How Private Hostel Landlords Put Ekiti University Students in Dire Situations

Students at Federal University Oye-Ekiti face challenging living conditions in their hostels, which often lack adequate maintenance and essential services. Plagued by issues such as exposed wiring, poor drainage, and leaky roofs, which create a hazardous environment, the accommodations put students’ safety at risk.

“I sometimes have to leave the hostel for days,” says Oluwadunsin Omodele, a 300-level student who lives in Anisulowo Hostel near De Bush Hotel. 

The hostel’s electricity situation is dire, and students say they don’t have access to clean water for cooking. The electrical sockets and fuses often get damaged, causing their appliances to malfunction. Also, clogged toilets create unpleasant odours, making living conditions unbearable, and sometimes forcing students to temporarily vacate the premises.

Oluwasegun Ademiluwa, a second-year Accounting student living in Mr. Dada’s Hostel at Lion Junction, Irona, noted additional challenges. “Our landlord constructed an improvised kitchen from iron sheets directly in front of my room, and cooks with firewood. At night, hens climb on it, sleep, make noise, and also poo all over it. Whenever his wife cooks, smoke enters my room, and sometimes, I have to leave the hostel and take a walk or shut the doors and windows just to breathe. We’ve confronted him to explain how this greatly affects us, but nothing was done,” the student lamented.

Favour Adeola, a Political Science student living in Anisulowo hostel, describes harsh conditions, including water flooding their rooms and having to live in damp environments. She also recounts an incident where their landlord spread cassava on the roof, causing a noisy disturbance. These conditions aren’t just uncomfortable – they pose serious health risks to students who are forced to endure them.

FUOYE lacks effective policymaking and monitoring for privately-owned hostels, giving landlords unchecked freedom to operate without adhering to safety regulations or rent controls. When questioned about accommodation policies, High Chief Ogunyemi Oluwasegun stated that since the local government didn’t build the hostels, they don’t have policies governing them, leaving landlords to construct and manage hostels as they see fit.

Students also endure rising rent fees that come with no new developments in the hostels. Most landlords increase the rent year after year, while the actual condition of the property continues to deteriorate, with leaking roofs, broken pipes, and malfunctioning electricity. Ajibola Mercy, a 200-level History and International Relations student, expressed anger towards the sporadic rent increase at her hostel, Bella’s Lounge. Her anger stemmed from being unable to understand why her hostel fee was increasing when there was an overt lack of attention from the hostel management to justify such an increase. 

“Our landlady increased our rent from sixty thousand naira to one hundred and ten thousand naira, without fixing anything. Whenever it rains, my room is often flooded. I sometimes have to place a bucket in the middle of the room because the leak is right above my bed, and this means that I have to keep moving my bed around. The rain has even damaged the hostel’s electrical wiring. We complained, but nothing was done,” she said.

“Also, the hostel has a broken pipe that the landlady has refused to fix. The pipe leaks and at times, poop comes out of it, filling the whole compound with disgusting stench, yet she did nothing. It’s unfair.”

For students already traumatised by the burden of paying intensive tuition fees in addition to the ever-increasing living expenses, any additional unclear hostel fees make the burden even heavier. 

Local authorities have failed to effectively supervise hostel conditions, and landlords have equally neglected students’ welfare. These two factors have converged to create a situation that calls for immediate action.