A female postgraduate hostel in the University of Benin, located in Benin City, Edo State, was engulfed in flames around noon, destroying documents and properties within the institution.
The fire started around midday, and eyewitnesses attribute it to a power surge in one of the rooms upstairs, which quickly spread to other rooms on the same floor. Reports reveal that the inferno consumed valuable documents and properties in the institution, leading to the disruption of academic activities. The entire upstairs section of the one-storey building was destroyed, leaving nothing to be salvaged except for the rooms downstairs.
Although the cause of the fire remains unclear, one source claimed that it resulted from an electric cooker, commonly referred to as a “hot plate,” being used by one of the female students.
Fortunately, the fire was eventually put out by a collaborative effort from the Federal Fire Service, Edo State Fire Service, and the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) Fire Service. No lives were lost in the incident, but students and officials were seen evacuating the belongings of the affected students from the downstairs rooms, as a precautionary measure.
