Most students of the University of Jos,Plateau, the Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University, Lapai, Niger, and the Federal University, Lokoja, Kogi,are staying off the institutions’ campuses due to shortage of hostel accommodation.
An investigation by the News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) revealed that the situation has compelled the students to rent houses owned by private individuals and organisations outside the universities’ premises, from where they shuttle to the campuses to attend lectures.
Mr Joshua Adangkala, the President of the Student Union Government (SUG) of the University of Jos, lamented the situation, saying the students were paying higher rent for accommodation when compared to the university hostels.
Adangkala, therefore,urged the university to provide sufficient hostel accommodation for students within the school campus, saying that such gesture would reduce the risk of the students being attacked by hoodlums during uprising.
“Students who have fallen victims of the various crisis that engulfed Jos over the years are those who are residing outside the campus.
“So, we are calling on the university management to provide more hostel accomodation for the safety of the students,” he said.
He said the union, had, on its part,started engaging landlords toward downward review of house rents to enable the students to cope with the situation.
The president said that most students of the institution pay their rents “through their nose”,explaining that some of accommodation facilities outside the campus are largely owned by individuals and few cooperate organisations.
“It is no longer news that the cost of accommodation outside the campus is very high; most students pay through their nose.
“For instance,students pay between M50,000 to N80,000 annually for single rooms, while students living in hostels within the campus pay between N15,000 and N30,000 which is cheaper and affordable.
“Unfortunately, the hostels within the campus are grossly inadequate; they cannot accommodate all the students,” he said.
When contacted,the Deputy Registrar, Information and Publication of the university ,Abdullahi Abdullahi,said he was under so much work pressure, and would need some time to respond to the issues.
Similarly, former President of the Students’ Union Government (SUG) of the Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University,Lafai,Mr Idris Baba,says about 60 to 70 per cent of students of the institution are staying off campus.
“We have about 60 to 70 per cent of our student living off campus, this is grossly unacceptable by the student’s body.
“The hostels are not conducive enough and that is why many of our students opt to live off campus,” Baba said.
The Dean of Student Affairs of the university,Dr Bashir Sarkindagi ,said about 40 percent of the university’s student population were staying in the institution’s hostel.
Sarkindagi, who spoke through Mallam Umar Ndanusa ,a supervisor in the Students Affairs Unit, said a bed space cost N12,000 in the university.
He also said that the institution had one boys hostel and three girls hostels at its main campus,and that it also had two hostels,one each for male and female students at its Kobo campus.
He said two more hostels were under construction at the main campus of the university.
The dean also disclosed that accommodation in Lapai cost from N20,000 N25,000, N35,000, N55,000, N65,000, N85,000, N95,000 per annum.
“The rent of the very expensive apartments ranges from N150,000 to N200,000 with their rooms air-conditioned and even with a Plaster of Paris(POP) ceiling,” he said.
And in Kogi, the Dean of Post Graduate School, Federal University Lokoja (FUL), Prof. Gbenga Ibileye, said hostel accommodation in most tertiary institutions in the country was not only grossly inadequate but also required an urgent rethink and redress by the critical stakeholders in the sector.
Ibileye said there was hardly any public institution in Nigeria that had the capacity to accommodate any reasonable percentage of its students.
”In FUL with a population of about 5, 000, students, the spaces available can only accommodate 200. The rest are left to their own devices and in the hands of shylock landlords.
”The available spaces on campus are ill-maintained. There’s lack of Basic facilities. Electricity is supplied from the lean funds of the University by providing generators.
”The students outside, beside being exploited, are exposed to various hazards such as rape and assaults.
On the cost of bed-space at FUL, the don said that officially, it is N90, but students pay maintenance fee of N10, 000.
He, however, said that off campus, the cost could be much higher.
He explained that the cost of renting accommodation owned by individuals outside the school, could be any amount depending on the property and its location.
”A student who rents a self-contained apartment could pay as much as N150, 000 per annum. But a student who stays in a flat of two bedrooms could pay much higher,” the dean said.
He added that the owners of those hostels could be private individuals or corporate organisations.(NAN)
