Students of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), have raised alarms over the debasing state of facilities within the citadel of learning.
Daily Trust reports that the lamenting students likened their hostels to prison yards.
Omotayo Akande, president of the OAU Student Union, said:
“It is oblivious the horrible living condition in the hostels and we as Students’ body is not relenting in the struggle for the welfare of the students. Speaking with Daily Trust, the Student Union President said that there is need to renovate the hostels and guard against overcrowding.”
Akande noted that: “Students are complaining of bedbugs. There are no good toilets and we are subjected to a condition that is not favourable to learning. In fact, we are afraid of an outbreak of diseases on this campus”
Mr Abiodun Olanrewaju, spokesman for the university, in reacting to the development, faulted the students’ claims.
Olarenwaju blamed the students for abusing the facilities in their hostels. He said the students overcrowd the hostels and use the facilities beyond limits.
OAU has 8 halls of residence including: Fajuyi, Awolowo, Angola and E.T.F for male students, while Moremi, Akintola, Alumni and Mozambique halls of residence are for female students.
However, evident on the long stretch of buildings were features of dilapidation. There were signs that the facilities lacked maintenance.
The institution was founded in 1961 as the University of Ife by the regional government of Western Nigeria.
It was later renamed Obafemi Awolowo University on Tuesday, May 12, 1987 in honour of the first premier of the Western Region of Nigeria, Chief Obafemi Awolowo.
A recent report by the National Universities Commission (NUC) ranked OAU as the most productive university in Nigeria.
It would be recalled that in October, some students of OAU, converged at Iwo Road enroute the Oyo state Government House, Agodi, Ibadan. They marched in protest, to expressed their grievances on the decline of education system in the country.
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