Chapter One
Introduction
p. 1-6
Texte intégral
1.1 Introduction
1Good housing and decent accommodation play a significant role in healthy living and lead to improved productivity. This is particularly true for a special category of individuals – students, especially those in tertiary institutions, who require good accommodation in a serene environment for proper assimilation of what they have been taught.
2From available information, student accommodation in tertiary institutions in Nigeria is severely overcrowded. For example, over the last two decades, student accommodation at the University of Ibadan, has reached a crisis level. The main cause of this perennial problem is the increasing number of students being admitted, without a commensurate increase in the number of bed spaces. This situation has been aggravated by the absence of affordable and safe alternative housing in the neighbourhoods surrounding the university. The university authorities’ response to the problem of worsening accommodation has been merely palliative, often too little and too late to forestall undesirable consequences. The situation has become much more convoluted and desperate with the introduction of what the students call squatting and what the administrators refer to as racketeering. The combined effects of these are increased pressure on utilities such as water, the frequent breakdown of the sewage disposal system and the unsanitary condition of some of the halls of residence. Anti-social behaviour such as stealing, cultism, hooliganism and prostitution are only a few of the many other attendant consequences of this observed overcrowding of the students’ halls of residence.
3The major objective of this research is to examine student on-campus housing in Nigeria’s tertiary institutions using the nation’s premier university, the University of Ibadan, as a case study. As the university journeys into the 21st century, there is the urgent need to distil all available information on student housing in order to evolve pragmatic strategies to supply decent and humane accommodation that will make available a suitable environment for academic pursuits.
1.2 Methodology
4This study adopted an empirical investigative approach using a cross-sectional survey of respondents. It relied extensively on both secondary and primary sources of data. The research was conducted in two phases. The first phase was the pilot study which was carried out in 1995. The pilot study provided the necessary background information for the follow-up survey in 1999, and was essentially a survey to identify the dimensions and complexity of the problem of student housing in the University of Ibadan. Most of the information in this first phase was secondary and was obtained from the various records available in the Academic Planning Office and from the other published and unpublished records of the university. Information obtained included: student enrolment over the years; the design and actual capacity of each hall of residence, and available facilities such as water, electricity, cafeteria and laundry services. A sample survey was conducted using a select number of students to obtain basic information on such variables as the number of students that sleep in each room in the halls, the number of squatters and the process of squatting, and other related variables and coping mechanisms from the preliminary phase. The data obtained was analyzed to get a clear picture of the problem.
5The second phase, which involved more detailed fieldwork, was conducted in 1999. The French Institute for Research in Africa (IFRA) took an interest in the first phase of the work and volunteered to assist in financing an in-depth investigation to determine the context and dimension of student housing problems in the University of Ibadan. This interest was geared towards proffering some effective solutions to the identified problems and also to see if such solutions could be applied in other tertiary institutions in Nigeria. This study was timely in view of the lingering crisis the university was experiencing in relation to its decision to impose a levy, differently christened ‘municipal fee’ or ‘utility fee’ to defray overhead costs in the provision of such utilities as water, electricity and environmental management. The students rejected the payment of fees. Consequently, there was a stalemate, which resulted in the closure of the university several times.
6A field survey was considered expedient to throw light on this problem. Consequent upon this, most of the secondary data was updated and fieldwork was carried out on two groups of students: those that lived in the university halls of residence and those that lived in privately arranged residences within and outside the university campus. Ten (10) university students were employed as field assistants.
7Two separate sets of questionnaires were prepared for the two target populations. The questionnaire prepared for students living in the university halls of residence obtained information on the socio-economic characteristics of the students,
their academic backgrounds
whether they were ‘landlords’ or ‘squatters’
their assessment of such things as the hall facilities, hall management, hall environment, on-campus living, etc.
8Students were also asked to express their views on whether it would be desirable to allow private or quasi-private bodies to manage the halls of residence and the possibility of increasing accommodation fees, among others. A total of 500 questionnaires were administered in the halls of residence – 50 questionnaires in each of the ten (10) halls (table 1.1). The distribution of 50 questionnaires to each hall was essentially for convenience.
Table 1.1. Questionnaire Administration in the Halls of Residence
S/N | Hall | No. of questionnaires administered | No. of questionnaires completed |
1. | Obafemi Awolowo | 50 | 50 |
2. | Queen Idia | 50 | 38 |
3. | Queen Elizabeth | 50 | 35 |
4. | Sultan Bello | 50 | 44 |
5. | Independence | 50 | 50 |
6. | Nnamdi Azikiwe | 50 | 50 |
7. | Mellanby | 50 | 46 |
8. | Kuti | 50 | 33 |
9. | Tedder | 50 | 39 |
10. | Tafawa Balewa | 50 | 45 |
Total | 500 | 430 |
Source: Fieldwork. 1999.
9Although student populations vary in number with respect to each hall, there is no significant difference in the academic and socio-economic characteristics of the various halls of residence. Apart from the separation of students into halls based on whether they are undergraduate or postgraduate students, male or female students are not allocated into halls based on age, course of study, state of origin or any other socio-economic characteristic.
10Rooms were selected by systematic sampling and one student from each room provided the information in the questionnaire. A total of 430 questionnaires were properly completed and used for the analysis.
11The content of the questionnaire prepared for students living in private accommodation (whether on or off campus) was similar to the questionnaire prepared for students in the university halls of residence. In addition, however, it included information on the location of the residence, rent paid per month, cost of transportation and time spent commuting to and from campus, general environmental condition of their residences and whether they support on-campus housing for students.
12A total of 500 copies of the questionnaire were administered to students living in private hostels/rooms/homes within and outside the university campus (table 1.2). Most of the questionnaires were administered to students who live in residential neighbourhoods adjoining the university campus, such as Sango, Orogun, Ojoo, and especially Agbowo. Areas covered within the university campus included Abadina and the staff quarters – especially the ‘boys quarters’ of the senior staff houses. A total of 425 questionnaires were properly completed and used in the analysis.
Table 1.2. Questionnaire Administration to Students in Private Accommodation
S/N | Location | Questionnaires |
1. | Agbowo | 202 |
2. | Bodija | 5 |
3. | Ojoo/Orogun | 46 |
4. | Sango/Mokola | 6 |
5. | U. I. quarters | 97 |
6. | Private hostels | 69 |
Total | 425 |
Source: Fieldwork, 1999.
13In all, a total of 855 respondents were interviewed and their views and opinions were used for the analysis in this research. Simple descriptive statistical techniques such as means, ratios, frequencies and cross-tabulations were used to analyze the data.
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