Hostel 9: UNICAL students lament electric shocks, reptiles, harassment
Fear and frustration are mounting among female students in Hostel 9 at the University of Calabar, as they grapple with constant electric shocks, animal threats, flooding, and harassment, conditions they say have made life unbearable and unsafe on campus.
They have also complained about frequent flooding in their hostels, as well as sexual harassment.
When DAILY POST Correspondent visited the hostel yesterday, the students re-echoed these complaints, saying they are not safe anymore.
They stated how many of them have suffered electric shocks due to the exposure of naked wires.
“Whenever it rains, the hostel will be flooded as a result of leakages in the roofs, and we’ll spend time scooping the water,” one 19-year-old student who gave her name as Maria Eteng disclosed.
She lamented that many of their course books and other valuables have often been soaked.
Maria said the environment of the hostel is very untidy, giving comfort to dangerous reptiles and other animals.
“Our living environment is not conducive and very risky for human habitation.
“Often, dangerous animals surface, threatening us. We stay in fear. There is the aspect of electric shocks. Many of us have been shocked. The other day, a girl nearly died from electric shock.
“There are many naked wires. The hostel is always flooded due to leaking roofs.
“I have personally lost my handouts and costly books. My mates have similarly suffered the same fate. We’re not safe in this hostel,” she said.
Another student, Blessing Akpan, said the gutters and soakaways were filled up, appealing to the authorities to help them desilt them.
She hinted that they face increasing sexual harassment from male visitors.
Many of the students, however, spoke well of the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Florence Obi, for her efforts at infrastructural development in the school but appealed for her to visit the ‘Malabo Republic’ which houses the hostels and see their living conditions.
The Vice Chancellor, who is nearing the end of her tenure this year, undertook an assessment visit to the hostels recently.
She cautioned the students against unhygienic behavior which impacts the hostels.
She stressed the need to keep their environment clean to avoid contamination and invasion by dangerous insects.
She had also cautioned them against illegal connections of electricity, promising to look into issues of leakages and flooding.
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