By @ovcollins

The management of the University of Benin has confirmed a fire outbreak which destroyed a recently renovated post-graduate female hostel at the Ekehuan Campus of the University of Benin (UNIBEN) on Tuesday morning. The cause of the incident, according to management, is yet to be determined, but it resulted in extensive damage to the hostel.

According to Dr. Benedicta Ehanire, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the institution, the Vice Chancellor, Professor Lilian Salami, has constituted a committee to investigate the incident. She also stated that the fire outbreak is a setback to the efforts of the university management to provide decent hostel accommodation for students in both campuses of the institution.

A statement made available to the ACJ UNIBEN by Dr. Benedicta on Wednesday, partly reads, “…the Vice Chancellor, Professor Lilian Salami, has set up a Committee on the occurrence which has been described as a set back to  efforts of the University Management to provide decent hostel accommodation to students in the two campuses of the Institution.”

The incident has caused panic and anxiety among the students, as some of them lost their belongings in the inferno. Eyewitnesses reported that the fire started in the early hours of Tuesday morning and quickly spread to other parts of the hostel before it was eventually put out by the combined efforts of the university’s fire service and the state fire service.

READ ALSO: Fire Engulfs UNIBEN Ekehuan Campus

Reacting to the incident, some students expressed their dissatisfaction with the state of the university’s hostels, stating that they are poorly maintained and lack basic facilities. They called on the management to take urgent steps to improve the living conditions in the hostels to prevent a recurrence of such incidents.

Meanwhile, the university authorities have assured students and the public that they are doing everything possible to ensure the safety of students and their belongings on campus. The investigation into the cause of the fire outbreak is ongoing, and the university management has promised to provide updates as soon as they are available.

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