Economic Hardship: Outrage as two Nasarawa varsity students die in stampede over palliatives

• Incident Regrettable, Orchestrated by Hoodlums, Says Gov Sule
• CISLAC, HURIWA, Olajuyigbe Flay Government
• Say Bad Policies Turning Nigerians To Miserable Beggars
• NSUK VC Cautions Against Violence As Student Blames Incident On Poor Arrangement
• Emulate Lagos State’s Ounje Eko, Group Tasks Governors

Angry reactions yesterday trailed the death of two female students of the Nasarawa State University, Keffi (NSUK), in a stampede that occurred at the venue of the distribution of palliatives procured for them by the state government to cushion the effects of the current economic hardship in the country.

The Guardian gathered that the state government had earlier announced that it would give two bags of 7.5kg rice and N5000 as palliative to 4000 students of the institution.

However, a stampede occurred at the institution’s Convocation Square venue of the distribution before the arrival of the state Governor, Abdullahi Sule, leading to the death of two students while 17 others were injured.

Recall that seven persons were reportedly killed recently at the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) Old Zonal Headquarters in Yaba area of Lagos State while residents were making efforts to by seized rice from the Service, which was sold at N10,000 per 25kg to alleviate people’s sufferings in the face of the economic crunch in the country.

An eyewitness of the NSUK incident, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, revealed that some students invaded the venue and looted some of the 7.5kg bags of rice meant for distribution leading to a stampede as more students wanted to partake of it.

The source said: “When the news of the loot spread in students hotels, more students thronged the location to have their on share, and in the process a stampede occurred, leaving two female students dead and 17 others were badly wounded and are currently receiving treatment at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Keffi.”

Head of Clinical Services at FMC, Keffi, Dr. Ahmed Umar Kana, told journalists yesterday that the total number of casualties brought to the facility was 19, saying two female students died immediately while 17 were receiving treatment.

He, however, said that a good number of the injured ones were in stable conditions and might be discharged soon while those in critical conditions would be given proper attention.

Confirming the incident in a statement signed by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Ibrahim Addra, the state government noted that it was regrettable, blaming it on activities of hoodlums.

He said: “The Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi A. Sule, has received with shock the news of a stampede at the Nasarawa State University, Keffi, in the morning of Friday.

“The sad incident is reported to have occurred when suspected hoodlums and some misguided students forced their way into the school’s convocation ground to cart away the rice kept at the venue meant for distribution as palliatives to students.

“Such distribution was a huge success and peacefully carried out at Federal University, Lafia; Isa Mustapha Agwai Polytechnic, Lafia; College of Agriculture, Science and Technology, Lafia; the School of Nursing, Lafia as well as the College of Education, Akwanga.

“Governor Sule deeply regrets the tragic death of two students of the institution in this needless stampede motivated by crime.

“The governor has since directed the authorities of the Nasarawa State University, Keffi, and security agencies to commence immediate investigation into the unfortunate occurrence with a view to unveiling those behind it.

“The state Deputy Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Akabe, has also visited the university on a fact finding mission. He also visited those who sustained injuries.”

Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof. Suleiman Bala, has also condemned the incident, threatening that the institution would deal decisively with any one found to have engineered the situation that triggered the chaos that resulted in the stampede.

Bala lamented that the students’ failure to patiently access the palliative led to a stampede that resulted in the death of two females and injuries to 17 others.

He explained that the state government would set up a high-powered committee to investigate the causes of the stampede that has given the university a bad name, stressing that anybody found guilty would be punished.

The vice chancellor urged the students to maintain peace while efforts are being made to unravel the causes of the unfortunate incident, warning that the authorities might shut down the school if any action of violence is noticed from the students.

He condoled with the families of the deceased students, urging them to take what happened as an act of God even though the deceased died in their prime.

Reacting, a 400 level Mass Communication student of the university, Mr. Raphael Ngbe, blamed the incident on the government’s failure to put appropriate machinery in place ahead of the distribution of the palliative.

“We were told that rice and money would be shared on Friday; so about 4:00am, students had already gathered at the convocation square.

“News started filtering in that the distribution of the palliative would be postponed till Saturday and that the distribution will now be done on slots at the departmental and faculty levels and attention would be given to some tribal association.

“That was how students were triggered and they started forcing their way into the convocation square where the rice was kept. The security operatives could not control them any more and then the incident happened.

“The arrangements and modalities put in place to share the palliative were not in order and that was why we experienced what happened,” the student said.

A community leader in Keffi, Mr. David Akulor, described the painful death of the two female students of the institution as unfortunate and avoidable.

“I expected our leaders to understand much better. People are really hungry and angry. You keep food before an angry man or woman and then you are telling him stories.

“The psychology of any hungry person is to eat. Most of the students who gathered for the distribution must have concluded that if they wait further the bags of rice may not reach them after all; so they decided to help themselves.

“Nobody should blame the actions of the students except if you have not been hungry before. What happened at NSUK today is a foretaste and a warning to our leaders.”

Akulo commiserated with the families of the deceased and prayed to God to grant them the fortitude to bear the loss.

Speaking in the same vein, Executive Director, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, said the stampede at the NSUK revealed that the country was in crisis.

Rafsanjani blamed the incident on bad leadership, corruption and lack of developmental and focused leaders at the local, state and national levels.

Noting that the idea of palliative distribution isn’t a sustainable solution to the current economic challenges, Rafsanjani maintained that, “Nigerians are looking for something tangible so they can help and feed themselves.”

His words: “These people have made Nigerians look like scavengers. Because of the inability of the government to have a proper development plan that can deal with the issue of poverty, food scarcity and social security, when there is sharing of palliative, you see Nigerians irrespective of their age going to queue for food.

“However, we have leaders who are living affluent lives. Nigerian public officials must adjust their lifestyles to stop wasting taxpayers’ money to focus on putting in place systems and programmes that can make Nigeria more self-reliant and productive, especially in the agriculture and food production sector. With the arable land we have, we cannot be crying of scarcity of food. But our politicians are not focusing on putting a system that will work outside what they will siphon.

“We are calling on the government to ensure that food production and processing are given priority. This is because if the people are angry there is nothing they can do. There is no way someone can be productive with hunger and poverty.

“Nigerians are being denied access to education and good health care because public officials have made it impossible to create a conducive learning environment in an affordable manner. Nigerians are just running around on the streets. So, if the health care, education and security systems have collapsed, then we are in crisis. As the nation is growing, we can’t allow all our key sectors to collapse. Education, agriculture and security are necessities for nation building and we cannot say we are practising democracy when politicians loot and steal with any small opportunity and perpetuate impunity. That is not democracy.

“We must come back to the basics. Democracy is about creating opportunities for people to advance in their socio-economic and political lives. But Nigerians have been denied these opportunities. The only incentive for election now is for people to loot.

“Some people created this artificial hunger and poverty in Nigeria so they can use that to win the votes of the people claiming that they are doing something for the people. There is no way palliative sharing can be sustainable. That isn’t what Nigerians are looking for. Nigerians are looking for something tangible so they can help and feed themselves.”

On his part, the Executive Director, Emergency and Risk Alert, Mr. Gbenro Olajuyigbe, noted that the whole country has been turned into a flourishing camp of internally displaced persons, stressing that it was sad enough.

“No thanks to the Federal Government’s economic policies that continue to expand the frontiers of poverty and create a large army of the poor,” he added.

He described the tragic death of the students as undeserving and preventable.

According to him, the level of hunger and attendant dehumanisation of poor Nigerians are testimonials of the extreme poverty and food insecurity Nigerians are facing in the midst of plenty.

“For Nigerians to die in droves as a result of stampedes in an attempt to collect food hand-out is to say the least, despicable, horrifying and unacceptable. It is shameful and the shame should go to Nigerian rulers who by cruel acts of corruption and bad governance have turned citizens to beggars, pushing people to nadir of excruciating poverty, lack and in dire strait!

“There is an urgent need to rethink actions and policies that continue to increase agony and anguish of already traumatised people who simply want to live in a country with access to basic needs like food, a country without constant fear, lack and violation of rights, including rights to life and human dignity.

“There is a need to bring relief to people living with hunger and starvation who have been rendered extremely vulnerable and stripped of every scintilla of human dignity and hope in a more dignifying way than the tragic experience of Nasarawa, which earlier happened in Lagos.

“It must be noted that this is not the first time that this show of shame in which virile mobile but vulnerable Nigerians were killed in a stampede. It had earlier happened in Lagos during the Custom organised food purchase and distribution,” Olajuyigbe said.

He noted that repeated incidents like this calls into question the capacity of Nigerian agencies for crowd control and management. He, therefore, said that it is imperative to adopt a reflective approach that does not violate values of human rights and human dignity in the process of responding to the challenge of extreme food insecurity in the country.

Olajuyigbe added: “We must not wait further before we take actions that halt sub-human treatment of poor people, diminish their humanity, precipitate human carnage and cause monumental destruction to lives.

“It is clear, drawing from the tragic incidents in Lagos and Nasarawa states, that the state of food security and the generalised violence and insecurity in Nigeria presently is worrisome.”

Also speaking, the National Coordinator, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), Emmanuel Onwubiko, maintained that the Nasarawa incident showed government’s disregard for human dignity.

Describing the officials who handled the distribution of the palliatives as irresponsible, Onwubiko asked families of the victims to seek damages in court.

Onwubiko said: “The truth is that the government does not have regards for human dignity, otherwise there is no reason it should push people to absolute poverty, mass hunger and deprivation.

“A lot of those students do not have basic necessities. Some of them do not know where they will get their next meal. Clearly, the distribution was not properly organised. You just dumped bags of rice somewhere and somehow students got access to the place, and a lot of people died. That is very unfortunate. Government has to be blamed because the organisation of that distribution exercise wasn’t properly done and that is because the government officials are so irresponsible; they don’t care about the poor.

“If not, why should that be the format of distributing food to students without adequate security measures? Customs did it too; people died. But the story ended like that because the families of the victims didn’t go to court to seek damages.

“The reason the government is treating the people anyhow is because they don’t have respect for human dignity. This shouldn’t have happened after the Customs incident. Most times, we do things without planning and that is what leads to incidence like this.

“There are modern ways of doing this things. Go to developed societies where most of these government officials have their children. These government officials travel abroad and see how things are done. For instance, in the UK, U.S. or any of these European countries, they have Soup Kitchens for the poor; they have community centres run by local councils. In Nigeria, local councils have been exterminated because the governors have captured the local council administration.

“Otherwise, some of these issues of palliative should be handled by local councils and should be organised in such a way that there will be no reason for anyone to go on stampede.”

He urged other state governors to emulate the model of the Lagos State governor, adding that palliative is quite important to assist the poor.

The Conference of Secretaries across the 20 Local Councils and 37 Local Council Development Areas (CDA), Lagos State, has also enjoined other state governors to emulate Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to make cheap food items available to their people.

Recall that Sanwo-Olu recently launched the Lagos Discount Food Market initiative tagged Ounje Eko where residents buy commodities at cheaper rates.

The Chairman of the conference, Akeem Olalekan Dauda, in a statement yesterday, applauded the governor for putting the plight of the masses at heart by ensuring that the current food crisis is reduced drastically through the initiative.

Dauda, who is the Secretary of Ikeja Local Council, said the speedy and effective implementation of the programme, aimed at making life easier for the people of the state at this critical period, would go a long way to reduce hunger in the state.

He said: “The briefing I received from the Ikeja Centre of the project – Tokunbo Alli Primary School – showed that the initiative is a welcome development that will ease off the pain of our people.

“The choice of the centre is due to the fact that it is central and more convenient for the people of Ikeja central. If other state governors can emulate this step, the hunger issue across the country will be reduced to the barest minimum.”