Two students have died and 24 others wounded in a stampede during rice distribution at the Nasarawa State University, Keffi on Friday.
The state government supplied the grain brought for distribution.
Head of Clinical Services of the Federal Medical Centre, Keffi, Dr Ahmed Kana confirmed the casualty figure.
Governor Abdullahi Sule recently embarked on a palliative initiative for students of tertiary institutions in the state to alleviate their hardship.
Students of Federal University, Lafia, College of Education, Akwanga, College of Agriculture, Lafia had benefited from the initiative and the state university was to take its turn on Friday.
Details of the initiative showed that each student was expected to receive a 7.5 kg bag of rice and N5000 cash.
The governor was scheduled to extend the same gesture to the university students on Friday, but before he arrived, some students went to the convocation square and looted the rice which led to the fatal stampede.
According to Kana, the two students confirmed dead are females while 13 of the 14 wounded casualties are equally females.
“Only one of the injured students is a male.
“For now, most of them are stable and we are resuscitating others. By God’s grace, some of them will go home very soon,” he said.
He appreciated the effort of the security agencies in the handling of the situation.
“They did a good job. They handled the situation appropriately.
“What is important for us now is to treat the emergency cases and ensure there is no more fatality. We can later call the management of Nasarawa State University to discuss the matter,” he said.
