By Adedolapo
Sweaty and tired, he strained his eyes to read along the lines carefully and quickly. Certainly not as fast as he would; yet, modestly the best he could. The heat increased, his throat dried and thoughts flowed. He finally decided to pack his books aside and left for the quadrangle. What better fun could you acquire from some weather like this? He dusted his trousers, adjusted his top and wore a smile while he approached the guys. ‘Boss of all bosses’ they all whined themselves; typical unites.
Afterwards, they continued to hype the girls and argued on various topics like the recent rank of the university and the truth untold, Nasu strike and its lack of feasible strategy and the worst courses one could borrow from the Faculty of Arts. No one spoke of the light. He pondered on how to bring it up; fast tracked to the almost salty food in Mellanby. Suddenly, light comes on. ‘Up Nepa!’ he heard the female hostels shake with sounds while the guys murmured ‘eeeeheeeh’. Almost immediately, everyone begin to disperse. Some to KBL, some to Law, Catholic and the abnormal like him left for their rooms.
He entered his room and met his roommate asleep—it was 10pm. ‘Hey guy. Wake up, he shouted. His roomie stretched and turned, ‘there is light. Oh! Wow! Wake me up at 1 am. I am tired’. He went back to sleep. Not distracted, he goes back to pick up his note which read on it, NASA, switched on his system to work on his assignment before revising for his next exams. Just about two minutes to one, light goes off. He looked at his roommate who soundly slept with all comfort. He had to make do with the less than two hours his laptop could sustain him.
This has been a near typical lifestyle of an average uite for the past one week and it is quite surprising that many still find it rather unpleasant. From the first semester, every student enjoys the unlimited availability of electricity as well as water. The second semester is filled with varieties of social events, irregular classes, low or no electricity which invariably affects the availability of water in most hostels. Many students have to fit into this reality and resign for the most affordable alternative. Some of which are- an increase in the number of attendees at the Catholic Church, increase in the use of rechargeable or solar lamps or a regular visit to the closet communities. Let’s analyse them:
Catholic is rather too small a place to accommodate large number of students within the University community. Nevertheless, never underestimate the power of uites to overvalue the ‘insufficient’ by extending the extentions way down to the Baluba kingdom.
Rechargeable lamps: this might be rather not be reliable, at least not quite often as when the supply of electricity is low, there would be a reduced functionality of these lamps.
Nearby communities: several communities such as Agbowo, Ajibode and Orogun can also not claim to have so much of what we can call a regular supply of electricity. Yet, there would be a better assurance of it than being within the University community.
THE QUESTION THEN IS, WHAT HAPPENED TO THE UNIVERSITY AND ITS SOLAR POWER PLANT?
In 2016, President Buhari, ably represented by the Minister of State for Education, Prof. Anthony Anwuka inaugurated the alternative source of electrical energy. As published by Guardian Online, Chairman, UI Power Improvement Programme, Prof. Adeboye Olatunbosun said that the solar project was to become functional that year. And as reported and analysed by Sunday Saanu, ‘This plant, when completed, has numerous and multiplier effect of electricity availability, not only for UI but also for neighbouring communities and Ibadan as a whole. It will be business outfit for UI as it will be selling electricity to Ibadan Electricity Board. The cost of running generators will reduce.’
As expected, newspapers took on various headlines to describe this achievement, ‘As UI becomes private energy producer’, ‘The school’s 10MW solar-power plant and what it truly means’, ‘Buhari inaugurates Nigeria’s first solar power plant in UI’. At that point one would have thought that the University’s breakthrough was a climax for Nigeria. Was the University not supposed to be a fountain of knowledge? Yet, the University’s assumed development could be described as one who found a gold and a wood, took the wood to a carpenter but kept the gold beneath the ground because there was no nearby goldsmith.
Now what happened to the University’s dream? ‘Welcome to a world class 24/7 electricity community!’ Yet, the less than nine hours one hardly enjoys is regarded as an opportunity to all and sundry. Even department which cannot afford inverters or mini solars are victims of this plight.
It is quite disheartening that the first and arguably the second best still finds it really challenging to fund itself. The University still claims that the undergraduate program is a major problem as they (undergraduates) gain more than they pay for, yet it has numerous business ventures and other academics programs which they (the University) gain more than they invest in. At this present point and century, electricity is never expected to be seen as an option but necessity as everyone is generally affected and its impact in academics, administration and businesses cannot be overemphasised.
Electricity just like an undisrupted academic year is overly essential for the success and eventual development of intellectual minds. It is therefore important that the University’s management look into lingering issues and proffer sustainable solutions to them. And for the students, it is time to come into reality, whereby we acknowledge the norm and work towards not being a victim of it. Once examination begins in second semester, we would definitely have light issues. Get your lamps and keep a seat at Catholic. Avoid the WhatsApp and Facebook nagging; it helps to save data for more important stuff. Till then, stay wise.
