The tragic death of Ajibola Heritage Ayomikun, a 200-level student of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, has further exposed the deplorable state of infrastructure in our institutions of higher learning. Ayomikun, a student of the Department of Linguistics and African Languages, resided in a private hostel where she fell inside a pit held together by crumbling concrete. She died before help could reach her.

Sadly, decaying facilities at OAU, a first-generation university that used to showcase itself as the most beautiful campus in Africa, are symptomatic of most tertiary institutions in Nigeria. Yet, if the health of a nation can be gleaned from the state of its infrastructure, most public facilities in the country have become symbols of decay and monuments of shame. Majority of the universities, especially those owned by states and federal government, cannot boast of facilities that cater optimally for the general well-being of their students. Rooms on campuses are often congested, beds and mattresses are old and worn-out, bathrooms are without doors and defective toilets overflow with faeces. The expansive premises in many of these campuses are largely unkempt, ill-lit, and crawling with all manner of reptiles and insects. Only recently, the poor and deteriorating state of students’ hostels at the nation’s premier indigenous university, University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) was beamed to the world. It was heart-rending.

Sadly, we seem to be compounding the problem. Over the years, there has been a proliferation of institutions of higher learning without the backing of adequate resources. Students study in overcrowded and poorly ventilated classrooms and reside in congested and dirty hostels. Indeed, one of the most acute problems in the universities is the shortage of hostel accommodation. And where they exist, they are not only ill-maintained and in bad shape, but they can also only accommodate a fraction of the student population. That has led to overcrowding. Like inmates in the prisons, some 20 students could be in a room meant for eight. That is why some students like Ayomikun seek refuge in sickly buildings with caving facilities and open sewers, most often at exploitative rates. It is a miracle that many of the students survive the squalid conditions under which they live. And the universities hardly perform their oversight functions on these so-called student villages.

This brings us to some inevitable questions: What manner of youths is the country training for leadership and productivity in such substandard, subhuman atmosphere? How much longer will it take to convince the government to lead the way in providing a conducive setting on our campuses? Why is the growth trend in our universities expansive rather than developmental?

The fact that this tragedy happened at a time public university lecturers are engaged in a survival battle with the federal government is overly significant. But while appealing to the government and other public-spirited individuals and organisations to provide more funds for rehabilitation of decayed lecture halls, dormitories, laboratories, and other infrastructure, and in hiring qualified staff, we must begin to rethink the way we fund tertiary education in Nigeria. Besides increasing personnel costs, funds are also required to rehabilitate dilapidated facilities and purchase new consumables for the ever-growing student population.

We commiserate with the family of Ayomikun even as we hope that the authorities at Ife will see this tragedy as a wake-up call in oversighting the off-campus hostels of students under their care. There must be minimum acceptable standards. But the tragedy must also serve as a lesson to the authorities in the Nigerian educational sector. Students in institutions of higher learning should not be subjected to living under the condition in which Ayomikun died. It is a sad commentary on the state of affairs in Nigeria.

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