-By: Akinpelu, Yusuf O.
After the accommodation fee for students of the University of Ibadan staying on campus received a 114% increase, the students of the university had hoped the increase in fee would equate to increase in the liveability of the Halls. But, alas, four weeks down the line after resumption, it seems their hopes is yet to see any glimmer of light.
*When the increment was announced – to be 30, 000 from 14, 000 –the Vice Chancellor of the school, Professor Abel Idowu Olayinka, had explained the university to “beat a point where it is difficult to continue to subside the running of the Halls of Residence and carry out some academic functions without a slight adjustment in accommodation charges and in some fee items payable by students in some faculties.”Hence, the need to “adjust” the fees.
He did add that “residency in the Halls of Residence is optional” which means“only about 30% of our students can find accommodation in the Halls of Residence.” He further argued it worthy of note “that the Federal Government, many years back, had stopped providing funds for the running of the Halls.”This had made the University to spend “about 100 Million Naira over what is collected as accommodation fees, for the running of the Halls. The University is no longer in a position to continue to provide this subsidy.”
To the students, however, since the subsidy has been removed, it meansthey are paying for more and they should get more.In this report with Tedder Hall Press, they took their turns to pour out their minds on whether or not, so far, they have gotten the value they hoped to see.
“No. No. No. A big no! 3 of my sockets are, hmm…, bad: One is still surviving though and one is on a life support.
“I have been expecting this chance – to speak; 30, 000 is too much! The fluorescent fitting is very bad. The room was how I left it. There is no difference between 14, 000 and 30, 000. In fact, 14, 000 is better than 30, 000. It is bad. It is bad! Nothing,” SowemimoAbdulhameed, a resident of Tedder Hall in the 300 Level Classics submitted.
Another resident of the Hall, Lawal Abiodun, MBBS 300Level toured the same line of thought, saying,“I would say I have not seen the value of the money. At the start, during the first weeks of resumption, there were some changes but later on we discovered that it was just a camouflage. We have seen the real thing. Though water has been running particularly but I haven’t seen the value for the increment.”
Oba Oluwaseun, Geography 400 Level had similar comment:“Nothing. Nothing. Nothing…Nothing. Nothing! I don’t see any new thing. The sockets are still bad. The lighting – some are still bad. So it is not like they put fans in rooms. And, really, I’m not enjoying it. But we don’t have a choice.”
A resident in Queen Elizabeth II Hall, a final year Law student, Quadri Tinuade Rosheedah, enthused: “Not really. It’s the same as it used to be.”When reminded of some of the renovations currently ongoing in the Halls, she retorted, “They are supposed to be fixed, normally.”
In Ransome Kuti Hall,Duru Daniel, English, 300 Level quipped: “Not even close.The lock of my room was damaged I bought lock with my money because the Hall said they don’t have lock. We did everything from our pockets. They just allocated room.
Another Queens Hall resident, Rahmah Abdulsalam, Civil Engineering, 500 Level,bemoaned, saying:
“There’s no added value. Stillthe same way the Hall used to be. No refurbishment or renovation – just the nets. Doors are bad. We had to call the Hall’s carpenter to come repair it and he billed us for that. Louvre is nowhere to be found.”
Asked why she didn’t inform the porters about it, “Porter? Wetin porter go fit do?” she queried.
Onike Omotolani, History 300 who resides in Nnamdi Azikwe Hall, one of the University’s largest male Hall,said he hasn’t seen any repair:“Socket has not been repaired. Kitchenette is not in good shape. Same goes to toilet.”
A final year resident of Kuti Hall in Statistics, Alagbe Omotayo David, had something different to blame: the restriction in the choice of room.
“No sir. Nothing at all. There’s even more stress now than when we paid only 14, 000. [We] signed tenancy agreement form. We couldn’t choose the room of our choice. What’s the point?”
Another contemporary of his, Kazeem AbdulWarith in Pharmacy, posited thus:
“No I haven’t. I had to go through a quite stressful process to get accommodated. I had to pay to make the room a little less uninhabitable. I still have to endure the horrible facilities that have never seen a facelift,” he complained. “But then, management can only be indicted if they explicitly promised increased value…and not just state that the price for privilege for a space has been more than doubled,” he added.
The response of a penultimate Law student, Yekeen Habeeb, was rather loud:“Not at all! I live in a room with only one working socket and in darkness for two weeks now after multiple complaints,” he stormed.
Akintola Ruqoyyah, 500 Level Law explained that “No, the hostel situation remains unchanged. No improvement what so ever.” She, however, also revealed that“one thing, though: When we got allocated, any repair needed to be done was done by the workers without students paying for the service.”
Curiously, she went further to ask, “But, who knows? Could we say it’s from the accommodation fee or the unjustly imposed fine of 2000” which is commonplace in the University’s female Halls.
SOME SAW THESE COMPLAINTS COMING.
Lawa lFadlullah, a Physics sophomore said he knew it won’t worth it so he sought solace in the ever waiting arms of the hood in Agbowo– a close neighbourhood to the university.“I didn’t even pay for it because I knew I won’t get the value.”
Another sophomore of Zoology,Olabintan Omolola, had read the writing on the wall when she submitted that:“I am not staying at the school hostel this year – because of the poor condition of the hostel, Awo Hall especially.”
However, as they say, it is different stroke for different folk. Adebayo Okesola, a penultimate student of Agricultural and Environmental Engineering had a different line of thought from the aforesaid.
“If you look at the toilets, water is now running in some part of C Block. Some glasses that were broken have been fixed. You can see the work going at the D Block too. That’s commendable. Probably they just want us to feel that we are not paying 30, 000 in vain. I don’t know what comes after then. But, at least, for now, it has been appreciable.”
HERE IS WHAT THEY WISH TO SEE
“They should work on the rooms. If they ask us to pay 30K, it means in a room, it will be 90K for 3 bed spaces. So, at least, 30K should be enough to take care of it. So they should work on the rooms. All those electric circuits that are malfunctioning should be repaired.
“If you look at the walls the paintings are already obscure; they should try to change it – they should work on it. Another thing is that there are some amenities within the Hall like sporting facilities. At least we should be able to enjoy them,” Lawal Abiodun of MBBS 300Level advised.
Also, when asked what she would like to see, Rahmah Abdulsalam said she wants to see “What I paid for: A room I can sleep in with my mind being at rest. A room that’s aesthetically pleasing to my eyes.”
