A look at Enelillian Adakole’s face, a 100-level student of Public Administration reflected frustrations as she returned back from class on Tuesday eve. There is power supply this evening but she ponders on the incessant tripping of electricity in her Hall of residence.
Adakole is among thousands of UDUS students who settled for softcopy materials, Portable Document Format (PDF) as a result of being financially constrained by the country’s economic hardship.
The price of hardcopy material which should have been a preferred alternative have surged higher than what Adakole could afford.
“Socket tripping has really affected me academically, considering the fact that I have a lot of PDFs piled up in my phone to read,” Adakole expressed.
Maryam Abdulrauf also narrated how socket tripping constantly gave her a headache, “anytime there is light and our light is tripped, we would be roaming around looking for where to charge.”
“It affects me mentally and academically because charging your gadget in another room is not safe. They will even let you know it is at your own risk. You also have to be checking it every time to make sure it is charging,” Maryam added.
More Students React
Echoing both Ene and Maryam’s voice, Badmus Faridah, a final year student of microbiology said she has been experiencing the problem of light tripping since she was in 100 level till now the situation is still repeating itself.
“Five minutes after they work on it, it will stop working again,” she narrated.
Ogor Marthias, a 400-level student, from the department of education biology narrated his ordeal over incessant light tripping in his room.
Marthias was returning back to his hostel after a long day he had taken 8 to 4 pm on that fateful day. After waiting for what seems to be forever, light was restored but to Marthias’ surprise, his room light went off and his phone was not charging.
“I later realized that the socket had tripped again.” Marthias said.
He continued, “Though I can’t ascertain the cause of light trips in the hostels but anytime it does, it takes several days before it’s restored.
SU Charges Maintenance Office For Proper Intervention
Comrade Abdullah Sanusi, the Chairman of the Students’ Union Caretaker Committee said the electricity should be firstly regulated by the Power Holding.
“The maintenance office should always address the issue on time and students should use it in accordance with the rules and regulations governing the hostel.”
Maintenance Officer Voice Out
While speaking with Mallam Aminu Alitin, the maintenance officer, he said that the cause of the tripping was caused by overloading of circuit and use of electronic gadgets.
“We can only do our work when there is light and if it is our working hour.” He added.
Mallam Aminu also said that the tripping of the socket started three years ago and the management is also aware. However, since the management did not provide what they needed, they would not be able to do anything.
“If a student comes to complain and what they need is with us (maintenance officer) we will go there and replace it. Most of the time, the students use their money to buy what they need since the management did not provide it for us.”