The Nation Newspaper

Tag: accommodation

  • OAU releases new procedure for accommodation

    OAU releases new procedure for accommodation

    The Division of Student Affairs ( DSA ), Obafemi Awolowo University ( OAU ) released a new procedure for accommodation processes recently, stating how bed spaces will be allocated to students in the forthcoming 2017/2018 session.

    Prior to this, the issue of accommodation has always been a major issue for many students of the University as the process of securing accommodation has been a very rigorous one which the majority of students eventually do not acquire.

    The DSA in line with the decision of the school management has decided to reduce the number of bed spaces in each room, thereby reducing the population of students in the halls of residence.

    The factor responsible for this decision is to reduce the number of students in each room and to allow convenience of students and for proper management of the halls of residence, which in turn would be an improvement in the living condition of the students in the halls of residence.

    Consequently, the bed spaces provided will be limited and accommodation is therefore not guaranteed for any student. This decision is favourable towards the fresh students (first year students) and the final year students; however, securing accommodation will be based on first – come, first – served application.

    However, there will be no special request for bed spaces either by staff or students. The DSA advises every student to look out for information concerning accommodation on the E- portal, the OAU website and the DSA notice board before the session 2016/2017 comes to an end.

  • Group seeks accommodation for residents

    The Southern Nigeria Peoples Mandate has appealed to Anambra State and Federal Governments to resolve the accommodation problem of more than 100 persons displaced by the February 15 tanker fire in Onitsha.

    The group’s President, Mr. Augustine Chukwudum, who made the plea in Onitsha, said about 15 families were rendered homeless.

    He said they were left with nothing after an articulated vehicle spilled inflammable content near the DMGS Roundabout, which resulted in inferno.

    The fire reportedly razed 13 buildings, 15 vehicles, five tricycles and three filling stations.

    Chukwudum said such a gesture would bring relief to the affected families, who were rendered homeless.

    “The human elements affected by the incident should be given optimal attention.

    “These 15 families of more than 100 persons altogether should be given befitting temporary accommodation before any other investigation should continue.

    “This is an eye opener for the government to ensure mushroom filling stations are not sited in residential neighbourhood.

    “Fuel and gas businesses should be sited away from residential areas, especially densely populated area of Onitsha metropolis.

    “We urge public spirited individuals, philanthropists and people who have spare clothes, household items and foodstuffs to assist the displaced persons,’’ he said.

  • Agent ‘bolts’ with accommodation seeker’s N440,000

    A 48-year-old estate agent, Ayo Adegoke, who allegedly absconded with N400,000 belonging to an accommodation seeker, was yesterday brought before an Ikeja Magistrates’ Court in Lagos.

    Adegoke is being tried on a two-count charge of fraud and stealing.

    Prosecuting Inspector Essien Ndarake said the accused committed the offence on May 8 at Dopemu Road, Agege, Lagos.

    He said the accused fraudulently obtained N440, 000 from one Mrs Glady Mersis, under the pretence of helping her to secure a self-contained room and parlour.

    “The accused collected the money from the complainant to help her get an apartment,’’ he said. The complainant approached the accused who claimed he was an estate agent for accommodation. The accused showed the complainant a vacant room and parlour self-contained and the complainant paid for the rent. After payment, the accused was nowhere to be found.

    “The complainant went to the apartment the accused showed him but discovered that the accused was not in charge of the vacant apartment,’’ Ndarake said.

    The prosecutor said efforts made by the complainant to retrieve her money proved unsuccessful as the accused refused to pick the complainant’s calls.

    The accused pleaded innocence of the offences and the Magistrate E. Kubeinje granted him N50, 000 bail with one surety in like sum.

    The case was adjourned till June 23, for mention.

  • FSTC Principal appeals to parents on accommodation

    The Principal, Federal Science and Technical College (FSTC), Yaba, Rev Chris Ugorji, has appealed to parents of newly-admitted pupils to bear with the school’s inability to accommodate all the JSS 1 pupils it has admitted due to space constraints.

    Ugorji spoke during an interactive session the management of the college had with members of the Parents/Teachers’ Association (PTA), School-Based Management Committee (SBMC), teachers, and journalists on Monday.

    He spoke ahead of the release of the final list of pupils to be admitted into the boarding house.

    Vice Principal, Students’ Affairs, Mrs Ann Ajisafe had informed the gathering that out of 350 pupils interviewed in the second batch, there were bed spaces for less than 100 pupils.

    Rev Ugorji, who could not give the exact number of JSS1 pupils admitted so far because the process is still ongoing, said the college is the one with largest student population (about 4,000) among the 104 Federal Unity Colleges.

    “We said admission would be very strict.  But I don’t have control over admission.  Admission is based on three criteria: merit, state quota and exigency – the big masquerade.  Many go to the minster, Oba, SBMC chairman, divisional police officers, heads of departments and others to use their good offices to get them admission into the college.  Everybody has a geographical, economic child.  In as much as we want admission to be strict, there are some forces that make them difficult,” he said.

    With the school’s inadequate hostel accommodation, Ugorji said the school cannot accommodate all its new pupils.

    Last session, he said the problem forced the school to convert some classrooms into hostels.  But he said such could not be done again as the classrooms were also inadequate.

    The principal said the completion of the 1,200-capacity female girls’ hostel being constructed by the PTA would address the institution’s accommodation problems.

    However the project, which has reached roofing stage, has been stalled because of internal dispute within the association over accountability of the project.

    A representative of the PTA, Mr Modasiru Sanusi, said the PTA would present accounts of the project to parents very soon.

    He however noted that some disgruntled elements within the association were the ones indicting others not to contribute additional funds to complete the project.

  • Accommodation is our major problem, says VC

    Despite the N2 billion 2014/2015 NEEDS Assessment fund released by the Federal Government for hostel intervention, the Federal University of Technology, Minna (FUTMinna) is yet to address accommodation challenges, said its Vice Chancellor, Prof Musbau Akanji.

    Akanji spoke after the matriculation of 4,250 students admitted for the 2014/2015 academic session at the Gidan Kwano campus of the institution.

    He, however, said the university would be tackling the hostel deficiency through a Public Private Partnership (PPP) approach  with private developers to construct halls of residence under the Build, Occupy and Transfer (BOT).

    Akanji said only 2,250 students out of the population of 15,000 are accommodated in the available halls of residence in the institution with the remaining 12, 750 living off campus.

    “We are hoping that, if this programme works out, it will substantially address the issue of accommodation of students. We have about 15, 000 students, but currently, we are only able to accommodate 2,250 students,” he said.

    He called for more funds for university education to enable the various institutions increase their intake.

    About 25 per cent of the 1.6 million applicants that applied through the Joint Admission Marticulation Board (JAMB) for 2014/2015 academic session were given admission by various public and private universities.

    “With increased funding from the government, more number of students can be admitted by universities,” Akanji said.

    The VC said out of the 10, 000 that applied for admission for 2014/2015 session , 6,650 sat for the Post-UTME. 4,743 were offered admission among whom 4,250 students finally scaled through.

    He urged the students to shun all acts contrary to the rules and regulations of the institution, such as examination malpractice, frauds of all kinds, financial racketeering, cultism, fighting, theft, assault, rumour mongering and illicit drug dealing.

    Against this backdrop, he said a Commitee Against Anti-Social Activities (CASA) has been put in place to counsel and monitor students’ activities on the university’s two campuses; Bosso and Gidan Kwano, where they could seek guidance.

     

  • A varsity’s accommodation blues

    Three students were hospitalised following a stampede for hostel accommodation at the Usmanu Danfodiyo University (UDUS), Sokoto, last week. HALIMAH AKANBI (300-Level Law), IBRAHIM JATTO (Zoology) and ISMAT ANIFOWOSE (300-Level Economics) report.

    For students of the Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto (UDUS), securing accommodation on campus has always been a problem. Though the institution has vast land, it can only provide accommodation for less than 20 per cent of its students.

    Every year, it is a struggle to get space in the hostel. The story is the same this year. The rush for bed space is began as soon as the management got applications for accomodation.

    Out of desperation, students besieged the designated submission centres the previous night. Some of them passed the night there to submit early.

    At 7am, there was a crowd of students, pushing and shoving before the university officials arrived to start the exercise.

    In the ensuing commotion, three students fainted. They were rushed to the health centre. The presence of the school security personnel did not stop the chaos, as scores of students sustained injuries.

    When the situation was getting out of hand, the Dean of Students’ Affairs, Dr Adamu Aliero, stopped the exercise.

    Days later, the Students’ Affairs Division announced an alternative application method. The unit introduced online application, which required students to log in to a special portal within seven days.

    The chairman of the bed space allocation committee and Deputy Dean of Students’ Affairs, Dr Aliyu Gobir, said the online application was necessary to avert chaos.

    He said: “Accommodation problem is not peculiar to UDUS alone; it is a problem in most universities. We have hostels that can only accommodate less than 25 per cent of our students. The allocation of bed spaces is based on first-come-first-serve, which is the reason students slept at the submission centres to apply early. In this year’s exercise, there appeared to be more pressure becaue everybody wanted to apply. We had to cancel the manual application procedure for the online application after a careful study of the situation on ground.”

    The cancellation of the manual application procedure was to avert danger, Dr Aliero said. He said the rush for submission could lead to a stampede, adding that the management did not expect such chaotic conduct of students.

    Asked what the university was doing to provide more hostels, Dr Aliero said: “The management is doing its best and we have been engaging private firm to come and build more hostels. Just recently, the Kano State government came in to build a new hostel. We have also taken over abandoned hostel project by Zamfara State government. Old Hostel library has been rehabilitated to accommodate female students. More are still coming.”

    Students hailed the management for stopping the exercise, urging it to hasten the completion of hostel it is building. This, Hannatu Aliyu, 100-Level Physics, said would reduce the stress students go through because of the distance of the campus from town.

    Abdulgafar Saka, a 200-Level Economics student, said: “The reason why we experience accommodation problem every year is the distance of the school to Sokoto town. It is a punishment for students living off-campus to go to school every day. It is annoying to see students struggling to get bed spaces in the school hostels. The probability of getting a bed space is not certain. Management needs to be up to the task of providing accommodation for the students.”

    To Waheed Yusuf, a student of Faculty of Social Sciences, the government should be blamed for not putting students into consideration in the planning of the school. “The government was selfish in its thinking when the school was being established,” he said.

    Olufunmilayo Oladeji, an Agriculture Science student, said: “The problem is not whether students apply manually or via the internet. It is the fact that there are no enough spaces in the hostel to accommodate students. Although, online registration is preferable if only students must be assured of fairness in the selection process.”

    It is to be seen how fair the method will be when students resume for 2014/2015 academic session in a few weeks.

  • Dean seeks private sector-driven accommodation

    The Pro-chancellor and Chairman of Council of the Osun State University, Prof Gabriel Olawoyin (SAN) has expressed the need for the institution to make provision for campus accommodation through private sector participation.

    Prof Olawoyin made the remark while responding to the requests from the Dean of the Faculty of Education, Prof A.B. Alhassan, during the Governing Council’s visit to the faculty.

    Alhassan decried the low level of private sector partnership with the school, urging the management to explore strategies adopted by other institution to woo private investor to build hostels on the campus.

    He said university hostels was necessary for security of lives and conducive learning.

    The dean also called for the deployment of experienced lecturers to the faculty to handle relevant courses, saying it would help the university in its quest to produce world-class graduates.

    He charged the management to provide subject-based laboratories on the campus to aid effective teaching.

    In his response, Prof Olawoyin promised that the requests of the faculty would be considered.

    Olawoyin in company of council members also visited the palace of the Ajalaye of Ipetu Ijesa, Oba Adekunle Baderin.

  • Why in-built partitioning is important while building

    Building a first-time house is always with a lot of enthusiasm. It must, however, be done with a lot of care. People react to where they are coming from, especially if they had a difficult landlord or relationship with fellow tenants. They just start their building construction without actually taking certain things into consideration.

    I know of people who decided to build a six and eight-bedroom house though in actual fact they can’t afford to build more than two or three bedroom flat. This is simply a result of an experience from their last accommodation.

    A childhood friend of mine decided to build his first house and after five years he completed it because he had to save and build and then stop when ever his money couldn’t carry him through. Just after nine months that he completed his house and still basking in the euphoria of being a landlord got this good paying job in Abuja and had to move his family to the capital city.

    But his challenge then was what to do with the house that he so strained himself to build and then realised that he would have listened to wise counsel when he started off by segmenting the house or deliberately building the house in such a way that he could conveniently separate the building into two and at least have a tenant in the other half while he moves his family to Abuja.

    He lamented the stress of the movement and the fact that his house cannot easily be rented out due to the size. He considered where he will put some of the family’s personal effects that cannot be carried to Abuja.

    This is one of the several experiences that first time home owners have while building, they actually do not take time out to think of possible change in their work place or the size of the family.

    Their primary engagement most times is just to build and have their own house to avoid the stress and hassles that goes on with being a tenant.

    The above example is instructive to anybody building currently, always build your house in such a way that you can easily create a divide in between and still have complete flats with all the necessary convenience.

    It’s bad to leave a house fallow for months with it being occupied not talking of years before you know it , the house will become home for reptiles and ants and possibly with mucus on the walls with the value and worth depreciating as the days go by.

    It’s always sad to see houses wasting away and it takes just a lot more to fix it back, because when you decide to fix the house after some few years you will go through the whole process of fixing not only the building but also you will think of working on the plumbing, electrical and other engineering jobs.

    So it’s smart to think fast, though when you start out there was not the least likelihood that you may go on transfer or seek a new job that will take you off your station. It is better to be on the winning side by building for the future.

    Don’t ever think you are too settled in your present station to move, something may make you to move, it doesn’t matter if it’s against your will. After all they say the only constant thing in life is change. Nobody should ever think that life is only about what we wish ourselves but sometimes life throws up a challenge that we must embrace and move on.

    As l write this l feel bad seeing my neighbours house that he spent his life savings to build derelict because though he built the house so large against what he actually needs because he has a medium sized family but most importantly he failed to make provision on how to possibly partition the house into two to earn some kind of income while he is on transfer to Port Harcourt. As we speak his house cannot be rented because of the clusters and there is possibly no way the house can be partitioned for two families.

    The situation is that while he is paying so much in his new station, he can’t possibly raise money from his house in Lagos to off-set his bills in Port Harcourt. Now he is talking about breaking walls and building a new toilet, bathroom and kitchen to see if he can carve out a-one bedroom apartment so that the house can be busy and also raise income.