The reaction of students to the state of facilities on campus in Crescent University can best be described as endurance. And those in the general hostels were the strongest fighters.
300 level Political Science student, Adebisi Adegoke walked slowly past the dark cafeteria; that meant no hot meal for her tonight. She wondered if there was water in the tank she had to fetch bucketfuls from, and if the toilets were clean. She walked on in silence but the voice in her head said “my days are numbered”.
Dantata Hall is a female general hostel on the university campus. The hall being general means no cooking facilities or ensuites. There are 38 rooms and 17 toilets available for about 152 ladies at 4 students per room. The total number of toilet and bathrooms are 28 with just 17 in use. The hall has no internal plumbing for water and so students have to get water from a tank situated outside. The tank is supplied by a water truck . The students use of water is dependent on the supply from the truck which comes mostly once a day not when the water finishes but on its routine. The students are then tasked with getting water from other halls. The students get sustenance from two buttery operators in the hostel compound or go outside the compound to the University cafeteria and supermarket. The discussants spoke about the school cafeteria saying it opened late, closed early and at times had little or no food by night time. They claimed the pricing was high and the quantity little.
Toilet
Shukroh Badmus, a 400 level Law student, shared that she had contracted “toilet infection” four times, blaming it on bad state of the toilets. She said when she was battling with this complication, she went to the school clinic for treatment and she was given a topical cream which slightly reduced the itchiness. But after some days she could not bear the pain any longer and had to go home for better treatment where she was given drugs (inserters etc). She however made it known that the school authorities were not informed of her predicament.
The female general hostel toilets have no functioning plumbing including taps, showers and wc flush. The facilities are smeared from age and use.
We had an interview with an official of the students affairs division, Mrs Akande; who mentioned severally that lack of communication was the devil at work. When informed of the student’s perception of the toilet and bathroom facilities, she shed more light on the situation. For 2020/2021 academic session the school had an intake of 225 students but this session there were over 1000 intakes. “There is an accommodation problem” she said in response to the toilet issue explaining that changes were made to initial number of room occupants to accommodate new entrants thereby increasing the ratio of students to toilets. Using the Marble hall as an example, she said “they call it 2-man room but today it has metamorphosed into 4-man room because of the explosion of students we have this academic session.” When we asked about the toilet infection claims, she claimed that the cases brought to her were of students in private hall with ensuites and as such deemed it a personal hygiene issue. She revealed that there would be renovation of the public hostels but could not give us a time-line.
Mrs Akande furthered, that the foundation had been set before construction with a plan in mind before the influx of new students and so a complete overhaul of the facilities would not be possible but an upgrade was in plans.
Creation of general hostels and renovations are approaches other institutions have applied. The university should consider the diverse nature of its student and should not focus only on commercialisation of accommodation.
FOOD
Mayowa Oguntade, a student is also an ulcer patient, he constantly has his crisis due to the fact that the school cafeteria opens late, closes early and also sells their food in small quantity. Mayowa’s background is one where he can’t afford to bring much provisions or buy food at a higher price, he has to manage his resources.
He complained that the university is supposed to have a school-runned cafeteria where food can be bought at a lower price in good quantity . He cited Babcock University as an example; the University has its own school-runned cafeteria where students purchase food at good prices and in a hygienic environment.
The University has cafeterias in various areas of its campus: Tropicana at Bowlsant, Main Café and Tantaliser at the centre of the campus, Cupaf Cafeterias at the male hostel area. The university’s supermarket can also be located after the field behind the Auditorium.
A students affairs official cleared the air when informed of Mayowa’s complaints saying “The University cafeteria is a school owned but on lease to workers. The students also misused the opportunities by staying out late and mingling with the opposite gender” she said. The management also leased out a new cafeteria bringing the number to 5 cafeterias so that students can get varieties of food and also made sure that there are tuckshops in the hostels.
The school has its own rules and regulations guiding both workers and students of the University. The management made it mandatory for all vendors to close early because students abused the opportunity by staying out late. The vendors want to make profit with very little loss and so they do not make food in large quantities or open on resumption dates.
Other institutions allow for cooking in every hall of residence and have cafeterias close to every hall.
WATER
Water is life. Water is needed to do almost everything in our daily activities and if there is inadequate supply of water in an institution, students bear the consequences. These include stockpiling of dirty laundry, plates and more importantly lateness to class.
The school management purchases water from the water corporation and private owners, acquired more tanks ( 2 new tanks and new taps installment at Dantata Hall, January 2023), installed internal plumbing and pumping machines.
From the interview we conducted, we were informed that the school owns about 20 boreholes, 10 located on campus including the ones donated by the Crescent University Parent Forum(CUPAF) and the Alumni association.
The rocky nature of Abeokuta makes the digging of wells or drilling of boreholes almost impossible. Water is mostly available during rainy season but boreholes usually dry up in dry season. Water pipelines were also destroyed during the period that many major roads were reconstructed during the administration of Senator Ibikunle Amosun. The economic burden of purchasing water and its transport also contributes to its inadequate quantity.
There is an adage that goes “What is broken can be fixed” and as such the boreholes should be rehabilitated. Aqueducts which move water from where it is plentiful to where it is needed should be considered (this system functions in the country’s capital of Abuja), water should be pumped more than once a day especially when authority is notified.
The crux of the issue from our investigation is a lack of communication. The students perceive the institution to be an uncaring body which the school has proved to be false while the management which can only make effective and swift decision to improve student’s welfare is left uninformed. The leading solution is open communication, students are encouraged to send their complaints anonymously or not and work together to improve the quality of service.
Disclaimer ! The names of students in this article were changed to protect their identities.
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