FUTA: How Student Died Over Poor State Of Health Centre

After gathering the account of several sources, this reporter can now tell how Akinleye Daniel, a 200 level student of the Federal University of Technology died after he was reportedly rushed to the school’s medical centre which could not attend to him due to insufficient medical facilities.

“Sir, let me show you the letter, someone is dying,” the loud voice of  *Bayo, who drove Daniel to FUTA health centre to receive treatment for the accident he (Daniel) had been involved in.

The accident happened on Tuesday the 3rd of August 2021, near the Catholic Cathedral along Oyemekun Road Akure.

Daniel and four other students were involved in the fatal crash destroying their vehicle beyond repair and leaving the other four students with serious injuries.

As Bayo* got to the gate of the University, the Sheriffs (security personnel at the gate) tried to prevent him from entering the school.

“What is your problem? Keep quiet!” the Sheriff bellowed as he questioned Bayo and requested the proof of incident letter.

The letter was shown to the sheriffs who continued questioning Bayo despite the state of emergency.

“Wait, where’s the friend, you said it is an emergency, where is the emergency?”

Bayo explained that his friend, Daniel, had been involved in an accident and they needed an ambulance to take him to the health centre, but the Sheriff motioned Bayo to keep quiet.

After a while, they were allowed into the school and Daniel, who was in a critical condition was taken to the health centre, where the doctor on duty referred them to Federal Medical Centre Owo.

Unfortunately, they could not make the trip because the health centre claimed that there was no fuel in the ambulance. In the process of waiting and negotiating, Daniel Akinleye died.

The Protest

After Daniel’s death, a protest was staged on the 3rd of August 2021.

Students, in the early hours of Tuesday, gathered at the south and north gate of the university, setting bonfires at the entrances and locking all access into the school. 

The Akure-Ilesha-Ibadan highway was also blocked by the students which caused a major gridlock during the hours of the protest.

The students carried placards with various inscriptions including; “How Much Is Fuel?” “ F*** The Sheriff And The System,” and “Futa Is Crying.” 

In response to this, the Student Union Government declared a No Class/Test Day to express their grievances over the death of their colleague.

Part of the press release reads: “Sequel to the non-challenge attitude of the school sheriffs and Health centre workers that led to the death of a Futarian at the early hours of today.

“A life means a thousand lives to us all because the welfare and the interest of students is our utmost priority.

“The Students’ Union body hereby declares today a lecture/ test free day to express our aggression to the Management and to also pay respect to the life we lost.”

The State Of FUTA’s Health Center

Daniel’s death also raised the alarm over the state of FUTA’s health centre. Many students agree that a healthcare centre should be able to deal with all health-related issues including emergencies except health issues that need to be referred to a specialist.

Unfortunately, the unavailability of needed materials might have contributed to Daniel’s untimely demise.

Students claimed that the health centre is not standard and is certainly not a place for emergency responses.

“FUTA health centre has always been poor and not up to standard and this is not news to FUTA students. The only thing they treat there is headache, stomach ache, catarrh and malaria; they don’t treat accidents,” Segun said.

Another student recounted her wrong diagnosis with a doctor in the health centre.

“When I was at level 300, my friends forced me to go collect free malaria and typhoid drugs when I was ill. A doctor gave me an antibiotic that I should use every 6 hrs and I must not miss it. Three days after using it, my skin and face began to react to it. Thank God a friend knows a doctor at the state hospital.

“When we got there he said the drug I was given at the health centre is for treating infection and not typhoid. The Doctor first gave me an injection in my arm to stop the reaction and he gave me another drug for typhoid,” Sola explained.

In FUTA, it is mandatory for every student to pay a sum of N1,600 for the medical (Tiship) fee for every session.

Fresh students (100 level students) are required to pay a sum of N1,500 for a medical examination and a N1,600 medical (Tiship) fee.

Wikipedia’s research puts the population of FUTA at around 15,000 students. This implies that at every session, the medical unit should receive a rough budget of 24,000,000 – a budget that Daniel had also contributed to to receive treatment at the time of need.

FUTA Management Ignores Allegations

The management of the Federal University Of Technology Akure, also released a press statement on August 3rd, 2021, on the Facebook page of the school, where they narrated all the information they had gathered about the incident.

However, the press statement never captured the allegations against the school’s sheriff, who allegedly denied the students access to the university at the state of emergency.

Also, it did not clarify the state of the school ambulance that reportedly could not transfer Daniel to another hospital for better treatment. 

Part of the press statement reads: “The deceased student was brought to the University Health Centre at 3.20 AM and the doctor on duty promptly attended to the student in the car of the parents. According to him, all resuscitative efforts proved abortive; there was no cardiac activity and response to any stimuli. And by 3.40 AM he declared that he was brought in clinically dead,” the school Registrar, Richard Arifalo, said.

*The name of respondents have been changed  to protect their identity