The University of Lagos has warned that about 800 hostel bed spaces allocated to students who have registered but failed to move in will be revoked by the end of January.
The Dean of Student Affairs, Prof. Musa Obalola, disclosed this in an interview with The PUNCH, explaining that several students who completed hostel registration about three weeks ago were yet to occupy their allocated spaces.
Obalola said, “There are students who have paid and registered but have not moved in. Sometimes, people say there are empty spaces in hostels. These are the category of students we are talking about.
“About 800 bed spaces currently fall into this category. Therefore, we hope to revoke the spaces at the end of January if they have not moved in. We might refund them, and then give the bed spaces to those who are ready to move in.”
The warning comes amid accommodation crisis at the institution, where an estimated 35,000 undergraduates compete annually for 10,599 available bed spaces.
The situation has become more acute this academic session due to rising transportation costs and soaring off-campus rents.
Last week, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lagos, Prof. Folasade Ogunsola, unveiled plans to create an additional 7,836 bed spaces by next year to address the accommodation challenges.
Ogunsola said the project, to be executed through the Tertiary Education Trust Fund and Public-Private Partnerships, had already commenced, with five contractors on site.
Speaking further, the Dean of Students explained that UNILAG’s total on-campus accommodation capacity, which includes undergraduate, postgraduate and privately managed hostels, stands at about 10,599 bed spaces.
“For undergraduates alone, we are talking about nearly 8,000 bed spaces that we directly manage. That is what we are trying to allocate,” he said.
He noted that providing accommodation for all students on campus was practically impossible, adding that globally, on-campus housing is not a prerequisite for admission.
“Everywhere in the world, accommodation is not the basis for giving admission. Even before you are admitted, the first thing you should be thinking about is where you will live. When I was admitted for my Master’s and PhD in the UK, before I even travelled, the first thing I considered was where I would stay,” he said.
