Accommodation racket at UNN

My attention has been drawn to an opinion piece titled “Accommodation racket at UNN” written by one I.B. Nga and published in The Guardian of November 2, 2016. This response would not have been necessary but for the fact that Nga’s allegation was baseless, false and smirks of a desperate attempt to malign the reputation of the administration of the University of Nigeria. I therefore feel a sense of responsibility to present the facts which Nga would have established if he had bothered to check the university’s website – www.unn.edu.ng – before going to the press.

Before the end of 2015/2016 session, the university administration published, in the UNN website, basic requirements to be met by any student who wishes to be accommodated in the hostel for the 2016/2017 session. The requirements included up-to-date school fees payment; up-to-date course registration; possession and use of the university student e-mail address and possession of UNN student ID card or Bio-Registration slip.

It is worthy to state here that accommodation process in the University of Nigeria is fully computerised and the process for getting accommodation was also released on the website to enable students who met the requirements get accommodation with ease and on a first come, first served basis. The dates and time for the opening of the portal were also clearly stated and all these can be verified as they were duly published on the UNN website – www.unn.edu.ng

The University of Nigeria is made up of three campuses with a student population of over 40,000. These campuses are located in Nsukka, Enugu and Ituku-Ozalla. The university currently has limited bed spaces available and this was duly publicised for the knowledge of every student. The available bed spaces for the Nsukka Campus is about 5400 (for over 26,000 students) while that for Enugu campus is about 4000 bed spaces (for over 13,000 students). These figures are clearly insufficient for the existing student population. The implication is that the university can only offer accommodation to approximately 20 per cent of its students.

Further, the university administration had resorted to sharing the available bed spaces to accommodate the various categories of the students in the quota presented below:

It must also be stated that the student population also includes some other categories of students who must be properly housed because of their peculiarities. They include members of the Student Union Government, physically challenged (e.g. blind students), nursing mothers with their infants and Reverend Sisters. These categories of students are automatically accommodated.

This precarious accommodation situation in the university was further heightened with the fire incident that razed down Okeke Hall, one of the major female hostels of which the university administration is trying all within its limited resources to ensure that the hostel is renovated and restored as soon as possible. Repairs are on going in the Okeke and Mbanefo hostels.

By the first opening of the student portal for accommodation this session over 4000 students got theirs by simply meeting the earlier stated requirements and following the process flow as stipulated on the website. These students have duly signed into their hostels and are attending their lectures.

Further to this, a mop up exercise was conducted to open up all recovered and unclaimed bed spaces. The recovered bed spaces were publicised to be opened on Wednesday November 2, 2016 by 10am prompt. This is currently ongoing and finishes when the bed spaces are exhausted.

Some of the students who complain of being marginalised in the accommodation allocation are those who, as a result of their apathy or technological changes, do not visit the UNN website regularly for vital information, or those applying after spaces allotted to their category are exhausted. The complaints of such students are usually addressed by dedicated support team domiciled in the ICT Units of both Nsukka and Enugu campuses.

It is expedient to state that the university administration computerised the accommodation process to ensure transparency and equal opportunities for all students.

It is important that public commentators and activists should verify complains and information brought to their notice before raising false alarms. Facts finding has been simplified by technological advancements; with the click of a mouse one can verify the veracity of claims. This is even easier when such allegation concerns digital-compliant institutions like the UNN where information about staff and students are in the public domain.
• Omeaku is the Public Relations Officer of the University of Nigeria.