Scholars blame cost of dead student on greedy landlord
BY TIMOTHY AGBOR, OSOGBO
Despite the high cost of house rent off campus at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, the university students continue to agonize and live in constant fear over the alleged failure of private hostel owners to renovate the ageing buildings which are now, less, like death traps.
Following the death of Ajibola Ayomikun, a 200-level student of the Department of Linguistics and African Languages penultimate Wednesday, who reportedly fell into a septic tank at a private hostel off campus, the aggrieved students of the university insisted that private hostel owners in Ile-Ife should renovate their properties to forestall a reoccurrence.
One of the hostel mates to Ayomikun who did not want her name in print, said that the incident occurred when the deceased stepped on a weak plank and iron sheet used to cover the damaged part of the concrete septic tank in Bver hostel.
She said, “She (Ayomikun) wanted to dry her clothes and she stepped on a damaged concrete part of a septic tank covered with a plank and iron sheets. The plank broke and she fell into the septic tank.”
Ayomikun’s dead body was later brought out of the soak after a rescue effort that lasted about an hour.
Checks by The Point correspondent showed that at ‘Maintenance Hostel,’ an expansive hostel housing a large community of female students of the university with adjoining annexes, there are several other dilapidated septic tanks described by students as death traps. The students said that the complaints made to the hostel managers usually fell on deaf ears.
It was gathered that some of the septic tanks had been left unmanaged since the year 2018. Our correspondent learnt that snakes, scorpions and other dangerous reptiles often crawled out of the open septic tanks and from the nearby bush around the hostel. They alleged that on several occasions, reptiles had crawled into students’ rooms, posing a huge threat.
Findings from some of the occupants of the hostels which are situated along the Ede Road, after the school gate, showed that a room costs between N300, 000 and N500,000, depending on the sizes and facilities with Maintenance Hostel, built on public-private partnership, unarguably being the most expensive off-campus hostel in the university community.
A lady who simply volunteered her name as Kemi, an occupant of Stella hostel, an annex of the Maintenance Hall, said, “Before Ayomikun died, we complained to the managers of the hall to do something about our poor living conditions. The managers only concentrate on beautifying its outward appearance at the detriment of the occupants. I stay in Stella hostel and we pay about N500, 000.
“There is nothing really to show for this huge rent because we don’t have good water closets in the toilets. Most of the nets are torn and most of the buildings here are built with inferior materials.
Urgent intervention needs to be done.”
“There is nothing really to show for this huge rent because we don’t have good water closets in the toilets. Most of the nets are torn and most of the buildings here are built with inferior materials.
Urgent intervention needs to be done.”
Another student who occupies De Gold hostel, also an annex to Maintenance Hall, said that students’ lives were threatened as a result of invasion by dangerous reptiles.
The student, who craved anonymity, said, “Most times, we do see snakes and scorpions in our rooms. We complained severally but nothing was done. All that the owners of the hostels do is to hike the rent.”
“It will shock you to know that the cheapest room in the Maintenance Hostel is N300, 000. At Stella Hostel for instance, a room is over N500, 000. Each contains about four students as the owners of these hostels sell per space. At Bver Hall for instance, they have three students in a room and each pays N127, 000, 00”
Meanwhile, the Students Union executive of the university has disclosed that it conducted an inspection into the hostel following the death of their colleague.
In an exclusive interview with The Point, Olayiwola Folahan, President, OAU Students Union, said that Ayomikun’s death was due to negligence on the part of the hostel owner.
“Her death was an avoidable one. It was due to the negligence of the hostel owner. It is very unfortunate. We have inspected the hostels in the Maintenance Hall. We will mount pressure on the management and the police to ensure that investigation is swiftly conducted and proper sanctions are given to the management of the hostel,” he said.
Oluwafemi Ajayi, a student and Chairman, Electoral Committee of OAU Students Union, said that most of the hostels in Maintenance Hall were built with substandard materials.
Ajayi said, “Bver Hall has one big block and three small blocks. The hostel accommodates over 300 students. The last time that the septic tank of the hostel was evacuated was in 2018. Since that time, the Bver Hall management refused to close the soak away probably because opening and closing it from time to time would cost them more. So, they have been trying to be economical. Upon entering the hostel, we discovered that it wasn’t constructed with standard materials. The current state of the hostel is not encouraging at all.
“What the union is doing is to ensure that there is no reoccurrence of such an incident, and in this particular case of Ayomikun, justice must be served. Ayomikun’s death could have been avoided if the management of the hostel was responsive. That’s the basic truth.
“The owner of the hostel is an extreme capitalist who doesn’t want to spend money fixing the soak away after the last sewage extraction. The owner only cares about money and not concerned about human lives. That’s how Nigeria is. As a union, we can’t watch this capitalist go scot-free.
“We (Students Union executive) had an inspection of other annexes at Maintenance Hall and it will shock you to know that a snake welcomed us in a particular hostel called Achiever. We had to do a video documentary and put it on our students’ union page.
“It will shock you to know that the cheapest room in the Maintenance Hostel is N300, 000. At Stella Hostel for instance, a room is over N500, 000. Each contains about four students as the owners of these hostels sell per space. At Bver Hall for instance, they have three students in a room and each pays N127, 000, 00.
“The students had lodged a complaint about the soak away at Bver Hostel in January to the manager but nothing was done until Ayomikun unfortunately fell inside it.”
Meanwhile, the Police Public Relations Officer, Osun State Command, Yemisi Opalola, has confirmed that the manager of Bver Hostel has been arrested following the death of Ayomikun.
She added that an investigation had begun into the incident.
The university’s Public Relations Officer, Abiodun Olanrewaju, said that the owner of the hostel had been issued a query and that his response was being awaited.
