Many University of Lagos students have been complaining about accommodation crisis as limited hostel spaces, rising fees and soaring off-campus rents force many into financial strain, prompting calls for stronger regulation and expanded student housing.
Many students of the University of Lagos, Akoka, securing accommodation has become an annual struggle and discouraging, frustration and rising financial pressure.
Each academic session, students scramble for spaces in the university’s roughly 15 hostels, where the official cost is N80,000 per bed space, between 8,000 and 10,000 available bed spaces, competition for on-campus accommodation has remained fierce.
Beyond these hostels are privately managed facilities on campus such as the Women’s Society, Femi Gbajabiamila and El-Kanemi hostels, where accommodation now costs at least N710,000 per bed space.
All Campus Show correspondence reported While the struggle to be randomly selected for the very limited bed spaces is a yearly one, there is also the usual bed space racketeering, as some simply win the ballot only to resell them for between N250,000 and N350,000 and this is what the school management and government should looked into.
But, the university administration, led by Vice-Chancellor Prof. Folasade Ogunsola, recently warned that students found buying or selling bed spaces risk eviction and a ban from on-campus accommodation until graduation.
In previous years, many students coped by squatting, popularly known as “floating” in hostels. However, following renovations, the university clamped down on the practice, warning that overcrowding would lead to rapid deterioration of facilities.
Biola Adegunwa, UNILAG students spoke to All Campus Show correspondence, lamented that "Abule Oja, the closest community to the campus, records some of the highest rates, with rooms going for at least N500,000 and self-contained apartments starting from N1m. Some serviced apartments reportedly cost N2m and above. Even students who live as far as Makoko still pay about N500,000 annually."
”Also, there is need to involve students, landlords, universities, and government agencies in policy-making, while tax incentives should be offered to landlords who provide affordable accommodation to students.”