Students decry incessant robberies at hostels amid COVID-19 lockdown

Since the closure of tertiary institutions in Nigeria due to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, there have been incessant reports of burglary and theft on students’ hostels in some institutions. The students said the Burglars breaks into their rooms to steal valuables like gas cylinders, cloth items, electronics, etc.

Recently two of the perpetrators were caught around Oke Odo in Ilorin near University of Ilorin UNIILORIN campus and have been handed over to the police.
The students believe that the school management, host communities and security agencies are doing nothing to curb the ugly incident.

The students that spoke with The Guardian plead to the Nigerian Police and other security agencies to help them protect the properties they left in school. According to Opeyemi Peters, a student from Ekiti State University said ‘’ I implore our government, the host community leaders and security agencies to protect the properties we left in school, or government should just start making provision for students because after this corona lockdown break, most student will be homeless in the sense that all their belongings would have been stolen. And I want the government and school management to know that these burglars are not students but residents of the host community and I think with the help of the community leaders, the perpetrators can be caught’’.

Another student Busayo Adegoke from Adekunle Ajasin University Akungba Akoko said ‘’We cannot read at home in peace again as the news we are hearing from school are not making us happy. We are hearing that burglars are bursting into our room in school carting away our belongings, if the COVID-19 pandemic break is over, we will now be left with nothing. We are not even happy as we are at home doing nothing, and we are still hearing bad news that thieves are entering our hostels. And the Nigeria police especially the Special Anti Robbery squad SARS are there doing nothing to the issue, and hadn’t been we are in school they will be parading our street raiding innocents students calling them yahoo boys, now its time for them to catch the real criminal, nothing to show off ‘’. She said.

For Owolabi Ibrahim a student from Federal Polytechnic Bauchi he said ‘’The issue of incessant robbery of the student properties amidst the lockdown. The head of our various institutions should take bold step by summoning the landlords of all the lodges the students are occupying so as to take preventive measures to secure the properties of the students who stayed in their lodges and also liaise with the security agencies and the vigilantes of the students Lodge areas so as to avoid lamentations by the students when the government finally reopened all schools’’.