UNN Fire Victims get new hostels

The fire incident took place on December 23 when a two-storey female hostel went up in flame due to a power surge. No fewer than 32 rooms were razed and prosperity worth millions of naira destroyed.

Victims of the fire which gutted Okeke Hall of Residence at theUniversity of Nigeria,Nsukka (UNN) have now been reolocated to new hostels, TheNation reports.

The fire incident took place on December 23 when a two-storey female hostel went up in flame due to a power surge. No fewer than 32 rooms were razed and prosperity worth millions of naira destroyed.

Last week, the school management allocated alternative accommodation to the affected students

A statement by Dean, Students’ Affairs (DSA), Prof Peter Akah said the students were allotted bed space on first-come-first-served basis. The students, it added, presented their original online allocation papers and identity cards that enabled management to relocate them to Nkrumah Hall, Mary Slessor Hall and Zik’s Flat Hostel.

Ugochi Okechukwu, a 100-Level English and Literary Studies student, said management’s decision took them by surprise.

Her words: “The management has done its best by giving us another hostel. It is a good development we have been relocated. They did not leave us hanging around in the school, looking for accommodation and trying to pair room with friends. We are surprised by the school decision.”

While the fire victims have settle down in their new accommodation, some have urged the school to compensate them for their documents and properties lost in the inferno. A 300-Level Economics student, who identified herself as Adaeze, said allocation of new hostels to the fire victims was not enough to compensate the students.

She said: “Most of them had travelled when the incident happened, so they could not evacuate their properties while their rooms were being razed. I expected the school to compensate them, because some of them lost vital documents. The school should be commended for allocating new hostels to them, but I believe the students deserve more.”