The Nation Newspaper

Tag: hostel

  • QC PTA donates hostel, buses worth over N300m

    The Parents Teachers Association (PTA) of Queen’s College (QC), Yaba, has donated a 600-capacity hostel, a 30-seater coaster bus and two Hiace buses to the school.

    Its chairman, Mrs Beatrice Akhetuamen put the cost of the hostel at N289 million, and the three vehicles, N19, 450, 000.

    Mrs Akhetuamen said the hostel, which also boasts of a dining hall, was donated to de-congest the existing hostels in the school. She said it would be inhabited by JSS 1 pupils of the school.

    She disclosed that the need for the project arose four years ago when the college delisted some girls including her two daughters from the boarding house because of lack of space. The development prompted her predecessor Alhaji Farouk Magaji to step in with the initiative.

    “I want to let everyone here know that this project was 100 per cent funded by parents. Every parent of this school paid N10,000 per term for the past four years for the actualisation of this project. There was no support from elsewhere, not even from corporate bodies,” Akhetuamen said.

    Although it was initially planned for 32 weeks, Mrs Akhetuamen said the project eventually dragged over four years owing to paucity of funds,

    She said the buses were bought from the excess of funds raised for the hostel and would serve as shuttle vehicles for day students.

    Principal of the College, Dr Lami Amodu, promised that the hostels and the buses would be well maintained.  She thanked the parents for their kind gesture and commitment and urged them to continue with their good work at the school.

    Head girl of the school, Angel Tony-Ativie described the project as a relief to pupils.

    “This is a laudable project and we are very grateful to our parents who looked into our needs and provided it too. It is a big relief that the JSS 1 students would henceforth move into it which means that the other hostels will be greatly decongested,” she said.

     

  • High-tension wire still at UNILAG hostel

    High-tension wire still at UNILAG hostel

    Three weeks after the electrocution of a 300-Level Accounting student of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Oluchi Anekwe, the high-tension cable, which killed the students at the front of New Hall, is yet to be removed from the spot.

    The development is generating concern among students, who queried the value the school management attached to human lives. The students said it was insensitive for the school to keep the wire at the spot.

    When CAMPUSLIFE visited the spot on Monday, the perimeter fence of the hostel was barricaded with safety tape. The pole to which the high-tension wire is attached did not have restriction tape, while the wire remained on the spot.

    Although the wire was said to have been de-energise, students felt uncomfortable with the cable still left on the spot.

    A 300-Level Law student, who gave her name as Bukola, said the development showed the management did not care about the safety of students. “Perhaps, they are waiting for another tragedy to occur,” she said.

    Another student, Olanike Ibiyemi, said: “If the school management said the cables are not serving the school, what is the logic of leaving the severed wire on the hostel’s entrance? Do they think another tragedy cannot happen because there is no power flow in wire? The management needs to be alive with its responsibility.”

    At the time of this report, the wire remained on the spot.

  • Court orders varsity to stop work on N2.1b hostel

    Court orders varsity to stop work on N2.1b hostel

    A Delta State High Court, sitting in Otor-Udu, Udu Local Government Area, has ordered the Federal University of Petroleum Resources, Effurun (FUPRE), to refrain from stopping a construction firm, Shoreline Development International Limited, from proceeding with the construction of one of its hostels until the determination of a suit on the matter.

    Shoreline had sued FUPRE, asking the court to order the institution to stay away and allow it to fulfil a contractual agreement with it to build, operate and later transfer a 250-room hotel for the institution.

    Justice F. N. Azinge also ordered the company to serve the notice of the court order on FUPRE.

    Justice Azinge said: “Consequently, the orders I make are as follows: the parties are ordered to maintain the status quo pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice. The claimant/applicant is ordered to put the defendants on notice by the service of the motion on notice on them before the return date.”

    Laywer to the applicant, Oghenejabor Ikimi, among other pleas, prayed the court to order FUPRE to refrain from stopping Shoreline from executing the contract and from withdrawing the 20 per cent counterpart funding it had paid, worth N416,234, 803.87, from the bank.

    Narrating details of the contract to our reporter, Acting Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Shoreline Development International Limited, Chief Kenneth Chukwuma, averred that the project got to the current state because of a N139,000,000 consultancy fee demand by the management of the institution.

    An affidavit sworn to by Chukwuma said: “The Claimant/applicant came under intense pressure from the management of the first defendant/respondent and its appointed consultant, Mr. Tonye Ojoko, to pay N139,675,308.75 upfront to the first defendant/respondent’s manager and administrator/consultant.”

    PUFRE’s spokesman Boniface Onyedi said the institution suspected “fraud” in the attitude of the contractors, adding that it lacked the capacity to deliver the job.

    He said the university’s management had sufficient documents to show that Shoreline had not been truthful about its claims.

    Our reporter was unable to get the university’s documents yesterday because of the absence of the senior officials keeping them.

     

  • FGGC Shagamu opens wardens’ hostel

    FGGC Shagamu opens wardens’ hostel

    The Parent-Teacher Association of the Federal Government Girls College (FGGC) in Shagamu, Ogun State has built an apartment for its hostel’s wardens to enable the staff live in the school premises and effectively check the pupils.

    The was made known at school’s PTA meeting attended by parents, guardians and representatives of other Unity Schools in the state.

    The PTA Chairman Mr. I. A. Okunuga said members lamented that some of the pupils indulge in frivolities and needed better supervision , adding that was why the PTA decided to erect the five apartments.

    Said Okunuga: “The girls need proper monitoring and supervision because the house mistress stays here till 10 pm; and you can be sure that when she leaves the girls would be up to all kinds of mischief from evening till dawn.

    He continued: “A lot was already going on and some of the girls were already going into cultism. Some would scale the fence doing all kinds of things. Some SS3 girls were also caught cooking in the hostel. This new initiative we strongly believe, will yield positively because the wardens are on the ground 24 hours a day. The PTA will also be bankrolling wardens’ salary.”

    He recalled how in the course of constructing the facility another challenge cropped up.

    “The soak away collapsed completely last year and the principal called on us for assistance. We got to work on it and it was during the torrential rainfall. When we were to bring the bricklayers to do the slabs, another rain fell and we had to start all over again,” he added.

    Conducting parents and guests around the facility, Okunuga listed some of the PTA’s achievements.

    He added: “The facilities we have helped to complete during our tenure include a block of six classrooms. When we took over the principal handed it over to us at the block level. She appealed to us to make it available for use by September.

    “The project has been ready and it has been accommodating our JSS students until recently when some of them were moved to another place”.

    On his part, Mr Rufus Famuwagun, PTA zonal coordinator for Southwest, who cut the tape to open the structure, recounted that during the Ebola outbreak last year, the PTA looked for ways to improve the hygiene in the school.

    “One of the things that we did then was to paint seven blocks of the schools hostel. This came after we got an appeal from the formal principal

  • Mystery death of lovers in hostel

    Mystery death of lovers in hostel

    Igbariam, host community of  the Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu University (COOU) in Anambra State, lost its serenity last week, following the mystery death of two students in a room in their off-campus residence. CHISOM ANYANWU (200-Level Mass Communication) reports.

    •The late Kelly
    •The late Kelly

    How did Kelly Okonkwo and her boyfriend, Gerald, die in their room? This is the puzzle residents of Igbariam,  host community of the Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University (COOU), are trying to unravel? The community woke up, last Monday, to find the students dead in a room at Diamond Lodge. The building is an off-campus hostel.

    The late Kelly, who was a student of Entrepreneurship Department, was said to have visited her boyfriend, simply identified as Gerald, who was a 24-year-old 200-Level Public Administration student, in his hostel for the weekend. But, three days after they had been together, the love birds were brought out of the room dead. Other occupants reported the matter to the nearby Oyi Police Station.

    When the door was forced opened by the police, Kelly’s body was found beside Gerald, who was said to be unconscious at the time. They were almost naked.

    The police rushed the unconscious Gerald to the university’s Teaching Hospital in Amaku, where he died. The late Gerald was the president of Diamond Lodge.

    Other occupants, who spoke to our correspondent, described the incident as mysterious, saying the hostel was not attacked by either armed robbers or cultists. Other students living in the hostel and a nearby building, Gift Lodge, fled in fear.

    While Igbariam residents are still pondering over the deaths, there are speculations that Kelly and Gerald may have died from some abuse. Some attributed the mystery death to generator fume and food poisoning; others said they could have been attacked by cultists.

    It was learnt that the late Kelly had bruises around her shoulders, fuelling fears that she might have been raped to death. Some students believe the death was spiritual, because the victims were said to have attended a vigil together at St. Stephen’s Anglican Church, Otoko on Friday, where the preacher warned students on immorality and premature death.

    •Gerald...moment before he died
    •Gerald…moment before he died

    The late Gerald’s friend, who declined to give his name, said: “After the vigil, we all came back home to sleep. The last time I saw Gerald was on Saturday morning after he had his bath. At that time, I knew the late Kelly was around. Gerald and I even exchanged pleasantries before he returned to his room.

    “There was a downpour on Saturday and I saw Gerald pulling down his curtain and also shifting his generator’s position. So nobody knows for certain what actually happened.”

    CAMPUSLIFE gathered an autopsy was carried out on the bodies.

    The late Kelly’s course mate, Chizoba Onyechi, said the incident shook the department. She said the late Kelly was expected to join a field assignment being undertaken by her colleagues when the news hit the campus.

    Chizoba said: “We were working on a farm when the assistant class governor screamed and started to cry. She said she got a call that Kelly had died.  Many of us did not believe the news because she was being expected to join the assignment. We all rushed to her hostel, Gift Lodge, only to discover that the incident occurred at Diamond Lodge.

    “I noticed she had bruises all over her shoulders. We carried her body into the waiting police vehicle, because the policemen refused to touch the body. We have been hearing different reports on what caused the death but nobody can say what happened.”

  • Group builds women hostel

    THE Akoko Development Group, a socio-cultural association, has laid the foundation of a 240-capacity women hostel at the Adekunle Ajasin University in Akungba-Akoko (AAUA),  Ondo State. The gesture is to complement the university’s efforts  in providing accommodation for students.

    The project, which is on Build, Operate and Transfer agreement, will be transferred to the school after 25 years. The project will be in phases. The first phase will accommodate 100 students. It is will be completed in 18 calendar months.

    The group’s president, Chief Tunde Adefarati, said the project was informed by the desire to give back to the society, especially female students, who are the most vulnerable.

    The former Vice-Chancellor, Prof Femi Mimiko, said the gesture came at a time the university designed a policy to work with private investors to develop school.

    He prayed that the project would not be abandoned, noting that members of the group are people of proven integrity.

    The Pro-chancellor, Ambassador Oladele Akadiri, said the project was timely, because the university could only provide accommodation for 20 per cent of its students.

    Highpoints of the event was the unveiling of the plaque of the building and the foundation by the Chairman of Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria, Chief Bisi Ogunjobi, and other guests.

    The group, which comprises successful Akoko indigenes, was established to promote the growth of Akoko communities.

  • Midnight fire razes UNILAG hostel

    Midnight fire razes UNILAG hostel

    Tragedy was averted at the University of Lagos (UNILAG) on Sunday, following a midnight fire that gutted Madam Tinubu Halls of Residence.

    Pandemonium broke in the hall as occupants raised alarm about the fire, which started from Room A012.

    There was stampede as students rushed out of the three-storey building, leaving many of them with broken limbs, wounds and bruises.

    The hall is one of the five hostels for female students on the campus.

    The fire whose source remained unclear at press time was said to have started at 3:15 am. Some students alleged that the inferno was caused by electric spark.

    The thick smoke billowing from burning rooms suffused the atmosphere as occupants rushed out of the building. The poor visibility made the frightened students to make a dangerous escape out of the hall.

    Some of them jumped down from the second and third floors, breaking their limbs on the concrete floor.

    An occupant, Eniola Oloruntola, a 400-Level Accounting student, said: “We were all sleeping when we heard shouts of fire at around 3:15am. The fire started at the A wing on the ground floor. Four rooms are affected.”Another resident, Chizoba Nwajei, a 300-Level English student, said: “I jumped out of the bed when I heard the shout of fire. All the hostel’s gates were locked and this made some students to jump down from the first floor. At least four rooms were burnt. I learnt a girl broke her legs. Many of us had to crawl under the gates to escape the raging fire.”

    The fire completely razed four rooms, leaving charred remains of laptops, electronic gadgets, and furniture. The affected rooms are A114, A214, and A314. The smoke spread to the “N” wing of the hall. Some asthmatic patients exposed to the smoke fainted and were held out by colleagues.

    When the hall porters contacted the UNILAG Fire Unit, it was learnt that the fire fighters responded that there was no water in their truck to put out the inferno. It took the combined efforts of the school security personnel, Man O’ War and male students from Fagunwa and Sodeinde halls to put out the fire. CAMPUSLIFE gathered that fire fighters from the Lagos State Fire Service arrived 30 minutes after inferno was put out.

    A victim identified as Bolanle, a 300-Level Insurance student and floor representative, was said to have jumped from the first floor. She was said to have rushed to Igbobi National Orthopaedic Hospital in Fadeyi area after she fractured her leg in the chaos.

    Another victim, Tope Opetumo, 300-Level Actuarial Science student, also jumped from the first floor and sustained injury to her leg.

    The hall chairperson, Julliet Ofodile, told CAMPUSLIFE that five students were on admission from injuries sustained.

    Confirming the incident, the Dean of Student’s Affairs, Prof Olukayode Amund, dismissed the claim that the fire was caused by electric spark, stressing that investigated was ongoing to unravel the cause of the inferno.

    He added students, who sustained minor wounds, had been discharged at the institution’s medical centre.

     

  • Hostel elects rep

    Residents of Beta Hall at the Adekunle Ajasin University in Akungba-Akoko (AAUA), Ondo State have elected their representative in the Students’ Representative Council (SRC) next session.

    Before the election, the students held a manifesto day for contestants to sell their programmes.

    The election, which lasted for one hour, witnessed a large turnout of voters.

    Paul Wasiu was declared winner after polling the highest number of votes to defeat other contenders.

    Speaking to CAMPUSLIFE, Wasiu attributed his victory to the trust reposed in him by residents of the hall. He promised not to disappoint them.

  • College gets N100m hostel

    Thirty-five years after its establishment, the Niger State College of Education, Minna is to have its first male hall of residence.

    To this effect state government has approved the sum of N100 million for the construction of the 200 bedspace hostel at the College premises.

    The institution has only one block of female hostel which accommodates 200 students.

    The Provost of the College, Prof Abdulrasheed Haruna disclosed this in Minna during the orientation and matriculation of 4,500 students of the college.

    He said the College has entered into partnership with a developer for construction of hostel accommodation for the students.

    Haruna cautioned the freshers that their matriculation was not just a ceremony for photographs and merry making but a serious business and stressed the college’s zero tolerance to academic laziness, examination malpractices, truancy, indiscipline and cultism.

    He assured the students that the institution will continue to vigorously pursue its mandate to impart knowledge and build their characters.

    He told the students that the College was able to admit 4500 students for the academic year due to massive infrastructural transformation going on in the institution.

  • Murder in the hostel

    Murder in the hostel

    A graduating student of the Delta State University (DELSU), Obiaka Megwai, has been stabbed to death by an admission seeker, Victor Chukwudi Osodi, following an argument over N50 to buy fuel. PHILIP OKORODUDU (Graduating student of Electrical, Electronics and Computer Engineering) and ESE OKODUWA (300-Level Home Economics) report.

    IT looked like a movie scene; but it was real. A graduating student of Guidance and Counselling at the Delta State University (DELSU), Abraka, Obraka Megwai, was stabbed to death with a knife by Victor Chukwudi Osodi, an admission seeker.

    Obiaka was killed for failing to contribute N50 to buy fuel. The incident happened in City Wise Hostel, an off-campus hall in Ekrejeta area of the university’s host community. There was pandemonium in the hostel last Tuesday when the news spread.

    CAMPUSLIFE gathered that an argument ensued when the late Obiaka was asked to contribute N50 by the hostel’s caretaker to buy fuel to power the pumping machine. It was gathered that the slain student refused.

    It was learnt that other occupants contributed the sum to the caretaker, who went to buy the fuel.

    Trouble, however, started when the pipe connecting the deceased’s apartment to the water tank was disconnected by the caretaker. The late Obiaka was said to have re-connected the tap without the caretaker’s consent.

    In anger, the caretaker challenged the deceased and a row ensued between them. Their argument attracted other occupants, who reportedly condemned the late Obiaka’s action.

    In the ensuing melee, Victor, who came to write the post-Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) but was not offered admission, took it upon himself to “deal decisively” with the late Obiaka. Victor was said to be living with his younger brother.

    An occupant, who craved anonymity, said: “The first thing we heard was ‘you no fit try am’ and this was followed by a loud shout for help.”

    CAMPUSLIFE gathered that the deceased was stabbed on the head and neck. Seeing what happened, other occupants fled while the victim was taken to the hospital where he was confirmed dead. The body was deposited at the Ufuoma Mortuary in Abraka.

    The assailant reportedly escaped after the crime. He was said to be staying in the room of his younger brother, a 200-Level student, who had travelled before the incident.

    When CAMPUSLIFE visited the hostel, the building was shut. The police reportedly fired several gunshots before locking the lodge.

    An officer, who pleaded for anonymity because he was not authorised to speak, confirmed the incident when our correspondent visited Abraka Police Station. He said the police were on the trail of the assailant, who, CAMPUSLIFE gathered, may have fled to his village.