In simple terms, cohabitation can be seen as an act of a man and a woman living together and having a sexual relationship without being married. This trend has led to the emergency of unacceptable social behaviour among undergraduates in most Nigerian universities.
Some call it “couples life”, but for the purpose of this write-up we will stick with “cohabitation”, since it is generally perceive as “indecent”, especially through the eyes of the society.
Staying off campus seems to be the darling among some undergraduates; their reasons could be genuine and sincere owing to the poor sanitary conditions in campus hostels and the overcrowding.
However, most students would rather subscribe to the idea of co-habitation to fulfil their selfish and unrealistic desires.
Let’s take a closer look at our campuses today, students (male & female) do not only live together but overtly engage in sexual activities among other things that are the exclusive preserve of married couples.
So many reasons can be adduced for cohabitation in our sundry institutions of learning.
In my quest to gather information about the subject, a number of undergraduates were interviewed.
Kemi, a 300 level student of Olabisi Onabanjo University ( OOU ), said “I cohabit in other to know my partner very well…..although it affects my studies.”
Also Vivian, a 200 level student of the same school said the major reason she decided to cohabit with the opposite sex was due to paucity of funds.
John, a student of Moshood Abiola Polytechnic ( MAPOLY ) had this to say, “I love the idea of cohabitation because it helps me understand the female folk more and I do not have to worry about things like food, sex etc., you know what I mean now?”
There is a saying that if the use of a thing is not known, abuse is inevitable.
Therefore, this piece X-rays a few of the dangers inherent in cohabitation.
First, preponderantly, the increasing rate of abortion on campuses are due to cohabitation.
In truth, most students involved in cohabitation and premarital sex are not ready for the responsibilities of a committed relationship, not to talk of parenting; so they will do everything within their power to abort any occurrence of pregnancy.
However, it exposes the female partner to the risk of death or other health-related injuries like damage to the uterus, womb etc.
In addition, there is the risk of Sexually Transmitted Disease ( STD ). It’s a common place to find couples battling with transmitted diseases.
Also, an important issue that features in the concept of cohabitation is that the female student consistently performs domestic chores like an house wife while juggling school responsibilities at the same time; they clean, cook and sometimes do the laundry for their partners…this is unacceptable!
To further corroborate the above information, Charles, a 400 level student of OOU reveals that his duty is to provide financially for his girlfriend, while she in turn does the laundry, washes dishes, performs in the “other room” and does everything almost like a wife.
Most students who cohabitate find it difficult to graduate, and are more susceptible to making lower grades because there isn’t enough time to read and concentrate on their courses with a divided domestic attention.
We cannot rule out the possibility that some students who cohabitate eventually get married to each other, however, a large percentage of them hit the brick wall even before their years on campus.
Finally, it is important that parents or guardians constantly check on their wards to know what they do per time.
Also, the management of tertiary institutions needs to do more to ensure that campus hostels are adequate, affordable and conducive enough for students. This way, the unnecessary mixing of males and females in hostels can be avoided.
