•As Owa Obokun Launches N50m Project To Address Crisis
•School Management Unveils Plans To Solve Accommodation Issue
The Management of the University of Ilesa, Osun State, convened a stakeholders’ meeting on Sunday to address the accommodation crisis affecting the institution.
Present at the meeting held on the university campus were the Owa Obokun of Ijesaland, Owa Clement Adesuyi Haastrup, traditional rulers in Ijesaland, landlords, security operatives, students, and other stakeholders.
Speaking during the meeting, Owa Haastrup lamented the high cost of accommodation in Ijesaland, urging house owners to be kind enough to help the students and the university.
The monarch, who said the accommodation issue is very critical to the survival of the university, launched the “Ilesa University Must Continue To Rise” project with a N50 million start-up capital.
Owa Haastrup urged notable families in Ijesaland, as well as sons and daughters of the town in diaspora, to join the project and build hostels in the university to ease the accommodation suffering of the students.
The monarch said: “It is very sad the way things are generally in Ijesaland. I learnt that some landlords are charging 750 for a room, and students are not allowed to pair.
“I appeal to all landlords to be kind enough to help our students and the university. The government, both at the state and federal levels, is doing their best. Find a way to ameliorate the suffering of the students. Don’t price Ilesa University out of existence.
“I want to thank patriotic Ijeshas who have committed to building hostels on this campus. My prayer is that God will help them in their intentions.
“Today, I also want to launch ‘Ilesa University Must Continue To Rise’ project and I am starting this project with 50 million for now. The whole essence is to encourage everyone of us to know that this accommodation issue is very critical to the survival of the university, so that we don’t scare away external students from coming to the university.
“There is already a lot of hardship in the country and every parent wants to give their children a quality education.
“I am appealing to all well-meaning Ijesa sons and daughters to join me to make this new initiative succeed. There is a wide gap and it is only when all of us are committed to building hostels that we can bridge the gap.
“Our children in diaspora, and well-meaning Ijesas, if they want to join this project, should build a hostel which will be named after their families. This is a way to keep the memories of their late parents alive in the minds of the Ijesas.”
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Earlier, the Pro-Chancellor of the university, Mr Gbenga Onigbogi, said the university management has started a model where interested individuals will build hostels and manage them for 27 years without paying any money to the school.
Onigbogi said the number of students in the university keeps rising every year, appealing to house owners in the university community to give the students a soft landing.
According to Onigbogi, “For its 47 years of existence before it was upgraded into a university, Ilesa College of Education ran an off-campus accommodation system. However, regulatory bodies for certain academic programmes mandate on-campus hostels for students. We therefore renovated and converted some buildings to student hostels, creating just 294 bed spaces.
“Presently, with the new admission, we have about 12,000 students, and we have just 234 bed spaces. You can see the gap. The university has realised the need to bridge the gap and efforts are ongoing to provide more accommodation on campus. Parts of the efforts are the Tetfund N750 million special intervention for hostel development, which is ongoing right now.
“Also, the university has brought out a model whereby any developer will be given land free of charge. The developer will develop the land and manage it for 27 years without the university charging any money.
“Before the university came into being, a room in the university community was N25,000, but today, it has increased by more than 100 per cent. We are appealing to our landlords to temper justice with mercy and give these students a soft landing.”
In his remarks, the Vice Chancellor of the University, Professor Taiwo Asaolu, said the school has agreed to a 20 to 25 per cent reduction in accommodation fees, urging landlords of students staying off campus to also reduce their house rent.
“University of Ilesa is the fastest-growing university in Nigeria. We want the community to cooperate with us. The Ijesa community are trying for us and we appreciate them.
“When the student body came to us last Monday, we agreed a
20 to 25 per cent rent reduction, so we want to appeal to our landlords to also reduce their price,” Prof. Asaolu said.
Olamilekan Adigun is a graduate of Mass Communication with years of experience in journalism embedded in uncovering human interest stories. He also prioritises accuracy and factual reportage of issues.
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