THE Vice Chancellor, Nasarawa State University, Keffi, Prof. Suleiman Bala-Mohammed, has blamed impatience on the part of the students for the Friday, March 22, stampede that killed two students and left 14 others injured.
The stampede occurred when the students, along with some hoodlums in the neighbourhood, swooped on bags of rice donated by the state government to mitigate the current economic hardship.
The consignment had been kept at the institution’s Convocation Square, with Governor Abdullahi Sule expected to commence its distribution in the morning.
But while the governor was being awaited,a crowd of students and the hoodlums overpowered the security men at the gate, rushed into the square and started looting the bags of rice.
In the ensuing stampede, many were brought down and trampled upon, resulting into the casualties.
Bala-Mohammed, while reacting to the incident, said that the students were not patient enough for the orderly sharing of the rice, noting: “The gesture of the state government was supposed to be a relief for the students, given the hardship across the country.
“Unfortunately, the students were not patient enough to follow the process of accessing the palliatives. There was a stampede. So many of the students got injured. Two students lost their lives.
“What happened has hurt our reputation, our image and created a bad name for us. We will not accept that. An investigation will take place, and hopefully, we will have all the facts and information.
“For now, our thoughts and prayers are with our two deceased students and their the families, members of the university community as well as those who were injured.”
The vice chancellor, who called on other students to go about their academic activities, maintain peace and follow regulations, warned that anything short of that would be an invitation to trouble.
“Let me be clear, the problem I anticipate is that if they go ahead and carry the law into their hands, we will shut down the university.
“So, we urge them to show restraint and continue with their academic activities. They should cooperate with the investigation panel that will be set up by the government and the university to investigate what happened.
“We need to unravel the truth and recommend appropriate actions,” he said.
Bala-Mohammed said adequate security was provided, contrary to allegations that poor security arrangement was responsible for the chaos, adding: “As far as we are concerned, we had enough security on ground.
“There was a team of the military on ground. We also had a number of armed personnel of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC). Remember, also, that there were men of our internal security system on ground.
“So, the problem may not necessarily be security, but we don’t want to conclude on anything until the investigation panel concludes its investigation,” he stated.
Sule recently offered some assistance to students of tertiary institutions in the state and had already visited Federal University, Lafia; College of Education, Akwanga; College of Agriculture, Lafia, among others, where he distributed 7.5 kg bags of rice and N5,000 cash to each student.
