…commiserates with family of deceased child, school mgt reacts
By Benjamin Omoike
Following huge public outcry and controversy which have continued to trail the death of a 12 year-old male student of Dowen College in Lekki axis, Sylvester Oromoni Jnr, the Lagos State Government has shut down the school indefinitely.
The government said that the school would remain closed pending the outcome of the ongoing investigation the Nigerian Police and its agencies have embarked upon to unravel circumstances surrounding the death of Oromoni Jnr.
The closure came hours after the State Government commenced investigations into the former student’s death, to ascertain if the claims made by the family were true or not and to determine the role played by the school management after the deceased was said to have sustained injuries within the school premises.
Announcing the closure on Friday, after a meeting with the school management and staff, Commissioner for Education, Folasade Adefisayo, said the move was to give room for adequate investigations on the former student’s death.
Through the statement made available by the Head of Public Affairs for the Ministry, Ganiu Lawal, the Commissioner appealed to Nigerians, particularly Lagosians, for calm, saying no effort will be spared in getting to the root of the incident.
Earlier, Adefisayo explained that investigations would unravel what led to the injuries sustained by the deceased and other details needed to help establish the truth in the case, after the family and the school management began to trade words.
She hinted that preliminary investigations revealed that the deceased was indeed enrolled as a student of the College in its boarding facility and that he was treated by the school’s medical personnel after sustaining the injuries.
The Commissioner stated that it was after the treatment that the school management requested that the parents took the former student away for further care.
According to her, “we reassure the family of the late Sylvester Oromoni Junior and Lagosians at large, that efforts are being made to unravel the circumstances leading to his demise, even as we reiterate the government’s commitment to Child Protection.”
Adefisayo noted that after commencing the investigations, the state government delegation comprising top-level management of relevant Ministries, Departments, and Agencies, as well as the Police, have visited the school on a fact-finding mission.
The Commissioner, meanwhile, described Oromoni Jnr’s death as shocking, stating that “the government was indeed sad about this great loss.”
Meanwhile, reports say the state government had commenced investigations to unravel the circumstances surrounding the death of the late Sylvester Oromoni Jnr, in the state.
This was contained in a statement made available to newsmen by the Head of Public Affairs Unit for the ministry, Ganiu Lawal, barely three days after the former student died at a medical facility in Lagos.
It is reported that earlier, the school management had denied allegations that the former student, who was in Junior Secondary School II, was tortured to death for refusing to join a cult group.
The family had alleged that Oromoni suffered internal injuries afterwards, and died while receiving treatment in a hospital within the state.
However, a statement by Dowen College’s Principal, Adebisi Layiwola, said, “the whole incident was strange and unbelievable because the school had effective anti-bullying policies and consequences are well spelt out to all the students. The preliminary investigation showed that there was no fighting, bullying or any form of attack on the boy. He made no such reports, neither his sister, who is also a student or any other students, prefects, house parents, medical staff, or any of the management staff.
“The school has two regular nurses and a qualified medical doctor that promptly attends to students’ medical needs and the resident doctor followed the laid down
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