Pride itself as the most peaceful campus in the country, Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto (UDUS), formerly University of Sokoto, is one of the 12 federal universities established in 1975. The varsity took off on a temporary site now called city campus while its permanent site was being developed.
After the campus was moved to its permanent site, the management retained some disciplines, such Veterinary Medicine, Health Sciences and Islamic Studies, among others in city campus. This, in opinion of some people, made the school to lag behind in this era of digitalisation and technology-driven development.
However, there are some ideas that can boost the social and academic growth of school. The aim of the present management is to make the school the best in Nigeria and one of the best in the world. My rational thinking needs to be reviewed by the management if we want to see improvement in the university.
Firstly, the staff-student relationship must be rebuilt. It is instructive to note here that there has been no good relationship between students and lecturers. Some lectures are not friendly, because they think students can misuse the opportunity if they allow them to get close. If there is a good relationship, students will benefit and achieve their academic aims.
Management should also be conscious of the school calendar. Normal period for a session is 34 weeks, but we sometimes have first semester to extend to six to seven months and second semester, four to five months. Management should look into this and make amendment.
What is the state of the school hostel? While the management must be commended for making the school hostels conducive for students, it must be pointed out that more hostels are needed to accommodate more students. The inadequate accommodation has led to a phenomenon now known on campus as Moroko, which is slang for squatting. Students must also be made to maintain hygiene in the Halls of Residence.
In 21 Century, technology is playing a key role in the development of higher institutions. To tap the opportunity, the challenges students face in the newly-introduced online registration must be addressed. The problem of registration has subjected students to untold hardship more than when they needed to carry their course forms from one department to another. The management should review the bottleneck and solve the problem. Also, in this era of Internet, missing grade should have been a thing of the past.
While there are people who claim to be students, it is pertinent to enforce the use of identity cards to identify who is not a student. Management needs to make it compulsory for every student to have ID card hung around the neck to avoid embarrassment.
Final year students should also see their results being released on time before they are mobilised for National Youth Service. As it is done in many schools, graduating students should start their exams ahead of their junior colleagues to enable them see their results on time.
The social life on the campus must also be boosted vigorously. The opinion many people have about UDUS as Islamic school is understandable, because of its location and perhaps, the absence of social events that can build students’ relationship. Let there be more social activities.
On infrastructure, I believe the university road is needed to be made a dual carriage, while there should be provision of concrete walkway on the sides. Old buildings should be renovated. School Bus Stop is also needed to be relocated to another location to stop noise in the academic area. The school would witness academic growth if more faculties and laboratories are built.
To boost sport on the campus, a lot of things are needed to be put in place to make way for sport fiesta, such as inter-faculty football contest.
Having a standard stadium that will have hockey court, volleyball and basketball pitches, table tennis section and lawn tennis yard is not a bad idea.
The yoke of tribalism must be fought on the campus. Some students from the North still believe that they rights to lead students’ bodies and want their colleagues from the South not to dare contesting against them. We are in school to acquire knowledge, tribal politics should be discouraged in any election being organised by students.
On hostel security, I can confirm that majority of the students unanimously kick against activities of the so-called Yaro boys and girls. Their presence in the hostel has more disadvantages than any benefit students may be deriving from it. They must be stopped from coming to hostels, because of security of students.
If the management can meet these conditions, learning would be highly conducive for students and it would improve the academic rating of the university.
