Taraba University students lament extortion by landlord
By: Chuwang Emmanuel
There are growing concerns by students of Taraba State University (TSU) Jalingo, who live off-campus, over the sudden increase in accommodations fee by landlords in these difficult times.
They want the state government and authorities in the institution to call the landlords to order.
Our Correspondent gathered that landlords, caretakers and agents, have connived with one another to increase accommodation fee without due consultation in areas like Nukkai and ATC.
Findings by Our Reporter revealed that hike in accommodation fee in these areas has forced many TSU students to be going to school from their homes.
Over 50 per cent of TSU students reside in Nukkai and ATC due to lack of adequate hostel space on campus.
Students who spoke to our Reporter said one of the advantages they enjoy living in these areas is the closeness of the communities to the school as they don’t have to pay transport fare.
However, the recent 50 percent slash of tuition fee by the Taraba state government has made some of the landlords to hijack the prices of their rooms and this has affected students who are mostly from poor homes.
Students find life unbearable following the 100 per cent hike by landlords and high cost of transportation due to the fuel subsidy removal and inadequate hostel accommodations.
Findings show that a single room self-contained that ordinarily costs like 60,000 to 70, 000, in Nukkai and ATC now costs 150, 000 and above.
Further findings revealed that about 50% of students of the University are now schooling directly from home due to inadequate hostel accommodations and high cost of rent.
Zenith hostel, which is the largest hostel in the institution, is locked awaiting renovation based on the directive of the governor.
The two operational hostels, Josephine and undergraduate halls, are inadequate to accommodate a large number of students.
A porter in the school who pleaded anonymity said “Over five thousand new students were admitted this academic session, when you add it to the existing numbers of students is a whole lot but without accommodation and the situation has forced the new students who came from far and without relatives in town, mostly young girls within the age of 16 to 17 to cohabit with the old students who hired rooms outside the school premisses;
“Some students who have no option sleep in the faculty room at night and disappear before daybreak.
“We are appealing to the governor to reopen the Zenith hostel which is the largest in the university to save the lives of these innocent children.” She cried out.
Reaction from students
Some of the students that lamented their ordeals to our Correspondent called on government and school authorities in the institution to come to their aid.
“We have been experiencing untold hardship since the closure of our hostel and the reduction of school fees
“The school fees reduction should have made things easier, but the reverse is the case.
“The transport fare increased. Prices of foodstuffs and other accessories increased due to fuel subsidy removal. Then all of a sudden house rents also went up,” said Deborah Ishaku, a student at the Public health Department.
Augustina John a 200 level student said: “Everyday I spent not less than 500 naira to and fro, to board Keke to school from mile six. My parents are getting tired of me, sometimes I have to trek to roadblock area to enter Keke Napep”.
Another student who craved anonymity said: “Two of us from the same family are final year students, we spent close to 1000 to transport ourselves to school from Sabon Gari daily, for lack of accommodation.
“We were happy initially when the governor announced the reduction in school fees but our joy was short-lived by the accommodation problem.
“We are therefore, appealing to Governor Agbu Kefas to consider reopening the Zenith hall if the renovation would take longer; if not, the costs of transportation would usurp the 50% reduction which was aimed at cushioning the effect of the fuel subsidy, thereby making the governor’s palliatives measure of no effect”.
Another student, Happy Adams, said “my caretaker called me and told me I should be ready to pay N150, 000 from N70,000 on expiration of my rent in December or I move out.
Another student of the institution, Philip Ayuba, lamented the increase of house rents.
Ayuba, however, alleged that the agents also played a major role in the hike.
“The agents are not to be left out in this situation. They are as wicked as the landlords and caretakers who increased rents without a just cause.
“My house owner increased the fee from N90,000 to N170,000. This is very unfair.
“They are doing this because of the high demand as a result of the new admission and lack of adequate hostels. Students are desperate to get accommodation close to the school due to the high cost of transportation.
“We are calling on the governor and the students union government to intervene.”
A newly admitted student, who gave her name as Salome Ishaku said she wanted to rent a one bedroom apartment, she was charged N150, 000 and asked to wait until December when the present tenant who is paying N70,000 moved out of the room.
“Because of the rush I was forced to pay N150,000, I am now staying with a relative at mile 6.
“What they are doing is not fair. We all are going through hardship, especially new students. The school management should please come to our aid,” she said.
“The school management should not take it lightly because it is affecting the students of the institution negatively.”
For Nuvalga Musa, the lack of adequate hostel accommodations was the major reason behind the hike.
“The lack of hostels and the massive admission is one of the reasons the house rents were increased.
Management says students don’t like staying on campus, despite reasonable, comfortable and affordable hostels.
TSU management through the director of information and publicity, Sanusi Saad, said although they don’t have enough hostels to cater for the entire students, the institution can boast of having well equipped hostels that can take care of a reasonable number of students.
“The truth is that because of the large population of students we don’t have enough hostels to accommodate the entire students, however we can boast of having comfortable and well equipped hostels to cater for a reasonable number of students, especially female students.
“We have a good number of hostels that can accommodate at least 80% of our female students.
“Most of the hostels we have are meant for female students because they are the ones showing more interest in staying on campus.
“For the male students we don’t have many hostels because most of them don’t show interest in living in the hostel.” He said.
“In the last 7 years the hostel accommodation in TSU, especially the female hostels, has been so good that you can rate it as a 2 or 3 star hotel, except for the way the students are handling it.
“The management ensures that there is an adequate supply of water and electricity, there are standby generators in the event that there is no light.
“For instance towards the end of the last semester there was power failure, every day the solar powered tanks of the hostels pump water, even we the staff living within the school go to such hostels to fetch water and everyday including weekends generators are put on in the entire hostels and academic areas from 6pm to 12:30am for the students, to enable them read for their exams.
Saad said the cost of the hostel was recently slashed by the governor and the students now pay N15,000 per session.
On the issue of the high cost of accommodation off campus. Mr Saad said “even though we hear of the high cost of accommodation within the school community, landlords are like vendors who display their items for sale, so because they are within the university community, the university cannot determine the price for them.
“Hostel accommodation and staying off campus is a matter of choice, when you decide to stay off campus you can’t expect the university to determine where you stay and how much you pay. Somebody can even decide to stay in a hotel.
“These students who expect the management to liaise with owners of buildings outside the school are not being reasonable.
He said the reason why most students don’t like living on campus is because most of them want maximum freedom and privacy.
“At some point we even realize that those that prefer staying off campus are due to some nefarious activities they engaged in, like in a case where we arrested and expelled some cultists, all of them were living off campus.” Mr Saad said.
