UNILAG shuts postgraduate students’ hostels

RESIDENTS of Henry Carr Hall at the University of Lagos
(UNILAG) were on Monday barred from entering their
hostel.
Electricity was cut off around 11am and water supply
stopped at 4pm. The hall has three blocks of rooms and
houses Masters and Doctorate degree students.
The students were served with a quit notice on January
12, effective from January 14. When the notice was
served, many of the students had not returned from
holidays. The hall executives met with the hostel officers
and the exit date was extended to end of the month.
But when a new notice was served, the date had
changed.
The notice reads: “Following the memorandum received
from the Dean of Students Affairs (a photo copy is
hereby attached) today concerning the notice of
evacuation from the Hall of Residence, we, members of
the Hall Management Committee (HMC), wish to
formally appeal to you and all the students to please
obey the directive of the Dean. You will assist us to be
instrumental to its obedience because it has to be
obeyed immediately. The directive has been given since
Monday, January 11, 2016. Administratively, we expect
everyone to have evacuated the Hall latest on Monday,
January 18, 2016.”
The statement infuriated the students whose one-year
payment will elapse in March.
The students were asked to evacuate their rooms
because the school will be hosting some ECOWAS
students.
The students expressed anger, saying they could not
imagine why the authority acted in such manner.
They later met with some university officials, including
hall executives and hostel officers.
A student, who did not want to be named, said the
executives were still trying to come to an agreement that
would favour everyone.
“The students were told to vacate the hostel but the
session is not over. Some of us are not through with our
exams and some of us come from long distances. We
want the school authority to allow us stay till January
ending. I believe they were in a tight corner yesterday
because of the ECOWAS students’ arrival. We would be
having a congress tonight (Tuesday) to discuss our
options”, he said.
A female student, who is yet to begin her exams,
wondered how she is going to cope.
“Where do I start looking for accommodation now when
my exams are close by and how do I combine searching
for accommodation and reading for exams? I don’t really
know what to do,” she said.