By I.
B. Nga
Since the commencement of
this new academic session, several students of the University of Nigeria,
Nsukka (UNN), have been badly destablised by the very frustrating method deployed
by the Student Affairs Department in the allocation of hostel accommodation to
students. Worst hit are the final year students, many of whom have been left stranded.
Instead of devoting time and energy to their academic work at this very
critical and terminal stage of their stay at the university, they are running from pillar to post trying
to secure hostel accommodations, all to no avail.
The computerised system
should have made the process of hostel allocation very easy if it was managed
by honest people. To obtain a hostel accommodation at UNN, one has to visit the
UNN internet portal (http://unnportal.unn.edu.ng/), log in with one’s Student’s
Identification Code and apply for a bed-space. If the student is allocated, he
or she will print out an allocation confirmation slip and use it to go to the designated
bank to pay for the accommodation.
But from the very date the
university reopened for this first semester, it was an uphill task for several students
to even access the UNN portal online. When eventually, some of them succeeded
and logged in to apply for bed spaces, the page kept giving out the following
message: "All Rooms Have Been Allocated." But while many of
the unallocated students remained stranded and distracted from their academic
work which has since commenced in full force, those with “connections” always
got privileged information as to the exact period the system would be activated
by the university officials to start allocating again. And these would rush and
log in to the portal to secure rooms for themselves, settle down and face their
school work. But when the information eventually spreads and the other students
start logging in also, the website would start again to say that "All
Rooms Have Been Allocated." After sometime, it would begin to
announce something different, namely, "Try Again Later." What a
frustrating situation.
Now, despite these
developments, there are still many rooms that are yet to be allocated at UNN. And
from time to time, those with the "right connections" get informed
when the portal would start allocating and would rush to secure rooms before
information reaches other students who would only log in when it has stopped
allocating.
Not too long ago, there
was a fire incident at one the hostels at the UNN and the building is yet to be renovated as to be in use. The
officials are hiding behind the modest shortage this has caused to perpetrate
their nefarious activities. And so they create an artificial scarcity in order
to give the accommodation to their preferred students – who probably may have
greased their palms.
