Students
of one of Nigeria’s flagship citadel of learning, the University of Lagos
-Unilag are currently under attack. The invaders, though not human are
nonetheless, formidable. Bed bugs have taken over more than half of the rooms
in the Biobaku Hall –a male hostel of the school.
Acting
on a tip-off by some undergraduates of the institution, bizcommanders reporters
visited the hostel and can authoritatively confirm that the situation is no
child’s play. Mattresses (mostly dirty, flattened out and torn or uncovered) used
by the students hitherto placed in the sun, most likely as a panacea to the
unlikely menace were being rescued from the rain.
The
chinch problem was said to have started from one of the rooms on the ground
floor of the three storey edifice but spread like wild fire to other rooms on
the floor and even jumped to the upper floors. Only the top floors were said to
have been spared.
Some
of the students who prefer to speak undercover painted a gloomy picture of
their recent existence at Baku (as the students fondly call their hall) since the
bugs made their inglorious foray into their residence. Solomon Uti (not real
name), a second-year law student revealed that they had not been sleeping with
their two eyes closed since the invasion.
“It
has been terrible since this bed bug problem started; there is no more comfort
when you sleep whether during the night or day. We hope the school authority
will do something to eradicate it fast.”
Another
student, Wale Oloja (another pseudo name), -year one mechanical engineering called
on the school management, to as a matter of urgency replace many of the
wretched looking mattresses in the hall of residence. In his view, the bad
state of those items must have ignited or fuelled the infestation in the first
instance.
“Many
of the mattresses are quite dirty; you see them blackened by overuse. Many are
flat, and either torn or without covering at all. Some unlucky students sleep on
mattresses that leave pieces of foam on their head every time they wake up,”
Oloja argued.
Meanwhile,
in case you are wondering, “Bed bugs are parasitic insects of the cimicid
family that feed exclusively on blood, especially human blood... A number of
adverse health effects may result from bed bug bites, including skin rashes,
psychological effects, and allergic symptoms -” extracted from Wikipedia.
Another
issue the students pointed out bothers on overcrowding in their rooms. The
dwellings originally designed for six occupants are now allocated to eight
students officially but typically swell up to between 12 and 18 users with the
inclusion of unauthorised students or squatters who usually lay mattresses on the floor to sleep.
Each
of the rooms is issued four double bunk beds.
Our crew, however, saw a couple of rooms with two or three even though the
normal official eight students have been allocated. A student told us that this was so because the hostel
management does not have enough beds.
The
reason for this phenomenon is simple; present accommodation facilities in
Unilag and other Nigerian government-owned universities are grossly inadequate
and have, in fact, been overstretched for well over two decades now.
On
a good note, though, this development has further brightened one of the solid
business opportunities inherent in Nigerian higher institutions, not just Unilag.
Savvy entrepreneurs (local or foreign) could take advantage by building and
operating private hostels close to the vicinity of these schools.
You
could also approach the institutions to allocate land for such right on the
school campus on a BOT –build, operate and transfer basis. But you must
negotiate the conditions very well and protect your investment with strong
legal instruments.
If
you are thinking along that line and you are capable of mobilising the funds,
you may check out this link to guide you in preparing your business plan: http://www.scribd.com/doc/249972793/Hostel-Business-Plan#scribd.
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