Following the fire outbreak at Poplat petrol station, Lagere, Ile-Ife on Tuesday 9th of January, which affected the Poplat hostel, and other properties around its vicinity, the Students’ Union alongside the NANS Zone D executives have taken steps to assess the situation and make sure students affected in the incident are adequately compensated.
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In a Press Statement made available to ACJOAU, the leadership of the Union alongside Babatunde Afeez Babatee, NANS JCC Chairman, NANS JCC PRO and others upon the outbreak of the fire at the Poplat Hostel in Lagere which 95% of the occupants are Great Ife Students.
According to the statement, attempts were made to see the Ooni of Ife His Imperial Majesty, Oba Enitan Adeyeye Ogunwusi (Ojaja II), however, His Highness was not in town. Furthermore, the Union reached out to the owner of the Poplat Petrol Station but was frustrated by his lack of response who continued operations in his other stations despite the fire’s impact on the hostel.
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Thereafter, a peaceful protest ensued which led to the locking of his filling stations in Ile-Ife, prompting him to call the Union to a round table meeting, held at the Energy filing station of one of his filling stations in Ile-Ife Ife where he entered an agreement with the Union.
The Union stated their demands which includes;
- The immediate removal of the gas plant in all his filling stations in Ife.
- Payment for damages for the affected rooms and full compensation for completely burnt rooms.
- Immediate provision of accommodation for affected students, and refund or quick repair for those with running rents.
- Additionally, medical bills were to be covered, and renovations were to commence on habitable rooms.
- An integrity test on the hostel was requested before students were returned to the hostel. This will allow us to ascertain if the hostel is still habitable and still has the strength to accommodate that number of students.
Consequently, the owner of the station, Alhaji Ogundoyin Popoola Poplat, agreed to all demands, and has started working on them, even though the Union understood that he lost properties in the unfortunate incident.
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According to evaluation from the President, with other stakeholders, 11 rooms were affected, while 3 rooms were severely affected and 1 room was completely damaged making a total of 15 rooms
Finally, the Union guarantees that as of 10 am Friday 12th of January, temporary accommodation has been provided for students with damaged hostels in the owner’s new facility, while others can move to alternative hostels upon expressing interest.