
University of Lagos authorities have told their students to blame the death of one of their colleagues on the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN).
Oluchi Anekwe was returning from church fellowship when she was electrocuted amidst light rain, Tuesday night.
The accident led to an elaborate students protest that grounded all academic and social activities on UNILAG Akoka campus for the whole of Wednesday.
Students said they were furious at the school management over some dangerously low, and oft-sparking high-tension electricity cables ran through some parts of the school.
However, UNILAG authorities said PHCN should be blamed.
“As you can see, all our cables are underground,” a deputy dean of students affairs, Prof Karo Ogbinaka, told Newsroom.
“PHCN cables installed here supply power to neighbouring communities, not to UNILAG. The cables have been misbehaving for some time now. We see sparks every other day. We have written to the bodies concerned to fix the cables but they did nothing.
“The accident that killed one of our students is very unfortunate but UNILAG cannot take the blame,” he said.
Some students said UNILAG should take the blame because nurses at its medical center did not attend to Oluchi on time.
“They delayed attending to her over the school’s identity and medical cards,” a student told Newsroom.
“But they saw it was an emergency. They should have attended to her first and ask questions later.”
Oluchi was referred to the school’s teaching hospital (LUTH). She died while she was being carried there.
Iwaya, one of the communities surrounding UNILAG, has been in darkness since the night of the tragedy.
Apparently, the cable that was cut in the spark in UNILAG – the very one that killed Oluchi – supplied light to the area.
“We just saw that the light became suddenly low, and then it went off,” a resident of Iwaya told Newsroom on Thursday morning.
“We have not had light since then,” he said.
