Gabriel Dike
The management of Lagos State University (LASU) on Tuesday confirmed that some 100 level students were injured during a stampede as they tried to gain access into an examination hall to write their General Nigerian Studies (GNS 102) examination on Monday.
The university management through the Coordinator, Centre for Information Press and Public Relations of LASU, Mr. Ademola Adekoya, described the stampede as unfortunate, adding that it involved some 100 level students of the school.
He also affirmed that the incident occurred as they wrote the GNS 102 examination on Monday, January 6.
LASU in a statement signed by Mr. Adekoya said: ”Anxious to be among the earlier set, quite a number of the students attempted to force their way into the 500 seat CBT centre in defiance of the efforts of the security team to maintain order.”
According to him, the action of the students resulted in a stampede that caused some of them to faint while a few others sustained minor injuries.
He stressed that the affected students were promptly rushed to the University Health Centre and the Igando General Hospital for proper treatment, adding ”only one of the injured is still being treated at the General Hospital.”
The image maker of LASU said the management regretted the stampede and was determined to put measures in place to avoid a reoccurrence in the future.
Adekoya explained that the students were scheduled to write the GNS 102 exam in batches with each spending an hour in the CBT hall and that the arrangement would have seen the students write in six batches on the first day.
Our correspondent gathered that when LASU management visited the health centre, only two students were on admission and were about to be discharged.
It was also learnt that two others referred to Igando General Hospital did not have serious injuries. One of the injured students underwent a detailed check by an ophthalmologist.
The Director, Centre for General Nigerian Studies, Prof Biodun Akinpelu, said as at the time of the incident on Monday, 1, 297 students had written the GNS 102 exam and the results were intact, thus would not be repeated.
Prof Akinpelu said the GNS 102 exam had been rescheduled as the remaining 3, 500 students would now write it between Wednesday 8th to Thursday 9th, January 2020 at the new CBT centre and Language Laboratory in the Faculty of Arts.
Recall that following the stampede on Monday in which some students were injured, the GNS 102 exam was postponed and the university management had to assure anxious parents of the safety of their wards on the campus.