Chrisland and Whitney Adeniran

Outside of politics and the 2023 elections, Lagosians especially have been gripped, in the past month, by the sordid drama over the death of Ms Whitney Adeniran, a pupil of Chrisland High School, Ikeja. The unfortunate incident has snow-balled into a needless battle of wits between the parents of the late girl, Chrisland, and the Lagos State Government.  None of it leaves a pleasant taste in the mouth.

Here is what we know: On Thursday, 9th of February, students of Chrisland School, Ikeja, with premises in Opebi, gathered at the Agege Stadium, Lagos, for their annual Inter-House Sports Competition. The Agege Stadium is owned by the Lagos State Government. In the course of the event, Ms Adeniran, who was not participating in any of the sporting events, slumped. Immediate efforts to revive her failed, so the staff of the school boarded her into a school bus and moved her to a nearby hospital. Sadly, revival efforts at the hospital also failed. A young, vibrant life, with so much promise, ended rather abruptly.

There was initial accusations and counter-accusations about what caused her death. These do not bear repeating here. However, what the autopsy report, carried out by the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) with representatives of both the family of Late Ms Adeniran and Chrisland School, states is that she died of asphyxiation and electrocution. Her death is now before the Coroner’s Court for adjudication. But the ramifications of her death continue and need to be addressed.

To start, Chrisland clearly failed to have any emergency management procedure in place. These include the provision of an Ambulance and a medical practitioner at the venue. It accounts for why the school bus, with no first aid equipment of any sort, was the only resort when Ms Adeniran slumped. Emergencies do happen even in the best situations. Footballers have slumped and died at major events where the best equipment and personnel are present. For instance, Marc Vivien Foe slumped and died in Paris while playing for Cameroon against France in 2003. However, when such incidents happen, they are not for want of preparation about what to do. In the case of Ms Adeniran, it was clear to see from all that has been made known that absolutely no plan was in place for such an emergency.

To compound matters, despite knowing that a pupil had died, Chrisland authorities chose to continue with the Inter-House Sports Competition. That was an immeasurably insensitive decision. Whatever the disruptions to the events of the day, and the challenge of managing the students at the venue pending when they have to go home, that competition should have been stopped immediately it was clear that Ms Adeniran had died.

Furthermore, Chrisland chose to not inform parents of their students of the sad event. Most ended up finding out on social media and through friends. It took more than 48 hours, well after the incident had become public knowledge, before parents were informed. That there is a bad case of stakeholder management.

Since her death, the parents of Ms Adeniran have taken the matter to the court of public opinion. On a regular basis, they have put the public in the know of what they believed happened to their daughter, and the failures of the school leading to and in the immediate aftermath of her death. They deserve a lot of commendation for this, along with commiserations for such a painful, irreplaceable loss. But it is now time for them to allow the judicial processes to take its rightful course. To do this, the family must eschew or minimise the sensationalisation of their daughter’s death. Reality is that many lapping up the regular Instagram presentations are doing so for less than altruistic reasons and more for the drama. Whitney Adeniran deserves better than to become a social media buzz for the viewing and reading pleasure of its denizens.

The Lagos State Government (LASG) should also come in for scrutiny here. Seized with the case, it has gone about it with snail-like pace. It rightly ordered the immediate closure of the school once the news of the incident broke. But, rather curiously, the same order was not given for the Agege Stadium where the sad event occurred. So while the Agege Stadium, location of Ms Adeniran’s collapse and eventual death, has continued to be used for various sporting activities, more than 600 students of Chrisland High School have been left marooned at home as “investigations continue” on an incident that did not occur in the school’s premises. Many of them have critical Junior and Senior School Certificate examinations in a couple of months. This situation is not tenable. For comparison, only recently, a train collided with a bus in Lagos, leading to the loss of innocent lives and many injured passengers. But neither the Train Services nor the Bus Services have been grounded while investigations continue.

What needs to happen? The LASG should hasten its investigations and take a decision on the opening of Chrisland High School Ikeja. It should do so for the sake of the hundreds of students who are now in limbo. Ordinarily, the LASG should have immediately worked with Chrisland authorities to provide temporary schooling alternatives to the students forced to stay at home. As that has not happened, it cannot continue to drag its feet while keeping the students at home. Whatever decision it takes – to close down completely or reopen immediately – will enable the students and their parents to chart a way forward. This needs to happen without further delay.

For Chrisland, it has so much work on its hand. It must start by thinking up and announcing ways through which it will immortalise Ms Adeniran. It should have no shortage of options in this regard. Beyond this, it must review its internal processes, procedures and policies on multiple fronts, including health and safety, events, and communications. On all these, the school was found wanting. Worse, its insularity, in the information age of today, is self-harming.

In the final analysis, a young child was lost to her family, community and the world. Efforts must be made by all – parents, schools, and governments – to ensure that similar set of circumstances are not allowed to reoccur and to lead to the same painful end. That will be the greatest legacy to the late school girl.

May the soul of Whitney Adeniran rest in perfect peace.

Adetayo is a public affairs commentator and writes from Lagos.