The management of the University of Ilorin has attributed the death of one of its students, Adigun Emmanuel Adewale, to drug use.
The late student of the Faculty of Agriculture reportedly committed suicide last week to vent his frustration over his failure in his final year project.
In a statement, the university’s Director of Corporate Affairs, Mr. Kunle Akogun, said that painstaking investigations revealed that the late Mr. Adigun took his own life as an eventual culmination of his pathetic drug addiction, adding that he unwisely adopted the action to address the prolonged depression he suffered as a result of personal challenges he could not bear.
The statement said that “some close friends of the late Mr. Adigun revealed that the obviously depressed student had unsuccessfully attempted suicide thrice, having publicly expressed profound regret on many occasions that it was his ‘nagging younger sister’ that was sponsoring his education.
“He was further reported to have lamented that it would be too difficult for him to approach the same younger female sibling for the needed finances to complete his extended stay on campus as a result of his failure in several core courses.”
The University added that contrary to the speculations that the deceased, with a CGP of 2.72 and failed results in seven different courses, which accounted for his non-graduation in the last academic session, could neither be said to be academically outstanding nor on the verge of completing any research project.
The university made it clear that the late Mr. Adigun, who hailed from Oyo State, never completed the series of enabling experiments that would have given him the data needed for his research and that he took his life while he was expected to complete registration formalities, a prerequisite for his retake of all the courses he had earlier failed.
The statement added that when a senior academic staff of the deceased’s Department of Agronomy got wind of the late Mr. Adigun’s psychological problem through their interactions, she offered series of assistance to him to avert the regrettable consequence.
It was added that his alleged drug addiction, courtesy of peer group influence, frustrated all the rehabilitative assistances that were rendered to him to the awareness, admiration and appreciation of his family members.
The university said that some of the measures taken by the management and good-spirited members of staff to soothe the nerves of the deceased included a four-week intensive rehabilitation at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, courtesy of the Professor who also adopted him as her mentee; the facilitation of hostel accommodation for him on campus through the recommendation of the Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture, Prof. Gbadebo Olaoye; and a soft loan granted him by the same mentor, even while she (the mentor) was in far-away Nairobi, Kenya, some days to the incident, to settle his school fees.
Akogun added that despite all these rehabilitative efforts to place the deceased in the right frame of mind, he still resorted to the despicable act of suicide to the consternation of all those who assisted him one way or the other.
The university insisted that there is no iota of truth in the media reports that the suicide had anything to do with the deceased’s academic challenges at the University of Ilorin, adding that it is a “manifested testimony” of the increasing danger of drug addiction and peer pressure as it was reliably gathered that a son of his landlady, who was also his friend, schooling in a sister tertiary institution in Ilorin, also terminated his own life in similar circumstance not quite long ago.
While the University commiserated with the late Mr. Adigun’s family over the unfortunate incident, it appealed to parents, relations and guardians to be up and doing in their responsibilities to their children and wards so that they (the children) would grow up to live a decent life.
The university assured stakeholders of its commitment to the provision of qualitative education and other forms of services to its students.