LAGOS: The Federal Capital Territory Administration has said the death of three pupils of the Local Education Authority Primary School, Kubwa, Abuja, was caused by Cerebrospinal Meningitis.
It denied that the children died of food poisoning.
The Special Assistant to the FCT Minister on Media, Abubakar Sani, said the Director of Public Health, Dr Humphrey Okoronkwo, stated that the three pupils died of meningitis.
“The FCT Director of Public Health, Dr Humphrey Okoronkwo, says three pupils in Kubwa school died of suspected cases of Cerebrospinal Meningitis, not food poisoning,” Sani said in an SMS.
The pupils were said to have died on Tuesday after consuming biscuits shared by an unidentified classmate.
Two others, who partook of the biscuits, were hospitalised at the Kubwa General Hospital.
Academic activities in the school were suspended due to the confusion that trailed the death of the three pupils.
The parent and the girl suspected to have shared the biscuits, were reported to have been quizzed by the school authorities.
During a visit to the Kubwa General Hospital on Thursday, one of our correspondents observed relations of some sick pupils being attended to by hospital workers.
A hospital worker lamented the quick burial of the deceased pupils.
He said, “Why will they bury some children without ascertaining what killed them? It is not proper. The solution may be to have all the children immunised. How can anyone say they ate biscuits and died when there is no medical test to confirm this?”
The correspondent who got to the school at about 9.30am observed some teachers standing in groups to discuss the incident. Two police vans from the Kubwa division were stationed in the school.
A teacher said the girl who shared the said biscuits and her mother were questioned by the school authorities.
He said, “The girl and her mother have been invited. They met with the school authorities and they were not indicted in any way. The school is carrying out its own investigations. The pupils that were claimed to have died don’t even have their names in our register. We don’t believe the biscuit theory because a lot of people ate the biscuits.”
The FCTA Education Secretary, Tony Ogunleye, said, “Investigation is still ongoing. We will brief you properly when we are done.”
