20th August, 2019
The authorities of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU), Bauchi, said on Tuesday that six movable and non-moveable property belonging to the institution were vandalized by students protesting on Aug. 5.
The Deputy Vice-Chancellor (DVC), Academic of the institution, Prof. Ibrahim Danjuma, said this in Bauchi while updating journalists on the incident.
The students had protested because a bridge that links one of the hostels and another building containing lecture rooms, collapsed during a heavy downpour. The student blamed it on negligence on the part of the school authorities.
Danjuma named buildings hosting the Senate, Solar System, College Clinic, College of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Technology and three vehicles as those partially vandalized by the students.
According to him, windows, doors, panels, windscreens, glasses, equipment and other facilities were destroyed during the one day protest, precipitated by the collapsed bridge.
Danjuma said that renovation of some of the damaged properties, especially the clinics, were at 80 percent completion, while others were at various stages of completion.
He said that the institution had hired some buses that conveyed students from their hostels to lecture theatre areas as a result of the collapsed of the bridge linking the two areas.
Danjuma said that the buses were plying the routes on daily basis between 8.30 am and 9.30 pm, pending the reconstruction of the collapsed bridge, which claimed three lives during the incident.
He said that students had started writing their 2018/2019 first semester examinations after a two-week compulsory break, which was as a result of the collapsed bridge.
The DVC said the areas surrounding the collapsed bridge had been sealed.
He said the National Social Insurance Trust Fund and other organizations had made various pledges to assist the institution, while the Nigerian Army had also pledged to reconstruct the collapsed bridge.
Danjuma said that a committee set up by the institution to investigate the incident had submitted its report.
“The Faculty of Civil Engineering of the institution have equally submitted its designs for the reconstruction of the collapsed bridge.
“We are working with security agencies in the state to beef up security networks as well as train our security personnel towards effective and efficient services,” he added.