IT was a calm evening that penultimate Thursday at the Temp Site, where most students of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK), Awka reside off campus.
Many students had retired to their rooms to relax.
A few hours before midnight, the neighbourhood was thrown into confusion. There was fire at New Castel Lodge, a three-storey building located close to the junction. It was 9pm and students who were relaxing rushed out of the building.
There was confusion everywhere as students from nearby hostels ran helter-skelter, calling the attention of the residents to the incident. When CAMPUSLIFE visited the scene, our correspondent saw sympathisers hurling water at a section of the building from nearby houses.
CAMPUSLIFE learnt that several properties and certificates were burnt. It was the second time such an incident would occur in the area. Last December, a building housing many stalls was razed in a midnight fire. Traders and students lost properties worth millions of naira to the incident.
Our correspondent gathered that the hostel had been experiencing epileptic power supply. According to Bethrand Nweke, a post graduate student residing in the lodge, the light was fluctuating. The situation, which persisted for weeks, damaged the electronic appliances of the residents. But the power voltage, said an occupant, was never regulated by the officials of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN).
“Electric cables that brought light into the building sparked close to the roof. This resulted to an explosion in the ceiling. All remained quiet for some minutes, until fire emanated from one of the rooms, whose occupant was away,” an occupant told CAMPUSLIFE.
Like a scene from a movie, occupants of the lodge and nearby hostels started throwing their personal effects from the window and balcony. A student, who simply identified himself as Chucks said: “I stay at the topmost floor close to the room where the fire started. I was in my room when I heard sparks. The voltage was very high at the time. Almost immediately, sounds of explosion proceeded from the ceiling. I was still in confusion until smoke filled everywhere. We started throwing our properties from the balcony. A female student, who stays close to my room, was not around. There was nothing we could do to evacuate her belongings. As the fire raged, there was confusion. We picked up a few things we could lay our hands on. Some picked only their certificates and ran for their dear lives.”
Students battled hard to put out the fire. They scooped water with buckets and bowls, but they could not move close to the scene because of the height of the building. They were later joined by fire fighters from the Anambra State Fire Service.
To the students’ surprise, the fire men announced that their water had been exhausted less than 10 minutes after they got to the scene. The students were disappointed but they did not give up in their resolve to put out the fire. They offered to fetch water into the fire service tank. Armed policemen came to the scene to ostensibly prevent looting of the victims’ properties.
After about one hour, the sympathisers’ efforts paid off; the inferno was put out but not until eight rooms on the topmost floor had been razed. The roof and ceiling were shattered by the raging inferno. Though, the first and the ground floors were not affected, the occupants rushed out with their personal effects.
Kelechi Ndiokwelu, a student and a resident of Excel Lodge, located close to razed building, said: “I helped in getting water from my hostel. It was such a terrible scene. Though, hundreds of students hurled water from different direction, the fire raged more. We were amazed that the fire service came with an empty tank. Even the policemen did nothing; they stood at one place watching students making efforts. Their presence distracted us. We wondered whether they wanted to shoot at the fire.”
Bethrand Nweke said: “I was reading when the fire started. I could only pick a few things I could remember during the rush for safety.”
After the fire was put out, management of the nearby hotel, Golfins Suite, offered free accommodation to the displaced students. The victims, who were still dazed at the time, accepted the offer. The following day, police invited the victims for questioning.
The incident happened at a time students were preparing for the first semester exam, which will begin in a few weeks. When CAMPUSLIFE visited Golfin Suite, the victims lamented their losses, blaming the incident on erratic power supply. Meanwhile, the hostel is being rehabilitated. It could, however, not be ascertain when the displaced students will move back to the building.
