Why ABU Should Be More Compassionate To The Plight Of Her Students
By Mohammed, Aliyu Baba
Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, it is a well-known fact that Nigerians for long have been in economic hardship, this largely affecting the less privileged Nigerians negatively. Sadly, the government and the established Institutions/organizations show little or no concerns to the plights of the less privileged Nigerians, particularly the students. This is rather unfortunate.
An established academic institution like Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria shouldn’t be folding her arms while the students of the Institution who are staying off-campus are being subjected to financial and emotional suffering by their landlords and landladies. It is pitiful to pay for a product/service without deriving utility.
We are prettily aware of the involvement of the Students Representative Council (ABUSRC) who engaged all relevant authorities to find a middle soft ground for students.
However, from the reports gathered by our ABU-UCJ reporter, a large number of house lessors partly did not heed to the agreement reached during the engagement. Recall that the students did not occupy the apartments they paid for due to the novel Coronavirus break that kept them out of school for almost a year.
One of the aggrieved students who spoke to our correspondent, Mohammed Auwal Ibrahim said: “I was still at home when my landlord called me that my rent has expired in December and if I want to maintain the place I should renew the rent. When I told him I have not used his apartment for the last money I paid before I left for Corona break, he told me that isn’t his fault.”
Another student who preferred anonymity said he asked his landlord about the discount requested by ABUSRC and his landlord told him that he wasn’t aware of any agreement with ABUSRC or any authority, hence, he would collect his money completely if he was still interested to stay in the apartment.
No doubt, the students are experiencing these lapses because the authority of Ahmadu Bello University that is worthy to have intervened keeps mum on the matter.
We are much informed about other tertiary institutions such as Usman Danfodio Sokoto, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University Lapai in Niger State, and others not captured in this report; these institutions took it upon themselves to engage and negotiate with landlords of their students living off-campus.
This kind of warm-hearted gesture should’ve been emulated by other institutions from the institution slogan as “naturally ahead.” Or better still, if you cannot be part of the solution, don’t aggravate or be part of the problem.
The displacement of students who live on- campus and those seeking asylum as a result of unruly treatment melted on them by their landlords have added insult to injury.
The students were being treated like outcasts in their own environment of learning that should be a savior for them to survive the obstacle. We got reports of students who slept over in common rooms and some outside in open places. They’re exposed to many kinds of danger to befall on them at night. This is indeed an experience of military training camp which should be condemned in an educational campus.
A few students who shared their sad experiences with our reporters, Abdulrahman Babangida, Hafiz Muhammad, Hassan Abdulganiu, Jonathan Obelimen and Abubakar Basiru Yau expressed their regrets over the regrettable action of authorities at ABU male hostels. These unsuspected students said they spent two-three nights outside the hostel gate. This is greatly uncalled for. The students cannot afford to be distressed in the face of academic stress for whatever reason.
Under normal circumstances, the welfare of students shouldn’t be left in the hand of students’ union(s) alone. The management of the school also has a great role to play. If the management has partnered with the SRC, the situation could’ve been better off.
We know SRC can meow but the school management can roar. Therefore, ABU management should as a matter of urgency key into the plights of her students, especially at this critical moment the country’s economic downturn is felt by many.
Mohammed, Aliyu Baba a student of ABU Zaria writes from Kaduna, Nigeria. He can be reached via: aliyu0380@gmail.com
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