15th August 2025
The newly inaugurated executive members of the Obafemi Awolowo University Students’ Union Government, Ile-Ife, Osun State, have announced plans to roll out mental health programmes for students following the death by suicide of a 200-level Dentistry student.
PUNCH Metro learnt that the student took his life after discovering he had failed his recently released examination results.
In a telephone interview with our correspondent on Thursday, the Secretary-General of the Students’ Union, Habeeb Oke, said the union’s welfare office would spearhead the initiative.
“The Welfare Office has plans for mental workshops and other events surrounding the subject matter,” Oke said.
This administration just came in a week ago. We are still outlining and compacting our plans together. When we have a concrete meeting, there will be a rollout of events from the office of the welfare regarding mental health and how students can cope with examination results.”
In an earlier joint statement signed by the Union’s President, Adelani Oluwatodimu, Public Relations Officer, Olowosile Oreoluwa, and Oke, the leadership described the incident as “an unimaginable event [that] has shaken us to our very essence, reminding us of the fragility of life and the immense pressures that students often endure.”
The statement stressed that the tragedy “highlights a serious issue that affects many in our academic journey.
The university health centre offers confidential counselling services that are always available upon request.
“The union shall commit to advocating better mental health resources and destigmatising conversations around these topics. Remember, there is always hope, and help is a conversation away,” the statement added.
Confirming the incident in a separate statement on Wednesday, the university’s Public Relations Officer, Abiodun Olarewaju, had said the student died at “his parents’ home in Ejigbo, Osun State.”
Olarewaju added that the deceased had already been repeating the class during the previous session.
The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Adebayo Bamire, appealed to parents and guardians to help their children understand that “temporary setbacks in the pursuit of success are part of life and not the end of it.”
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