UI: Parents call for increase in hostel fees

As the students of the University of Ibadan continue to frown at the ban on cooking in the hostels, their parents have called on the management of the school to increase the hostel fees as they said the present N14,000 is rather too cheap.
They added that such increase should be minimal.
The parents made this position known during the maiden edition of the Parents Consultative Forum organised by the University on January 16, 2013, a statement from the university on sunday said.
The meeting was to discuss with parents and guardians the challenges facing the university.
The meeting, which took place at the Trenchard Hall in the university, was well attended and an unanimous decision was reached that in order to tackle the deplorable conditions of the hostels, there was the need to increase accommodation fee.
According to the parents, the hostel fee of N14,000 is “grossly cheap and unrealistic”.
This is coupled with the fact that the Federal government is not providing any subvention for accommodation.
The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Isaac Adewole, with other principal officers of the university were present at the meeting.
Tthe Dean of Students Affairs, Prof. Akin Alada, presented the cost structure of students’ accommodation, informing parents that a chunk of the university’s fund is spent on hotel.
According to Alada, over N400 million had been spent in the last three years on accommodation.
One of the parents, Dr. Ade Adenuga, called on other parents to support the university to become better.
Adenuga said: “I have a daughter in Queen Elizabeth Hall and the condition there is deplorable.
“The university is trying its best but I urge parents to support anything that will make the university better.
“If increasing the fees will make our children live as human beings, then I support that but N50,000 is too much.”
Another parent, Engineer Ayodele Adefisayo, whose child is in the Pharmacy Department, expressed shock that the university accommodation fee per session is N14,000.
Adefisayo said: “Please let us be realistic, N14,000 is damn too cheap and unrealistic and we are complaining that our hostels are bad?
“The university authority needs to be honest and take a stand.
“I support an increase in the hostel fee and I want the university to be able to accommodate more students.”
Also, Mrs. Tope Olaifa, another parent, said the university will need to consider students who are sponsoring themselves in school and should find a way to reach a fair ground.
Olaifa said: “Weather we like it or not, there are parents that cannot sponsor their children.
“Can we say because they don’t have money, their children should not go to school?
“There are also students who bear the brunt of their education themselves.
“I agree that N14,000 is unrealistic considering the economic situation where government is removing subsidy from everything but there must be somewhere these poor students can approach.
“The increase can be gradual so that we can carry everyone along.”
Other parents applauded the management of the university for involving the parents.
They however urged the university authority to oversee the running of the hostels and not hand them over to facility managers as obtains in other universities.
They also suggested that the university should liaise with private investors to build more hostels.
The parents also urged the university authority to constantly open channels of interactions with parents.
In his reaction, Adewole commended the parents for coming to the meeting.
He said more of such meetings will be held regularly.
He said: “We urge you to talk to your children and wards to be patient and they should obey our rules and regulation.”
Adewole said misunderstanding of the rules and regulations guiding the behaviour of students in Halls of Residence is fuelling mistrust and causing unnecessary agitation.
Adewole said the university management is not making new laws but only enforcing existing rules and regulations in the hostels.
The bone of contention is the students wanting to bring their electric cookers (hot plates) and kerosene stoves to the hostels but the school authority said personal cookers are not allowed as the students can come with their pots and other utensil to use the electric cookers provided by the university in the kitchenettes.
Adewole said: “We are not saying that students cannot cook but they are not allowed to bring their cookers.
“They are allowed to do light cooking in the kitchenettes with the electric cookers, which the university will provide.
“It is their personal cookers we are against.
“Our students can cook but it will be with the electric cookers we are providing.
“We don’t expect that this should be a problem because we are not making new rules but only enforcing the existing rules and regulations guiding our Halls of Residence.”