Confidence Kponi
Students of the University of Port Harcourt, UNIPORT have expressed their distress over the high rate of flood in their environment.
While many students of various tertiary institutions in Nigeria are in jubilation mode, UNIPORT students are not really pleased because their school is not exempted from this and so they believe the flood will affect many students’ performance, academic calendars, and other unforeseen issues that may arise later is not controlled.
These students are however calling on the school authorities to put utmost consideration first, their students who have been, and are currently affected by the flood. They also mentioned that the school should fix the drainage system to control the flood from its source.
A student of the Law department, Favour Godson revealed that the road from Bayelsa is flooded and there is no way cars can pass by.
In her statement, “Those in Bayelsa cannot leave and those outsides cannot go in. Although there’s an alternative route to Port Harcourt through the Asaba-Onitsha-Owerri Port Harcourt route, that is a huge expense for a student and orphan like me. Moreover, those routes are not exactly safe from kidnapping/gunmen.”
Jennifer Amadi, a 100-level student of the Linguistics and Communication Studies Department, appealed to the University Management to consider taking the first-semester examination in batches, for students affected by the flood.
She noted that “roads leading to Port Harcourt from Bayelsa are eroded and currently experiencing flooding.”
Nwachukwu Bright, Education Department, also reacted that failure on the part of the Management to consider students affected by the flood may lead to depression for most of the students.
He said, “it is time for the University Management to adopt an alternative approach to accommodate displaced female students, whose homes have been submerged by the flood.”
A student who pleaded anonymity urged the University Management to fix all Campus drainage to avoid flooding.
“Last year September, the University witnessed heavy flooding during the matriculation ceremony as hostels, parks, and entrances to offices were fully covered with water, making it difficult for vehicles and students to go through.
“I felt bad, seeing many viral pictures circulating on microbiology sites to mock the University, so I challenged the management to step up its development and show working on fixing all the drainages,” he added.
