It was like a life and death situation as boyfriends, relations and admirers of the Rivers State University of Science and Technology (RSUST) students fought tooth and nail to save their loved ones properties and lives when the terrible fire incident ensued in the institution last Tuesday, 26th of February.
The fire incident that started few minutes to 7am burnt down almost everything, including books, properties and cash of the female hostel A block, before the men of the fire service came to the rescue of the female students.
If not for the help of male students who fought gallantly despite the intense heat from the fire, all female students would have being crying for the loss of their books and credentials.
However, some female student were not that lucky, as the fire consumed all their belongings including credentials, wares, textbooks and properties.
According to our correspondent who visited the scene of the incident reports that a female student by name Goodness Isaiah, a level 100 computer student of the institution was seen crying because all her educational credentials and other documents were burnt by the fire.
Speaking to sympathizers of Goodness Isaiah, who were on ground pacifying her. It was discovered that Goodness Isaiah is an orphan and she will find it difficult to get her credential back adding that she has no one to assist her even as she gain admission to university.
The cause of the fire occurring according to students was from a cooker gas cook. A female student who would not want her name under print alleged that one Linda a daughter of one of the institution’s lecturer caused the fire incident.
According to her, the said Linda was cooking with the gas cooker when she eventually later forgot to put off the cylinder which caused the fire.
Speaking further, our source disclosed that though the school authority prohibited students from using gas cooker in the school hostel which they (student) also signed undertaking.
Some of the students who spoke to our reporter have these to say, “the authority of this school say no student should use gas cooker, the defaulter of this law should be punish, I believed that they were hiding the gas cooker and be using it among themselves in the hostel room”.
“The student that caused the fire incident should be punished knowing fully well that there is a law, why should she work against the law of the school authority, whether she is a lecturer’s daughter of not she should be punished by the school authority, that was a civil engineering male student of the institution”, Faith Ajuroba.
Another rescuer of the fire incident, also a “student have this to say, students are very careless, I believed that the fire might be caused by electrical fault not gas cooker though what really escalated the fire to a higher magnitude was the inflammable nature of gas found in the girls hostel”.
When our reporter spoke with one of the Man O’ War staff, he said, the General officer commanding of RSUST Man O’ War, said they got information late, that was why the fire escalated to the point of burning the whole building, beside the girls are careless but the cause of the fire incident is still under investigation.
However, before the men of Rivers State fire service arrived, the male students of the institution had fought to put off the inferno.
The students in annoyance stoned the fire servicemen asking them “it’s now that you are coming when almost everything were burnt down. It took the help of the Nigeria policemen to have allowed the fire servicemen to finally put off those part of the building that was still burning.
No life was lost but properties what thousand of naira got lost in the inferno, particularly room 28 where the fire started, they have to go to the court to swear affidavit to claim their credentials or they would have to restart the primary to secondary school process.
Our reporter’s effort to have the VC of the institution Prof. B. B. Fakae to speak concerning the incident proved abortive as he was devastated.
For now almost all the students of female hostel block A are counting their losses in one way or the other, either their properties, credentials, school fees or important. ###
Allanso Jonathan Allanso
