Adetunji Oluwafemi
Obafemi Awolowo University Ile Ife Osun State has in the new session increased the accommodations fee from #3,090 to #30,000 for fresher’s and #25,000 for stale students but students are not getting real value for the increment. Overgrown grasses, water scarcity, uneven distribution of cupboard, dirty environments, amongst others still affects the hall of residence
Obafemi Awolowo University(OAU) Ile Ife, Osun State is one of the oldest universities in Nigeria. Like other universities, it has different student’s accommodation (halls of residence) for both male and female undergraduates and postgraduate students. In OAU, there are 9 halls of residence, 4 for male undergraduates, 4 for female undergraduates, and 1 for both male and female postgraduate students.
Moreover, there are private halls of residence on the OAU campus which include the Maintenance Hall (strictly for female undergraduates and postgraduate students), Amazing Grace Hostel, and the Ojaja Hall owned by the Ooni of Ife.
The male undergraduate hostels include Angola, Awolowo, ETF, and Fajuyi hall. The female undergraduate hostel on the other hand includes Akintola, Alumni, Moremi, and Mozambique Hall of Residence. The postgraduate hostel is named Muritala Muhammad Hall of Residence.
Deplorable state of students’ hostels
i Angola Hall
In an interview with occupants of Angola Hall of Residence, Victor says “Angola Hall of Residence does not afford his occupants as much comfort and pleasure as it should. “Angola is the only male Hall of residence that does not have a Table tennis court. There is also perennial water scarcity issue, yet there are empty storage tanks lying idle” Victor said “Occupant of Block D often have to go and fetch water at Block G.” Victor added
Angola Hall
“In addition, restrooms within Angola have no light, a student without a flashlight at night is always endangered. The Iron-made goalpost for the mini field in between blocks B and C are in bad shape and nothing was done about it by the Excos, a student was injured recently before a makeshift was done” Victor shared with a confused face.
Some parts of the roofs are bad and have seen better days. Grasses are overgrown, posing danger to occupant’ lives.” Another student shared.
iii Adekunle Fajuyi Hall
Of all the halls, Adekunle Fajuyi seems to be most affected and neglected in terms of care. The experiences of many students in this hall leaves a sour taste in the mouth. An occupant of Adekunle Fajuyi hall says “Water scarcity is the major problem that occupants are battling with.
The only source of water in the hall as of today was the mosque and a water reservoir near the portal’s lodge. This can hardly serve. The queue is usually long early in the morning. Many had to forgo taking baths for their early morning lectures.
state of Restrooms, environment etc of Fajuyi Hall
“Another problem is that this Hall has a bushy and very dirty environment, we kill snakes almost every week, even though snake bites have not been recorded” The tall bushes around us are endangering student’s lives. The stench and smell here is second to none. Few blocks with restrooms within Fajuyi are in bad shape while others (block J annex etc) do not have,
Iii Awolowo Hall
Awolowo Hall has similar problems to Fajuyi Hall. The occupants suffered the most for water in this Academic session before a borehole was dug to reduce the scarcity of water. During scarcity of water, the occupants need to go fetch water in the Health Center complex, PG hall, or Angola Hall. Awo Hall is also battling with tall bushes which were supposed to be taken care of regularly but were not.
iv ETF Hall
Many of the ETF Hall occupants we spoke to claimed that the hostel is spacious but dirty. The lawlessness in the hall is second to none, Students urinate anywhere as there are no regulations guiding how students should behave. Some rooms do not even have power supplies while others do.
Hall Exco speaks
Speaking with the General Secretary of the Angola Hall of residence, Fatoyinbo Azeez popularly known as A.Z says “Our priority since we assumed office was to ensure the welfare of occupants of our Hall of Residences and that specifically made us to constantly reach out to the Division of Student Affairs and other stakeholders and it has been yielding positive responses so far, Angola Hall is the only hostel that is not affected by water scarcity.
“I can say categorically that there was limited water supply around Block A – D because the pipe linked to the water tanks got blocked and we’ve been working relentlessly by writing to and meeting with the management without success though” Fatoyinbo said
According to Fatoyinbo, “there was a bushy area due to the fact that there was a SSANU and NASU strike when this semester commenced, it was cut down immediately after the strike was suspended.
#Adetunji Olufwaemi, a campus journalist and 2024 campus Journalism fellow of Africa Foundation for Young Media Professionals sent this story from Obafemi Awolowo University,Ile-Ife Osun State
