By Àkóbà Láaróyè
Bisi, a 400-level student of Electrical Engineering, found himself famished and exhausted one night last session. He decided to stop at Boluid for dinner before heading to the library for an all-night study session until daybreak. However, instead of the white rice he ordered, he was served fried rice. The attendant informed him that white rice had run out. Disappointed and slightly paranoid, little did he know that his night was about to take a turn for the worse.
Despite finishing the plate of fried rice, the real trouble began on his way to the library. Bisi and his friend, who had also consumed the rice, started experiencing excruciating stomach pain and eventually vomited all the food they had just eaten. Neither Bisi nor his friend had been sick prior to their meal. Their plans for a night of studying were abruptly canceled as they returned to Mellanby, enduring the agonizing pain throughout the night. It was clear that the food they had consumed at Boluid had caused them to suffer from food poisoning.
Unfortunately, this has been the experience of several others who have contacted food poisoning in either of the Zik cafeterias, both recently and in the past. While cafeterias in UI are time-savers for students, especially during exam periods when cooking becomes a luxury, many flock to either Boluid or New Flava for their food needs. These two cafeterias, in particular, attract a significant number of students. Bisi and others like him often leave their halls and make their way to Boluid or New Flava in Zik to purchase their meals.
Like Bisi, a significant number of students have also fallen victim to food poisoning, especially from Boluid.
Charles, a Law student, also shared his experience with Zik Press:
So, a friend and I bought swallow from there one night. Specifically, we ordered Amala and egusi, the usual stuff. We took our meals as takeaways and went our separate ways. However, that night, I started experiencing severe stomach ache and diarrhea. At first, I wasn’t sure if it was from the cafeteria, but when I spoke to my friend in the morning, he said he was feeling the exact same symptoms. His roommate, who had also purchased food from Boluid a few hours before us, experienced the same thing overnight. So, it definitely had to be from there.
According to reliable sources, the most common symptoms of food poisoning include diarrhea, stomach pain, nausea, vomiting, fever, even dehydration.
One of the past executives, Akinkunmi (not real name) experienced these exact symptoms after consuming food from Boluid during the Salah break:
In the morning, I had a meal at Boluid. At night, I bought bread and fried an egg. The next morning, I started experiencing frequent purging. It was evident that something was wrong with my internal system, and I became very weak. Throughout the day, I had purged three times. I was supposed to attend a victory party celebration for a friend, but I had to cancel because of my condition. By that time, the food poisoning had already left my internal system and was manifesting externally as a fever.
He also conveyed that he suffered from dehydration and had to take ORS to treat himself.
Another victim of food poisoning mentioned witnessing Boluid workers fetching water from one of the Awba Dam tanks in front of B Block, which he suspects could be one of the causes of the outbreak.
Our reporters reached out to Boluid restaurant to inform them and get their reaction. They informed us that the above mentioned executive and some of the new executives have already raised the issue with them. Our reporter was also granted access to inspect the cafeteria and can confirm that it was clean. The restaurant staff also confirmed to us that they have had a meeting with the executives and New flava on the outbreak, and were told to desist from using the Awba dam waters to process consumables.
However, prior to this meeting, the former Health minister, Johnpaul averred that he once accosted the two cafeterias regarding the issue. He said:
“Boluid mentioned that no one has complained to them. New flava mentioned that they are working to correct food making choices after some complaints."
In the same vein, we reached out to the reach the immediate-past Hall Chairman, Moriselade Soladoye-Adewole, but he keeps ignoring the several texts sent to him by this reporter.
However, the best approach to embattle the situation would be to conduct random inspections to these cafeterias. Also,the responsibility of ensuring safe consumables for students goes beyond the sole effort of the health minister, as other factors like the food ingredients themselves could be vectors responsible for the disease.
Cases of food poisoning still persist in Zik as at the timing of this report, and we believe many victims are still suffering in silence, as just only a few of them were comfortable sharing their stories with Zikpress, with many of them pleading anonymity.
P.S: most of the names in this publication have been altered to keep the identity of the victims secret.
