UNN’s Okeke female hostel burning

Fire has destroyed the Okeke Female Hostel at the University of Nigeria, UNN, Nsukka campus.

A student, Joy Uwalaka said the incident happened on Wednesday night.

According to  witnesses, the fire started around 7.30 p.m. from the last floor of the two-storey building as soon as the EDDC restored power to the campus.

“It was when some of the students around the hostel started shouting fire! fire!!, that I jumped out from my hostel which was close to Okeke Hostel.

“There was a big smoke and fire burning on the last floor of Okeke Hostel,” she said.

Speaking with NAN, Mr Patrick Aro, the Chief Fire Officer in charge of Enugu North District, said that his men responded promptly to the distress call by some members of the public.
Aro whose office was close to UNN first gate, however, said that shortage of water to extinguish the raging fire made it to cause serious damage to the hostel.

“My men tried their best, as we rushed immediately we received calls that there was a fire outbreak in Okeke Hall.’’

When we had exhausted our water, we were unable to get a refill from the two boreholes in UNN as they had no water inside them, he said

Aro alleged that the gas cylinders and electric cookers in the  hostel added strength to the inferno and urged the management of UNN to stop allowing students to cook with gas cylinders and electric stoves.
“We saw gas cylinders and electric cookers in the course of trying to put-out the fire. Though some students said the fire started as soon as the EDDC restored light but those cooking gadgets gave a boost to fire.

Also, Prof. Peter Aka, the Dean of Students’ Affairs in the university said that the fire incident at hostel was an unfortunate one.

He promised that students in the affected hostel would be taken care of when they resumed in January.

“They have paid for accommodation fee and the school must provide alternative accommodations for them when they returned. Though, some students said the fire started when public light was restored, the university shall set-up a committee to find out the real cause of the fire so as to avert future recurrence.
Also speaking, Mr Ekene Orji, President of the Students Union Government (SUG) in UNN said he was yet to recover from the shock caused by the incident.