UNILAG Administration Plans Additional 7,836 Hostel Bed Spaces

The Vice-Chancellor, University of Lagos, Prof. Folasade Ogunsola, has announced the plan by the university to create an additional 7,836 hostel bed spaces by next year to address the persistent accommodation challenges facing its students.

Ogunsola disclosed this at a press conference on Wednesday at the Senate Building, ahead of the institution’s 56th convocation ceremonies.

She said the project, which is being executed through the Tertiary Education Trust Fund and Public-Private Partnerships, has already commenced, with five contractors already on site.

Yearly, an undergraduate population of about 35,000 students competes for the 10,599 available bed spaces, but the accommodation crisis became more acute this year owing to a combination of rising transportation costs and soaring off-campus rents, prompting renewed calls for expanded student housing.

Acknowledging the challenge, Ogunsola said while it would be impossible for the university to accommodate all its students on campus, the crisis would be substantially addressed once the institution attains 18,435 bed spaces.

She said, “The university has been in the news recently concerning student accommodation. While it will be impossible to house all students, last year we carried out hostel rehabilitation and upgrades in seven hostels — Makama Bida, Biobaku, Eni Njoku, Jaja, Madam Tinubu, Moremi, Fagunwa, and Kofo Ademola hostels — with funding from the TETFund 2023 and 2024 Annual Interventions.

“I am proud to inform you that some of these projects have been completed, and our students have moved in. The University of Lagos currently has about 10,599 bed spaces, and we are projecting to add another 7,836 bed spaces by 2027, all things being equal. This will be achieved through both TETFund and PPP arrangements.

“The five contractors that have been qualified have moved to the site and are at different stages of commencement. Three of the PPP hostels are off campus at Iwaya, Morounfolu, and Abule Oja.”

Giving details of the forthcoming convocation, Ogunsola said a total of 617 out of 10,584 undergraduate students of the University of Lagos would graduate with First Class degrees at the institution’s 56th Convocation ceremonies scheduled to hold next week.

She noted that the figure represents 5.8 per cent of the total undergraduate graduating population.

Overall, a total of 16,506 graduands will be awarded first degrees, postgraduate degrees, diplomas, and certificates during the ceremonies, which will run from January 16 to 25 at various venues within the Akoka campus of the university.

A breakdown of the graduating students shows that 10,584 will receive first degrees and diplomas, 5,782 will graduate from postgraduate programmes, while 140 will receive certificates from the UNILAG Business School.

Among the undergraduate graduands, 617 will receive First Class honours, 92 will graduate with Distinction, 4,543 will earn Second Class Upper Division, while 3,910 will earn Second Class Lower Division.

In addition, 1,023 students will graduate with Third Class degrees, 69 with Pass, while 330 are unclassified.

For postgraduate programmes, 502 students will graduate with Distinction, while 5,420 will receive Pass degrees.

Ogunsola also announced Umeozor Benedict, a student of the Department of Business Administration, Faculty of Management Sciences, as the overall best graduating student, having attained a perfect Cumulative Grade Point Average of 5.0.

Deborah Oloton, from the Department of Architecture, Faculty of Architecture, with a CGPA of 4.91, was announced as the best graduating student in the sciences.

She added, “The overall best PhD thesis award for this year goes to Haruna Abubakar, who obtained his PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering (Structures option), while the best PhD thesis (Humanities) is Beatrice Zuhumnen in Educational Psychology.

“The best PhD thesis (DBA) from the UNILAG Business School is Oyeyemi Adebamowo.”

Ogunsola stated that the convocation lecture, titled “Maximising Nigeria’s Demographic Dividend through Urgent Education Reform for Global Competitiveness in the 21st Century”, would be delivered by Mr Orondaam Otto at the J.F. Ade-Ajayi Auditorium.

Otto is the founder of Slum2School Africa and the pioneer of the first Virtual Learning Classroom in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The lecture will be chaired by Prof Rahamon A. Bello, the 11th Vice-Chancellor of the university.

On Thursday, January 22, two retired academics — Prof James Olowokujdejo of the Department of Botany and Prof Duro Oni of the Department of Theatre Arts — will be honoured as Emeritus Professors.

In addition, Prof Akinsanya Osibogun, a scholar of medicine, will be conferred with the title of Distinguished Professor.

Gold Medals will also be awarded to Prof Ayoka Olusakin, a professor of Counselling Psychology, and Dr Taiwo Ipaye, Director of the Office of Advancement of the university, in recognition of their sustained service to UNILAG and the nation.

The university will also confer honorary degrees on two Nigerians. Mr Jubril Tinubu will receive the Doctor of Business degree, while former Attorney-General of the Federation, Kanu Agabi (SAN), will be awarded the Doctor of Laws degree.

Speaking further, the UNILAG VC acknowledged that the university was also grappling with a shortage of staff owing to the continued exodus of academics abroad.

She, however, said there was an ongoing recruitment process following the Federal Government’s approval for the recruitment of 350 academic and non-teaching staff across the Akoka campus and the College of Medicine.

To address energy challenges, Ogunsola said some of the university’s facilities had been powered with solar systems.

She said, “Energy continues to be challenging, and while we await the Rural Electrification Project to take off, some of our facilities now have solar energy backup systems.

“One of our World Bank centres — Sustainable Procurement, Environmental, and Social Standards — recently upgraded the power supply at the UNILAG Medical Centre with a 120KVA solar inverter.”