OAU students will continue to pay N90 for accommodation – VC

The Vice Chancellor of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Eyitope Ogunbodede, has said that the university charges students just N90 for accommodation annually and there is no plan to raise this fee.

OAU students who reside in the much dilapidated and congested school-owned halls of residence are invoiced N2590 for accommodation a year.

However, Mr. Ogunbode, a professor in the health sciences, said N2500 is for maintenance while N90 is actually charged for tenancy.

The VC spoke on Saturday during the annual International Campus Journalism Conference hosted by the Association of Campus Journalists (ACJ) at OAU.

“The OAU charges just N90 on accommodation which is the least in any Nigeria University. The remaining N2,500 is for maintenance,” he said. “The interest of the students is our priority and that’s is why we have decided to decongest the hostels.”

“It is not our joy to see 14 students in a room meant for 4 students. We are parents and that’s why we want a conducive environment for the students.”

Speaking further, he debunked the rumour that the university was planning to increase the fee, “The plan to decongest hostels is true but there are no plans to increase the fees. We pay N60 million monthly on electricity when students are on campus, and even the total money generated from accommodation yearly is just a bit higher than N25 million. This is just to explain that we are doing our best to make sure our students get a better living.”

While pledging to support the ACJ, he disclosed OAU would soon commence a mass communication programme.

He said “I was a member of the Association of Campus Journalists during my undergraduate days and I will always give my full support to the press. We are also working tirelessly to make sure the university begins Mass Communication as a course of study as soon as possible.”

Campus journalists from the University of Ibadan, the University of Ilorin, the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology and Ekiti State University among others attended the conference.

Also speaking, the Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abdulrasheed Akanbi, decried the failure of leadership in the country.