Postgraduate students of the University of Lagos (UNILAG) are urging the management to reverse its new accommodation policy, which requires them to pay more than double for bed spaces, report KOFOWOROLA BELO-OSAGIE and OLUWATOYIN ADELEYE
Postgraduate students of the University of Lagos (UNILAG) are not happy with the increment in hostel accommodation fees by the management of the institution.
Registering for the 2016/2017 academic session means they have to pay more than twice the amount they paid last session for their bedspaces.
A circular dated November 22, 2016 informed the students that the Postgraduate wing of Sodeinde Hall, which used to be solely for undergraduates, would cost N120,000 per bed space with the addition of a Caution Fee of N25,000. The Erastus Akingbola Hall also goes for N145,000 (Caution Fee inclusive) – up from N90,000 per bed space. Henry Carr Hall now goes for N70,000 (totalling N95,000 with Caution Fee ) per bed space. The bed space used to cost N11,000. The maintenance fee of N33,000 and caution fee of N3,500 brought it to N58,500.
The hostels are designed in such a way that each PhD student occupies a two-man room. This means that while Masters students pay for single bed spaces, PhD students pay the cost of two bed spaces but are single occupants.
The increment means that PhD students in Erastus Akingbola will have to pay as high as N265,000; those in Henry Carr will pay up to N165,000 to continue to stay as single occupants.
The students have frowned at this increment, which they describe as expensive, considering that they are full-time students, who are not allowed to take up paid employment. They are, therefore, seeking a reversal of the new fees.
A PhD student from the Department of Philosophy, who was among the 11 students selected to liaise with the management on the matter, said the increment was unjustifiable, considering the size of the rooms and the ban on paid employment.
The student, who is an occupant of Henry Carr Hall, said: “For PhD, we will now be required to pay N70, 000 times two for the same tiny room we have been occupying. That is N140, 000 with an addition of N25, 000 caution fee. That is over 800 per cent increase.
“Meanwhile, in our admission letters, it was stated clearly that full time PhD students must not take up paid employment anywhere. So the implication is that most PhD students are jobless. Some of them are working for the university for free, which they call part of our training or apprenticeship. Hence, most of us are jobless. We work as graduate assistants for the university, supervise examinations and invigilate, mark scripts on behalf of our lecturers, do some departmental work, without getting paid. Now, owing to the fact that there is recession in the country today, how can they now inflate the hostel fee by over 800 per cent.”
Another PhD student from the Sociology department said the amount being paid was not commensurate with the quality of facilities the students enjoy. For instance, he complained that they were forced to share bathrooms. Also, to cut cost, he said the PhD students would be forced to take roommates which would increase the burdne on the facilities.
“We have 32 rooms on each floor of Henry Carr Hall, which gives occupants access to only three toilets and bathrooms. There are three blocks in Henry Carr Hall and each block has three floors.
“If we all abide by the new rules, we calculated the money per year to amount to about N60 million. Where is all the money going? Now they are saying if we cannot pay the fees, we should look for roommates to stay with us. That means 64 people on one floor for the same amount of facilities. That is not even healthy. It will give room for environmental and health hazards – although, we have access to good water and power supply.
“I have stayed here for three years now and I have paid caution fee of N3,500 every year with no single refund. Now they have jacked it up to N25, 000. What kind of calculation led to such an increase?” he asked.
The student also lamented that the Graduate Fellowship (GF) programme that PhD students once enjoyed had been stopped by the university though he claimed students of other universities still enjoy it. The programme provided funds for PhD students to pursue their programmes.
He said: “More than N600 million comes from the Federal Government every year in form of PhD scholarship in various Federal universities. It is only in UNILAG that the Graduate Fellowship Programme and the Teaching Assistant Programmes have been cancelled.
“It was cancelled and replaced with a programme where first class undergraduates are absorbed as graduate assistants by the university and they are paid directly by the Federal Government as full staff. When this programme was cancelled, there was no communication from any quarters, while many of us had already worked for free for about nine months. And you cannot claim such money because we were not given any letter. The usual system was that we will be given a letter to start work and at the end of 10 months, you submit your documents and you are paid in bulk. I was a beneficiary and I collected N500, 000 in the first year. But the second year, we had already started working and some of us had worked for nine/10 months and nothing was paid because it was suddenly cancelled.”
An occupant of Erastus Akingbola Hall also lamented the huge cost of the PhD programme without the cushioning effect of the GF.
He said: “They cancelled our GF money and they said we are not meant to be gainfully employed because we are on a full-time programme. I bought one small book of about 200 pages online recently for N58,000. Then they increased our fees. How are we supposed to cater to these fees? Indirectly, you are breeding corrupt graduates, because they will be desperate to make back all the money they have spent to achieve what they have achieved. If I find myself in public service, and I look back on what the society has done for me to get to that position won’t I look for how to gain them back? We want investigation into all aspects of all these things. Why stop the GF programme for the full-time students? Are you indirectly telling the world that PhD is not for the poor; that if you want to come for the PhD programme, you must have millions in your account?”
The student also complained that the programme is made more expensive by unnecessary delays caused by the negligence of supervisors.
“Some of us have even over stayed –not because we like this environment –but because the system has delayed us. It is a system that if you do course work, five years later, your result has not reached the postgraduate school, how do you graduate? And nobody can be queried. Some of our friends travelled to other countries, like South Africa, and under three years they came back with their PhD. But we stay here unnecessarily. You roam about. Supervision means intimacy. But here you submit work, go back the following day and your supervisor cannot find it. You submit the same work eight times. No red biro correction on your work, you are just on your own,” another student said.
A new graduate of the University and one-time chairman of Sodeinde Hall said he is awaiting his admission into the postgraduate school for the 2016/2017 academic session.
He is sad that he would be affected by the increment – a far cry from what he paid as an occupant of the same hostel as undergraduate. He questioned the increment, claiming that the funds for the rehabilitation of the halls of residence came from the Federal Government and not the school’s coffers.
“I believe the refurbishing of these halls was not funded by the school, but by the Federal Government. So why should the school now charge exorbitant fees? I will be coming back for my masters next year and N120, 000 is not something I can part with for accommodation. Sodeinde Hall used to be N24, 500 for undergraduates so the increment is just too much.
“They should reduce the Caution Fee to like N5, 000 because nobody has N25, 000 to deposit with the school till the end of the year. They can come up with a scheme where the moment students are leaving the halls, or even twice a month, they check if the facilities are in order and you get them to pay for damages,” he said.
When asked to comment on the issues raised by the students, the Deputy Registrar, Information and Protocol, Mr Toyin Adebule said the university management was reviewing the case. He, however, said the postgraduate students enjoyed better facilities than the rest of the school.
He said: “The fee issue is still under review and management is holding meetings over it. However, we all know the current situation of things in the country. Everything is now more expensive and these hostels run on full power supply every day. Even when there is no light in the staff quarters, the postgraduate halls will have power. They have water and their hostels are very comfortable. We all know how accommodation is outside. The hostels outside the school are about N500, 000. Staying inside the postgraduate Halls of the University is not compulsory. It is optional. The university put a lot of things into consideration before releasing the new fees.”
Regarding the Graduate Fellowship, Adebule said it was replaced with the immediate employment of First Class products of the institution to attract the best.
“There has been a change in policy. What the university now does is to give two First Class graduates in each Faculty full employment.
We have over 60 of them. The Governing Council approved that all First Class graduates be made graduate assistants and be on the full payroll of the university. We want to give preference to the brilliant ones. If PhD students want to enjoy it then they should make a First Class,” he said.
The Nation gathered that the students were advised by the Dean of Students Affairs (DSA), Prof Ademola Adeleke, and the Dean, School of Postgraduate Studies, Prof Solomon Akinboye, to appeal for a 10-20 per cent reduction of the new fees.
