A devastating rainstorm has destroyed properties worth millions of naira at the University of Ilorin in Kwara State.
The development will no doubt affect academic activities in the institution pending the repair of the damaged facilities.
Though, the students are currently at home, their are expected to resume immediately after the March 18,2023 governorship and houses of assembly elections.
LEADERSHIP Weekend gathered that the absence of the students from the university’s campus also saved what could have been a catastrophic situation.
Save for the holiday, most students would have been inside most of the affected buildings engaging in academic activities when the disaster occurred.
Some of the facilities affected included the mast of the Network Operating Centre (NOC) housing several internet radios, the Chemical Engineering lecture theatre, the Life Sciences lecture hall, the Department of Biochemical Engineering, the Computer Based Test (CBT) Centres, where about 40 computers were affected, the Geology and Mineral Resources Department, electric poles, and the General Studies Division (GNS) Unit.
Others are the Animal Houses for the Central Research Laboratories, the Secretariat of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), the Secretariat of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), the UNILORIN Multi-Purpose Cooperative Union Building, Admission Office, Security Unit, New Anatomy Building (College of Medicine), Directorate of Legal Services Unit, UNILORIN Stadium, Education Technology Workshop, as well as the Department of Adult and Primary Education.
Other affected facilities were the University Health Services, the Faculty of Law, the Old University Library, the Language Laboratory (Faculty of Arts), the Counseling and Human Development Centre, and the Student Affairs Unit.
Speaking on the development, the vice chancellor of the university, Prof Wahab Egbewole (SAN) expressed mixed feelings over the havoc wreaked on the campus of the university by the windy rainfall.
Egbewole, who led other principal officers on a campus-wide tour to assess the level of damage done by the rain, said that, though, he was saddened by the incident, adding that he was glad that it occurred when students were on break following the directive of the federal government to shut all universities for the period of the 2023 general elections.
He said that if not for the break, no one could predict the extent and consequences of the havoc.
Egbewole, however, lamented that properties destroyed by the rain would have serious consequences because they will affect the activities of staff and students, especially researchers who require the internet facility for their academic work.
While seeking the understanding of the university community pending the repairs of the damaged facilities,the vice chancellor assured the stakeholders that all facilities affected would be given ultimate attention, adding that their repairs and restoration would start in earnest.
The director of Computer Services and Information Technology (COMSIT), Prof Dupe Ademola-Popoola, said some parts of the university community would find it difficult for some days to access the internet services as a result of the havoc.
While lamenting that facilities worth hundreds of millions of naira were destroyed, the director expressed happiness that the mast did not fall on the building because some staff members were at work when the incident occurred.
She explained that as a result of the fall of the mast, several huge access points have been destroyed, which is why some parts of the university campus will be without internet service for the time being.
Ademola-Popoola said : “On the mast, there were several huge access points. Access points are radios that connect one point to another with the internet. All such distributing radios that were distributing wireless internet were on that mast. I can confirm that a number of them have been destroyed. It is not just the metal that was affected but the access points that carry, transmit, and distribute internet across the campuses.
“The consequence is that many places will not have internet. The people who use the fiber will have internet, but those who use wireless will not, and it will also affect the GRA Staff Quarters because they receive internet from the destroyed radio”.
For his part, the acting director of the Physical Planning Unit, Mr Toyin Jimoh, said some of the destroyed facilities required immediate repair..
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