ATBU collapsed bridge: No Student still missing ― Management

The management of the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU), Bauchi, has declared that none of its students is still missing, following the collapse of a bridge in the institution which claimed the lives of four students last Monday contrary to reports in some media that some of the students were still missing.

The declaration was made by the Vice-Chancellor of the University, Prof Muhammad Abdullazeez, when he received the Bauchi State Governor, Senator Bala Mohammed Abdulkadir who paid a condolence visit to the Gubi campus of the institution on Wednesday, explaining that the Management later found out that only three students actually died in the incident and not four.

The VC further explained that the students had written to the management requesting for a footpath from the hostel to the lecture halls as the main road was very far so: “The management felt that it was necessary to construct a metal bridge so that at a time, it will carry between 10 to 15 people. This is not meant for static loads but for dynamic loads, that means, you don’t stand on it, you just pass.”

He said further that, “From the report, we received from some of the students was that, when the rain had finished falling and the students were about crossing, the found the scene excellent for them to take selfies. So they started from two and before you could realize, there were more than 30 students on the bridge standing, and that bridge was not meant for people to stand”.

Muhammad Abdulaziz added that “Some of the students could not pass and had to also stand, and the bridge suddenly collapsed and that was how we lost three students. And there were some mirrors that some students are missing, as at today, we came to the University, we came and ask, as of now, we don’t have the identity of any student missing.”

“Based on our records, no student is missing for now and I can confirm that the dead students are three, two from Kogi state and one from Benue State, two females and a male and they are all from Business Education and Management Studies,” he insisted.

The VC said that the University Management has constituted an investigation committee to find out the remote cause and the possible way to handle the whole situation and thanked the state government and security agencies for bringing proactive measures in handling the incident.

“The Police, the DSS, and the state government were proactive, they did a lot to us. This is the first time the State government is promptly responding to problems that have affected the University,” he said.

In his speech during the visit, the Bauchi state Governor, Senator Bala Mohammed, commiserated with the families of the deceased, the Management and entire students of the institution for the unfortunate incident.

The Governor who was in the company of top government officials and Heads of Security Agencies in the state was represented by the Speaker of the Bauchi State House of Assembly, Abubakar Suleiman.

He said his visit was to assess the areas that required urgent attention, pledging the state government’s immediate intervention on the collapsed bridge at the Institution.

He described the incident as “seriously sad” and stated that the students’ response which led to a protest and destruction of some school property as “uncalled for. The unfortunate thing was the reaction of the students who are blaming the Management or the VC about the loss. All of us know that it was as a result of a natural disaster, so I see no reason why the students should protest about it but I am sure the management is on top of the situation”.

The Governor added that “We intended to come here yesterday (Tuesday), but we were preparing to come, we learned that the students are protesting and we were advised that it was not safe for us to come here and that was why we couldn’t come,”.

Bala Mohammed said that he met with the Students Union Government (SUG) and they gave the government some of their demands which include the reconstruction of a bridge there.

He said that though the School is a Federal institution, the state government will do something about it pointing out that “both the ATBU and the state government are partners in progress and we must see how we can improve the state. Once again, I want to extend our condolences to the families of those who lost their lives.”

It will be recalled that the metallic bridge linking the student hostel and the lecture halls collapsed on Monday night at about 11.45 following a heavy downpour which led to the death of four students while seven others were reported injured as a result of a heavy downpour in the state which lasted for several hours.