Students decry deplorable state of university hostels in Bayelsa
Bayelsa students have decried the deplorable state of hostels in the state’s two Universities.
Some of the students at the Niger Delta University( NDU) Wilberforce, Amassoma, Bayelsa, in the Southern Ijaw Local Government Area, and the Federal University, Otuoke, (FUO), in Ogbia LGA, stated their dissatisfaction with the the conditions of their hostels.
An NDU student, Mr Lawrence Owei, said the story of deplorable hostels and other facilities were the same for the first generation universities, that had been in existence for over four decades, and the newly established ones.
”Decadent and disgusting hostels, laboratories, libraries, lecture halls, inadequate and ill-maintained facilities, overcrowding, lack of water and power, filthy rooms/bathrooms, general poor sanitary conditions, are the norm in most public tertiary institutions.
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“Both the male and the female hostels in public institutions are in a horrible state.
”The situation is worse with the high level of insecurity and exorbitant rent in the school environs, where a self-contained apartment can be as high as N150,000 to N200,000per annum,” he said.
”The private universities are more organised in the way they do things, especially on how they maintain their hostels.
A 100 level political science student of NDU, Mr Amos Ovuru, said that the hostel bed space was for fresh and returning students for a fee of between N20,000 and N45,000 per student.
”The students are complaining of bedbug-infested rooms, which are common in some of the universities’ hostels. The situation of the hostels is such that at times robbers come from outside campus to rob,” he said.
Ovuru said that private accommodation owned by individuals within the vicinity of the school were going for between N150,000 to N200,000 per year, some without even running water.
Also, at the Federal University, Otuoke, Mr Godspower Ovede, an English and Communication Studies student, said the university did not have enough hostels and bed space for fresh and returning students.
According to him, it may be because the university is new and has a student population of over 10,000.
”Students pay between N10,000 and N12,000 for bed space, while private accommodation is for between N150,000 and N200,000.
”One room apartment within the community is going for between N80,000 and N100,000 yearly,” he said.
Another student, Mr Yerin Asamabiri, of History and Diplomacy, said the school would soon be flooded and students would either be going to school in canoes or leaving the area for safety, because the hostels and the school environment were usually flooded between September to November every year.
