"Learning but not living" by Dunnex

How many more students would die because of poor welfarism? 

 How many more candle-light processions would we hold?

Many a students, especially those whose relatives are alumni of this institution must have been baptised with sweet tales of Great Ife. The unequalled & unparalleled infrastructures, academic excellence & strides recognised within the national & international community. Those (alumni) who witnessed the paradisic era on this campus can testify to the great welfarism of students & the inexpensive cost of schooling.
A lot have even talked about the issuance of meal tickets to students at the beginning of semesters which runs till the semester ends, in which students are being served with nourishing & nutritious meals(with chicken) at various cafes in different halls of residence. (I am very surprised; a lot of students don't even know the initial use of their adopted reading hall).
Ranging from the conducive, habitable & non-congested rooms in halls of residence to good & adequate educational facilities for an effective learning (harm-free & well-equipped laboratories inclusive). It was truly a memorable & historic era in the chronicle of this institution. An era when students’ welfarism was at its Peak and a collective responsibility of the government, school management & the students. An era when there was no congestion of students in lecture theatres. An era when students lived like Kings & queens. An era when standard living & effective learning was easy & cheap. Indeed, An  era when IFE was GREAT!
 Nowadays, Considering the present exorbitant fees paid by the students, no doubt, students’ welfarism should experience a great improvement but reverse is the case as we now have students who no longer have rooms to sleep and those that do, share it with friends cum squatters  & life-threatening creatures.  Not excluding, those who are not privileged to get accomodation both on campus and outside campus due to financial limitations but have chosen the stony structure in between the oduduwa lecture theatres as their bed.
Students now learn & live in an environment that is even unfit for animals to breed. Students no longer have access to regular supply of good & healthy water that is fit for human consumption except for the unhealthy & irregular coloured-water supplied.
Students now receive lectures in overcrowded lecture theatres ( a good example is 1000 seaters which has turned to 5000 seaters). Students now have access to limited facilities & apparatus in the laboratories which poses a hazardous threat to students & staffs of those practical sessions.
 To start talking about the various aspects in which students’ welfarism has degenerated would only render me an endless list. It is an obvious fact that living in an environment with all those afore-mentioned characteristics serves as a great hindrance to effective learning & healthy living.  This has rendered a lot of students aimless & helpless in their academic pursuit. After going through the academic torture of running from lecture theatres & fighting for seats, our various rooms are expected to be a place of comfort for us to douse the academic stress we have being through. Painfully, it has graduated into another haven of torture with presence of some blood-sucking creatures & other inhumane facilties.
*It is only something that belittles common sense to expect students that live in an environment like that of this institution to learn comprehensively and effectively.* The general poor welfare conditions of students is a substantive fact to why mass failure is becoming a tradition in this institution despite the high rate at which students read. Also, the bad academic calendar with which school runs leaving students to little chances of proper assimilation and understanding.
*Records show that the death rate of students in the last few years have tremendously escalated & it's still escalating. Candle-light procession is gradually turning to a weekly norm on this campus.Road accidents, poor welfare conditions & other exploitation policies are gradually and silently claiming the lives of students (leaders of tomorrow). This ongoing semester has experienced the death of nothing less than five students. Ranging from the road accident victims to the poor health facilities victims & most recently the persisting death of students who live outside campus.
 Some weeks ago, a student of dramatic arts popularly known as 'AY BILLION' was reportedly stabbed & killed on his way to his residence outside the university terrain. With proper investigations conducted, it was known that the deceased was a victim of the newly adopted system of robbery outside campus. A viral trend in which unknown armed men (always in two) aided with a motorcycle approaches their targets whom have an attractive & conspicuous appearance. They try to lure or coerce their targets into giving them their luxuries, phones, & even money. According to sources, the deceased was stabbed because he rejected to give up his mobile phone and they retaliated by stabbing him severely.
Not to even talk about students who are victims of the constant robbery cases, rape cases & fetish practices. On different occasions, I have received panic messages in unholy hours of the night from students whose hostels are being invaded by the men of the underworld so as to inform the necessary quarters to come to their aids.
    It is a fact well-known that most hostels outside campus are owned by top university officials of this institution which has been a reason for their negligence to the renovation of old hostels & construction of new ones. Simply because of the fact that the more conducive & habitable school hostels become the less exploitative incomes they acquire.  All this afore-mentioned circumstances cannot be disconnected from the fact that the responsible quarters channelled with the responsibility of promoting students welfare have failed woefully & tremendously in their bid to enrich their pockets & achieve certain desires.
To save ourselves from further & incessant candle-light processions a lot has to be done now. Halls of residence such as Obafemi Awolowo hall was constructed about 47 years ago with good infrastructural & architectural layouts. Logically, a building that is almost 50 years should be properly renovated with a lot of structural adjustments to keep these buildings from dilapidating in the nearest future. Notably, it is pertinent to state clearly that 'AWO' & other halls of residence needs to be urgently renovated now because there is no room & finance to mourn, organise mass burial for students due to poor & dilapidated infrastructures.
At this point, I would like to withdraw my pen by charging all responsible bodies, unions & students who are concerned with the welfare of students to rise to their feet & save OAU students from further deaths caused as a result of the misappropriation of funds & priorities by concerned authorities.
DUNNEX SAMUEL
  (IS A MEMBER OF THE DEMOCRATIC SOCIALIST MOVEMENT,DSM & EDUCATION.