OAU students injured as Amphitheater ceiling collapses on students
By Jeleel Olawale
No fewer than five 100l students of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife were on Thursday injured when the Amphitheater collapsed on them by the heavy rainfall in the morning while the students were taking SER001 Class in Ile-Ife in the morning.
According to a student who was one of the survivors, Babatunde Damilare said, the ceiling in the Amphitheater fell on the students which resulted in the incident.
The students had told the lecturer while the lecture was ongoing to end the class when the heavy rain enveloped the whole Amphitheater. The lecturer did not stop the class until part of the building collapsed on them.
A release by the Public Relations Officer of the University, Mr. Abiodun Olarewaju, said the torrential rainfall of early Thursday morning, accompanied with a whirlwind, which started as students of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, were having a lecture, SER to be precise, in the Amphitheatre of the Oduduwa Hall, affected the ceiling of the Amphitheatre as it fell off and injured a few of the students.
The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Adebayo Simeon Bamire led other principal officers to the Medical and Health Centre of the University, and ensured that the injured students were given adequate medical attention.
The statement stated that the Vice-Chancellor also followed two other students, whose cases demanded more medical attention to the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital Complex (OAUTHC), where the Chief Medical Director (CMD), Professor John Okeniyi, physically supervised the proceedings.
The Vice-Chancellor has, therefore, appealed for calm and urged students and staff to go about their academic and administrative activities without any form of untoward action.
Meanwhile, the management of the University has sealed off the amphitheatre, the venue of the unfortunate incident, until further notice.
Also, the president of the Students Union, Comrade Abbas Akinremi said, the incident of ceiling collapse occurred at the Amphitheater of Oduduwa Hall of the university which has never occured in the history of the institution.
“The place is always being used for social events. Nothing of such happened. He said the situation has been stable as normalcy has since been returned to the institution.
“The institution management has been on top of the incident. The Vice-Chancellor really took proactive steps in ensuring that normalcy has returned to the institution. He has visited the injured students at the University health centre before they were referred to Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital,” he said.
Abbas debunked the rumour that a roof collapsed as it’s being circulated around.
He said that it was part of the ceiling that fell on some students, five of whom have been taken to the University health centre, while the most critical two were taken to Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital Complex (OAUTHC).
According to him, the affected students had been adequately treated and were all stable, thanking God for no casualty.
He urged school management to continue monitoring and ensure maintenance of lecture building, hostels for the safety of staff and the students.
