“…life in the hostel has been a bitter experience for Precious as it is the opposite of what she expected”.
Gaining admission into a tertiary institution was a dream come true for Precious Johnson, a 300-level Ebonyi State College of Education, Ikwo undergraduate.
Precious’s ultimate choice of accommodation was the hostel; there she thought she would enjoy the privileges that come with lodging in the school’s hostel: uninterrupted power supply, constant water supply, and a healthy environment. These and more, she envisioned.
However, three years later, life in the hostel has been a bitter experience for Precious as it is the opposite of what she expected.
“We’re passing through a lot here”, she said, “No light in the hostel, no water in its vicinity, nothing. We’re just on our own. Ever since my admission into the school, I have not seen them do any significant renovations here.”
Health risks, lack of amenities
Precious lamented over the poorly maintained structures in the hostel.
“Look at the windows”, she explained, pointing at one of the windows, “there are no nets affixed to most of them. When we came here, there were no nets at all. Are we supposed to sleep without nets so mosquitoes will feast on us? At the same time, we suffer from constant malaria?” she said, adding that some of the windows had to be permanently left shut to reduce mosquitoes’ access to their rooms.
Linda Ikene, another student, said that the floors around the hostel building have never been tarred, making them constantly bushy and unkempt, attracting mosquitoes.
“Bushes would always grow here because the floors are not tarred. Although the bushes are cut regularly, they would always grow back”, Linda explained as she nodded towards the bush.
Precious Ego, a 200-level student, also described her experience with the poor power and water supply.
“The only time the Lister generator is put on is on matriculation days, which happens once every session. We go to the ICT building to charge our phones and gadgets as that’s our only option. We do not even iron our clothes because there is no light”, said Precious, explaining that they often have to resort to using “gas irons”, a strategy they devised which involves heating the iron plate with fire from gas burners; if there was a critical need to iron their clothes.
“There is no functioning water source within this hostel”, she continued, “so we have to go outside the hostel every day to get water from the tap or the man-power borehole, which is stressful”.
Kate Moses highlighted the toilet challenges they face.
“Although we have toilets, we don’t use them due to infection risks. So, we rather do ‘shot-put”, Kate said. She narrated how fears of contracting toilet infections caused them to resort to ‘shot-putting’, in which nylon bags are used to excrete in and dispose of into the surrounding bushes.
Precious Johnson added that the students subscribed to permanently locking up the toilets and bathrooms as they were not interested in using them for fear of infections.
“We bathe in the open corridors of the hostel. Even though when people pass, they see us when bathing, we have no other choice”, she said.
Nancy Promise, a 300-level student also staying in the hostel, lamented, “We pay N25,000 as hostel fee. Yet no light, no water, the grasses are not being cut. The generator is put on only once yearly at most. The school doesn’t care if there’s a hostel or not”.
Struggle for survival
Precious Johnson said she, alongside other ‘hostelers’, had petitioned the school authority several times on their challenges but ”this is often met with empty promises to address them”.
“We have gone to the Provost countless times, but the management never addressed the issues presented. We no longer go to them because who will listen to us?” she said. “The nets on the windows, we had to fix them ourselves instead of waiting. We have become used to our predicament”.
Renovation project
In 2021, N25 million was budgeted to renovate the Ebonyi State College of Education, Ikwo hostel.
This project is enlisted under the 2021 capital projects of the state and was intended to reconstruct the hostel in the school and make it more suitable for students to use.
When UDEME visited the college in October 2023, the reporter gathered that there was only one hostel for females in the school. The hostel has no gates, as the entrances were bare except for an iron placard placed over one of the entrances. There were bushes around the entire hostel compound, and the paint on its walls was severely eroded.
Beside the hostel building were small buildings: the bathrooms and toilets; however, the doors were locked with padlocks and appeared to be long abandoned. The hostel rooms appeared habitable, with ceiling fans and bulbs. However, there was no light in the entire complex. A borehole was also absent on its premises.
Field work
When UDEME visited the state’s Ministry of Tertiary Education in Abakaliki, which is responsible for supervising projects in the state’s higher institutions, the Commissioner was unavailable. However, the Special Adviser to the Commissioner, who identified himself as Mr Obinna told the reporter: “we merely play a supervisory role”. He said they were not in a position to give information on the project.
Meanwhile, the Provost of the Ebonyi State College of Education, Prof. Mbam, said there has been no renovations on the hostel since its building in the past two administrations.
“We do not receive the funds directly for any project here. The funds are given to an agency to carry out the project and no agency has done any renovation on the hostel since 2014”, he explained.
“However, our plan is to construct a new two-storey hostel building. A proposal has already been sent to the relevant governmental bodies”, he stated, also further adding that ”lack of communication on the part of the students posed some issues”
“The students do not file their complaints to the management. Our mind is on their welfare so, they should feel free to tell us whenever they have any issues”, Mr Mbam said.
When UDEME visited the state’s Ministry of Budgeting to confirm whether funds were released for the project, the Administrative Officer, who identified himself as Mr Moses, told the reporter that they could not provide information on the project’s funding status.
Meanwhile, an administrative officer at the Office of the state’s Accountant General, Mr. Anya, said funds have yet to be released for the project. “I can say with all authority that money has not been released for the project. If it was, the renovation would have been in progress”, he stated.
This report was produced under the Udeme project of the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID)
