UNILAG students pass nights at car parks, faculty buildings…
They are squatters putting up with friends
Some returning students of the University of Lagos (UNILAG) are facing very tough times at the institution, as they were shut out of the hostels, and had to put up in utterly undignified conditions.
Many of the affected students, who are alleged to be squatters in their respective hostels on campus, spent Tuesday night in car parks, faculty buildings and sundry spaces within the school, having been disallowed access to the halls of residence.
After a protest by students over lack of municipal services on campus led to the closure of the institution, the school’s Senate, on Friday, April 22, 2016, announced its decision to reopen the institution.
In re-opening the school, the Senate mandated students to download and complete an undertaking form, while their parents and guardians were to complete an indemnity forms before they would be allowed into the halls of residence and take part in the first semester examinations for the 2015/2016 academic session.
According to the circular, “The University shall re-open for full academic activities on Monday, May 2, 2016, and the first semester 2015/2016 session examinations shall commence on May 9, 2016. Returning students must sign an undertaking to be of good behaviour, which must be properly endorsed by their parents/guardians.
“Completed undertaking forms, which must be notarised and parent’s indemnity form should be submitted at the various departments and a clearance obtained. Students accommodated in halls of residence are to obtain a clearance from the departmental officer, which must be presented at the halls of residence to gain access into their rooms. The clearance would be required to gain access into examination halls. No student would be readmitted without completing the above process.”
A 200-Level physically challenged student of the Department of Mass Communication, Faculty of Social Sciences, Trust Shawn Inonse, told The Guardian, “The situation has gotten so bad that students had to sleep in their faculties on campus.
Inonse, who is sight-impaired said, “A good number of students slept outside the hostel. I personally would have slept outside, but for the intervention of some hostels porters, I was allowed into the hostel at about 1am. You can imagine students who come from around the country, who have no relatives in Lagos being forced to sleep outside. It is cruel and unfair for students to be denied entrance into their hostels when examination is coming up on Monday.”
Another student in the Department of Marine Science, who simply identified himself as Joshua, however, said some students who passed the night in open air were not bonafide residents of the hostels. “They are squatters who are putting up with friends. The university has minimal accommodation for students and yet they don’t want the students to squat. How is that possible?”
Deputy Registrar/Head of Media, UNILAG, Mr. Toyin Adebule, said the incumbent administration, which is bent on sanitizing the school has no room for squatters on campus.
“I can assure you that no legitimate student slept outside the halls of residence. As an institution, we are bent on doing everything to create a good atmosphere for teaching and learning. To do this, we must rid the school of squatters because it is illegal to do so. We no longer condone squatting for security reasons because some of those squatters could be drug addicts and drug sellers,” the deputy registrar said.
While stressing that the school authorities would do everything possible to accommodate students within available facilities on campus, he said it would be important for the Federal Government to re-introduce student loans to cushion some of these effects.
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1 Comments
DISPLACED UNILAG STUDENT SQUATTERS- A RETHINK
It is quite sad this is happening at this period of our development as a nation. There have always been squatters in university halls of residence and despite not being legally approved, authorities have always closed their pretending as if the problem never existed in view of the fact they could not fully meet this need in terms the huge gap between supply and demand for accommodation by students.
Probably, authorities in the university system could have approved maximum number of squatters per room and charge a token for it rather than leave Porters creaming off students while the universities still pay for overstretched facilities. It is not surprising that the order to enforce no squatting rule by the Porters is being implemented with iron fists because an unapproved source income has been blocked.
But why should things degenerate to this level while we yet play the ostrich? It could only have happened because of lack of creativity. As said earlier, there have always been squatters in the hostel environment and indeed squatters who are either students of other nearby institutions and non students at all. If anyone had thought there is no solution to check this illegal non students squatters, the current developments in UNILAG put a lie to that. It should even be a lot easier with technology in the present age.
Now the issue that bother the hearts of Nigerians is whether we can continue this way and expect a change if the educational system cannot provide decent accommodation for students whom we hope would take up the gauntlet to innovate and bring technology to develop our dear country if they can be sleeping on bare floors in open places and classrooms outside the halls of residence.
During our days in the university, at least the experience of the University of Lagos is that as a first year student, one was assured of securing an accommodation. Same was true for all final year students. UNILAG cannot boast of this now as I am aware that many first year students could not secure accommodation aggravated by the balloting system that has been introduced recently coupled with the problem that a number of the halls of residence are being renovated. I have problem with the balloting system but first year students should not go through this just like the final year student due to no other reasons than the fact that first years students are yet to know the environment while final year students should be distracted when they have prepare for final examinations and project writing.
One would be tempted to ask if the authorities never envisaged that there would be chaos in the demand for a place to hang for students without legs allocation of space? In a sane environment, even where squatting were illegal, this is when a tacit approval would have been granted to address the challenge with the ill-timed renovations on campus.
If university managers were a lot more creative, they would probably achieve more in getting sponsors like donor agencies and private individuals to build more hostels knowing fully well that such ventures cannot be commercialized otherwise the children of the poor from where comes most geniuses will be denied education.
Sadly, Nigeria in the last few years have seen awards being doled out to moneybags without clear evidence of such individuals’ contributions to societal development.
While a lot more could still be done by UNILAG and similar institutions across the country my sincere advice is that rather than wield the big stick to stem protests by students, the authorities should actually engage them a lot more and that would increase the level of confidence in the system.
In addition, squatting permits should be issued at reasonable charge on presentation of undertakings by both squatter and and”landlord” to abide by the rules of the university. This to me appears a very expedient way to manage the current challenges.
Abiodun FOLUSO, Chartered Insurance Practitioner. (abiodun.foluso@gmail.com)
We will review and take appropriate action.