Is there any death that is not painful? Certainly none.
The loss of any human being brings pain and agony, especially to loved ones. But the most painful is the death of young ones with all their talents, hopes and aspirations. Most agonizing is when their lives are cut short not out of natural disasters or ill health but due to the neglect and laxity of those whose duty it is to protect and care for them.
The nation woke up recently to the tragic news of the death of four students of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU), Bauchi, following a pedestrian bridge collapse. According to reports, the students (about twenty of them) were returning to their hostels after studies when the bridge, which links the classes to the hostels, collapsed leading to the unfortunate incident.
While one joins other well-meaning persons to commiserate with the families of the deceased and the university community over the great loss, it must be stated unequivocally that had the university authorities been proactive and prioritized the safety of the students, the dead students probably would have still been alive today. The students were seen narrating how they had made several appeals to the institution’s management to repair the dilapidating bridge which they say was even magnanimously constructed by an ex-student but nothing was done.
Even without the students demanding, wouldn’t a university management which is interested in the safety of their students under their care, know that the death trap called a bridge needed to be attended to?
Didn’t the university management know that such a rickety cut-and-weld rickshaw shouldn’t be found in such a prestigious university in this day and age? Obviously, it was all about priority. The authorities considered other issues more important than the welfare of the students.
Unfortunately, that is the sad story of many institutions, both higher and lower, in the country. The dearth of adequate facilities in our citadel of learning, particularly the public ones, has been a topic for national discourse for many years, without any significant improvement. Recently, a documentary on the poor state of hostels in University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), went viral on the social media.
It revealed the pitiable and unhabitable conditions the students live in. For instance, the once prestigious Franco complex has become a dungeon of a sort, with dilapidated buildings, poor toilet facilities and a general rot.
In some other universities, the students are compelled to either defecate in the bush or in cellophane bags and dispose them as their hostels either lack toilet facilities or the few available ones are an eye sore.
In the past, management of institutions took pride in the value they could add to such institutions. Regrettably, today the reverse is the case. Management of institutions now are more after value they can give to themselves from their positions. It is indeed a shame that rather thatn make progress, we regress.
Maintenance culture is in great lack both in our institutions and the nation in general and needs flogging and over-flogging. Many government facilities are in pitiable conditions. Many of our roads have become death traps due to lack of timely and solid maintenance. The other day, the Chairman of Eleme Local Government Area, Rivers State, Barr Philip Okparaji, was in the news, calling for urgent attention of both federal and state government, NDDC and other relevant agencies to the collapsing condition of Aleto Bridge. He appealed that something be done urgently to save the bridge so as to avert unnecessary sad occurrence.
Will the relevant authorities heed to the clarion call and put measures in place to save the dilapidating bridge or wait until it collapses then they start crying over spilt milk as we usually do in this country?  Instead of waiting to set up a high-powered committee to look into the remote and immediate causes of the incident should the bridge collapse, let committees be inaugurated now, look into the possible causes of the poor state of the bridge, nip it in the bud and put the all-important bridge in top shape to avoid any catastrophe.
Ndoroma and other companies operating in Eleme should also be concerned about the situation and provide urgent solutions. A lot of man-hour is lost daily as commuters spend several hours on the bad road and that is of no benefit to the nation.
I’m certain that had the management of ATBU taken such steps, the story would have been different today. The calamity that befell the institution and the nation would have been averted and the students would have been in school carrying on with their examination instead of being sent home.
It’s time for our leaders at all levels to be proactive. Let them take necessary steps to cut down on all avoidable deaths and calamities that occur in the nation every day. A stitch in time, they say, saves nine.
Management of institutions can also consider Public Private Partnership (PPP) as a way of sorting out the rot with the hostels and other facilities in our institutions while at the same time putting the hostel fees, development fees and other numerous fees and levies collected from students into judicious use. Proper accountability should be their watchword.

Calista Ezeaku