Academic activities grounded as flood takes over FULafia

Heavy rainfall in Lafia, Nasarawa State, caused severe flooding at the Federal University, disrupting academic activities. Several lecture halls were flooded, leaving students stranded at the school gate on Friday.

The floodwaters submerged parts of the campus, preventing access to classes and impacting normal operations.

A student, who gave his name as Felix, urgently appealed to the school management to address the flooding issue and prevent future occurrences.

He said, “We are unable to attend lectures because of the flooding which affected many of our lecture halls.

“The rains have actually been heavy for some days now, but we want to appeal to the school management to help us on the matter so that we won’t have to be absent from classes in the future because of the floods.”

He also faulted the sighting of some of the school’s edifice in swampy areas, and thus urged the Federal Government to send a team of land surveyors to visit the institution in order to tackle the persistent flooding that had been confronting the university community.

Meanwhile, the Nasarawa State Government has taken steps to mitigate the effects of floods in flood prone tertiary institutions across the state.

The State Commissioner for Special Duties on Humanitarian Services and NGOs, Margaret Elayo disclosed this on Monday shortly after inspecting the multi-purpose hall of the Faculty of Arts, Federal University of Lafia which was submerged by flood following the week-long heavy rain down pour in Lafia.

Elayo, who expressed worry over the situation, assured the university management of government’s support while urging the students to remain calm as efforts were already in top gear to address the situation.

The Commissioner for Special Duties on Humanitarian, Social Services and NGOs reiterated the state government’s commitment to finding a remedy to mitigate the impact of the floods and support the university’s community to enable its students resume their daily academic activities in the institution.

The commissioner and her entourage further visited some of the lecture halls that were submerged by the floods which included the English and Literally Studies; and History and International Studies, in the Faculty of Arts of the university.

Other faculties are: Faculty of Science, Faculty of Social Sciences and Visual and Creative Arts, respectively.

She explained that the aim of her visit to the university was to avail herself with first-hand information on the matter and to also see the extent of the damage caused by the floods.

She vowed to collaborate with the Nasarawa State Emergency Management Agency to identify solutions and facilitate a prompt return to regular classes for the students.

News360 Nigeria notes that the Nigeria Meteorological Agency had earlier forecasted severe flooding in Nasarawa and other parts of the country during the current rainy season.