The management of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Akoka, has rescinded its decision to compel students who may be allocated hostel accommodation to bring their mattresses and other items to the campus, PREMIUM TIMES can exclusively report.
Top officials of the university who spoke exclusively with this newspaper on Friday morning said though the decision was based on personal hygiene of the students, “as a responsible institution, listening to the dissenting opinions and conceding to the popular demand was the best thing to do.”
The Dean of the Students’ Affairs of the university, Musa Obalola, a professor, also confirmed the latest development in a telephone interview.
Mr Obalola said the university’s earlier position was based on the health of the students and the university as a whole. He said many parents had approached the institution to suggest the option of providing personal mattresses for their wards as a solution to the degenerating unhygienic situation in the hostels.
“We fumigate regularly but because of the attitudes of the students to the public facilities, we realised fumigation hasn’t really helped. So the idea of personal provision of mattresses was just something we thought could make the owners to be responsible enough and care for what they own,” Mr Obalola said.
Earlier position
In a directive signed by Mr Obalola, the university had announced that the hostel allocation exercise would commence on Monday, 23 October.
The memo said successful candidates would be required to come with their mattresses covered with macintosh, adding that students should pay their fees and register some courses for the session.
Confirming the development, Adejoke Alaga-Ibrahim, the institution’s spokesperson, told PREMIUM TIMES Thursday that the university’s decision was solely based on hygiene and health reasons.
Mrs Alaga-Ibraheem said the university was very concerned about the safety of the students, and that only health safety could guarantee sound teaching and learning.
Parents kick
The parents of students of UNILAG, however, expressed displeasure over the management’s directive.
The Chairman of the school’s Parents’ Forum, Olayiwola Aderemi, told Tribune Newspaper that members only read the directive on a platform and that they are unhappy about the information.
“Apart from the financial burden this will bring on parents, who are yet to come out of the huge obligatory fees palaver, we saw the information as absurd,” Mr Aderemi said.
He said the forum had earlier donated 1,000 mattresses to the university two years ago when it hosted the NUGA games, and that 500 were also donated earlier when the university experienced the “bedbugs crisis in the hostel”.
“That is 1,500 mattresses altogether bought by the Parents’ Forum in the recent past,” he noted.
School fees increment
Mr Aderemi also complained about the university demanding too much amidst “harsh economy.”
He added that it has been difficult for many parents to meet up with the recent increment in various obligatory fees.
The university had increased the payable fees depending on the courses of study and year of admission.
But after protests by the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), the management reviewed the fees for new undergraduate students from N126,325 to N116,325 for courses without lab/studio and N176,325 to N166,325 for courses with lab/studio.
The obligatory fees for returning undergraduate students were reviewed from N100,750 to N80,750 for courses without lab/studio; N140,250 to N120,250 for courses with lab/studio; and from N190,250 to N170,250 for medical / pharmacy students and students in health professions.
Way forward
A senior official of the university who craved anonymity said though the management had good intention of safeguarding the health of the students, “no Nigerian would be ready to listen to anything that would attract any form of additional expenses.”
“So what the university has done was to look elsewhere for mattresses and see how we could manage those that are currently available. But what I want the public to note is that this vice-chancellor is not the type to make life difficult for anyone,” the official said.
The dean of students’ affairs also confirmed that a meeting between his office and the parents’ forum would hold where the official position would be taken.
“Yes, our meeting with the parents is only to assure them of our sincerity of purpose and to let them know that the management has listening ears. The university is a legacy that we must all guard very well and Madam Vice-Chancellor is committed to doing just that,” Mr Obalola said.
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