Group kicks against hostel fee increment in UI, calls for reversal

The Education Rights Campaign (ERC), University of Ibadan branch has condemned the recent increment in cost of hostel accomodation for students of the University of Ibadan, UI.

The ERC in a statement by its coordinator, Ben Taffe, urged the management of the University to reverse the increment in accommodation fees stating that all the hostels in the university have remained in the same despicable condition as they were before students last session’s break.

ERC says students cannot be mandated to pay such huge sums while leaving in the same unfavourable conditions within the university.

It also lamented that when the fees were hiked previously, it did not translate to better living conditions of the resident students, saying the latest increment would not be any different.

Recall that the management of the institution had in a circular released recently, stated that newly admitted students will pay N60,000 while returning students will henceforth, pay N45,000 as against N30,000 that was paid in the previous academic session.

“New students and occupants of Alexander Brown Hall at the University College Hospital (UCH) are directed to pay N60,000 as the new fee for the accommodation” according to the circular.

Poor living conditions are a phenomenon for students in Nigerian public universities. An examination would reveal this further.

In several cases, students are mandated to live in groups of two, three or four in very small rooms provided by the universities where every student is confined to their bunks leaving very little or no space for other belongings or even for free movement in the room.

The toilets are usually an eye sour given that there could be just very few toilets for over a thousand students to use while adequate provisions are equally not made for proper cleaning.

The stench from such hostels in many of Nigeria’s public universities become unbearable for students of those different institutions.

The health risks are equally a concern yet, students are expected to cope without getting the best treatments for their resources.

Usually however, in rare occasions where efforts are made to provide very few comfortable and decent residential halls for students in public universities, the hostel fees become another concern given that most students even struggle to pay their school fees, according to a source who spoke to Val9ja News on condition of anonymity.

The source, while speaking, lamented the condition of students hostel accomodation across Tertiary institutions in Benue State. The source revealed that several visits to some of the most prominent institutions were a “bunch of disappointment as students were living like animals dumped in a cave.”

Val9ja News learns that several students across the nation have had and lamented similar experiences.

At the University of Ibadan, the students welfare group are weary of this practice that has seemingly become a norm in this part of the divide and are expressing their opinions on the development.

They want the institution to show them a tangible reason why they should pay that huge amount of money or reverse the declaration since nothing was going to change.

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