By Oluwatosin Maliki
A tragic incident occurred at the University of Ilorin, where a 20-year-old female undergraduate student named Sanni Hameedat took her own life in her hostel. The university’s private hostel management confirmed this heart-wrenching event on Wednesday, October 18, 2023.
Hameedat was actively participating in her SIWES program at the time of her unfortunate demise. The university’s management expressed that her death was the result of mounting pressure from loan app agents, relentlessly demanding fast repayment. Her brother’s inability to provide financial assistance added to her distress, ultimately leading to depression.
The school management revealed that the root cause of her suicide was financial mismanagement. She had been entrusted with a substantial amount of money by her mother. However, her encounter with an individual on Snapchat, who claimed his mother needed urgent financial support due to a battle with breast cancer, led her to lend him N500,000 from the N1 million she held for her mother. The boy promised to repay the borrowed amount, but he abruptly cut off all contact with her when her mother needed the money back.
Desperate to make up the missing N500,000, Hameedat turned to borrowing money from various apps, managing to accumulate N450,000. She added N50,000 from her personal savings to complete the borrowed N500,000.
Tragically, she was found in distress one night after ingesting a pesticide known as Sniper, with her roommate discovering her condition. Despite efforts to save her, she was declared dead at UITH.
The Student Union President, Ologundudu Adesunkanmi, acknowledged the incident and reported that the university’s authorities were launching a comprehensive investigation into this sorrowful loss. The university community mourns her loss in such a tragic manner.