IN think the university as a community has always provided adequate water, power. But sometimes, of course, occasionally we have disruptions. And there is a university maintenance unit that works regularly to salvage any disruption. The only thing is that students are young people. Some of the problems we have are national problems. For example, if there is insufficient generation of power from PHCN, there is nothing the university can do, we can only provide temporary measures.
Some of the students are saying the university authority is thinking of making them pay more on accommodation.
We had a stakeholders meeting and it was resolved that there should not be increment in accommodation fee because it has been N14,000 for five years. If you look at the amount we generated from accommodation in the last three years, it has been about 140 million. When we tried to estimate the university’s running cost on halls of residence, it is over 400 million. This invariably means the university is putting close to 300 million every year to subsidise the halls. Truth of the matter is, the Federal Government is not giving us a kobo. That is why we are thinking of handing off hostel facilities for students. The money that we are supposed to spend on academic activities is being diverted to service the Halls. Since we have agreed that there would not be an increment for now, we have retained the decision of the stakeholders.
There is an issue about electricity use, hot plates, cooking in the halls among others. Since there is no official cafeteria like it used to be in the 60s and 70s. What plans do you have for feeding for the students?
Let me quickly add that issue of cooking in the room is an extant law as it is not new one. Over the years, it had not been properly enforced. The money that is being spent on servicing the halls, a large percentage of it goes to electricity consumption and the best way we can reduce this is to enforce our rules as regards cooking. Having said that, the university is providing kitchenettes where the students can cook and electric metres will be installed to monitor the power being consumed. The university is also resuscitating the cafeteria system as it used to be in the past. In fact, we just spoke with some of prospective caterers who will be running the cafeterias. In each, we will have three to four caterers who will be able to provide decent and affordable meal for our students so they can have an alternative.
Are the kitchenettes there already?
Yes, they are there already and we have identified more spaces where we can build more kitchenettes.
With the idea of the meter, does it means that some of the bills will be paid by the students or there is a certain number of minutes allocated to each student so that it is regulated?
The idea of putting meter there is because we have the cafeteria now where they can eat and if a student must use power outside what is provided in the room, then such student should pay for it. That is why we are installing the meters. It is a method of pay as you use. If they want to do intensive cooking they have to pay extra.
Will there still be sockets to use for ironing in the halls?
Yes, there is already an area with sockets for ironing and in the kitchenettes.
Do the sockets offer the possibility of plugging other appliances?
One of the things we realise is, for the rules to be applied, we need the support of the porters. Recently, we had a workshop and we tried to let the porters know their roles, that they are expected to monitor the students. The porters have access to the rules and they can easily fish out any student that contravenes the rules. That is their job, but over the years, it appears that porters have been compromised and are not enforcing the rules. The rules have always been there.
Don’t you see this as a potential source of conflict?
Actually, it depends on how one sees it. If there are no alternatives, you can understand it. But there are alternatives. Truth is, the university should reform and should not be going backward. I keep telling them, as students, the university should be able to make our students better. Question is, do they cook in their rooms at home? No! they cook in the kitchen. It would therefore be surprising if they come here and start cooking in their rooms. As a university, we should be able to set goals and say this is what we want our students to be like. It is a different thing if kitchenettes are not provide. But now, we have provided kitchenettes. Besides, it has a lot of attached dangers. Apart from fire, they could also get suffocated.
Did the university authority interact and communicate with the students?
Of course, we do that on a regular basis, the VC still met with quite a number of the students and parents at a town meeting and we were talking. And there are stakeholders meetings regularly. We are still even going to have another meeting very soon. I have also had a meeting with the Student Union leaders recently.
And were students not able to raise genuine opposition to raise points that are really cogents against this proposition of the kitchenettes?
The hall itself has its limited capacity. And to me, some of the students are just using the issue of cooking as an excuse. The issue of overcrowding is what we are looking at now. The issue of squatting. Because a large number students cannot be in the halls. The 100 level students abide by our rules and final year students are busy preparing for projects and graduation. But between them, we have a large number of students that will not be allowed to stay in the Halls. So, we are putting in measures to prevent that. And to me, these are the ones that are making issue out of the development. There is a form that they sign that if they violate any law, they should be ejected. They are all aware of the rules and regulations. We are insisting there will no be squatting, believing if students overwhelmed the hall, the facilities are stretched. And that is one of the contributing factors for high consumption of power. So if there is no squatting, we can manage the electric bill. The university has no where to get 300 million to be putting on facilities? The vice chancellor told them if it is just 100 or 200 million is being put on academic activities for 10 years, it would have made a significant improvement in the facilities. So, we had a town hall meeting where students where just asking questions on cooking, hostels and no student talked about any academic issue. It is a pity!
What pro-active measures have you put in place to ensure this seemingly burning issue does not again disturb academic activities on the campus?
First, I think our line of communication must be balanced. And I am always open to them anywhere. Of course, some of them are quite reasonable because they agree with us and I told them it might be to their own advantage because if we are able to bring down the electric bill this year and even if we are going to increase, it may not be as much as we are anticipating before. This is out of the 270 million, almost 200 million is for electricity bill. Because definitely as from next session, there will be a review in the fees.
The Director of Works and some other principal officers of the university are trying to put things in shape. Then, we are putting fences around the halls so as to prevent illegal entrance of students who are not suppose to be there.
TRIBUNE
No comments:
Post a Comment