By: Usman Yakubu Usman
Some students of Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto (UDUS) living in the school’s halls of residence, are pleading with the school management for the installation of street lights at Jibril Aminu hostels.
According to the students, the hostel premises are threatening and dangerous as a result of darkness, which frighten them mostly at night.
Speaking with this reporter, Mohammed Abubakar, a 400-Level student of Forestry, who resides at Block C of the Jubril Aminu hostel said that the installation of street lights will surely protect students from thieves, and also expose other criminals from roaming the hostel premises.
“Our concern mostly is our property. If we go to class for night reading, we used to be afraid of what might have happened to our foodstuffs before we return,”
Mohammed added that if the school management intervenes, the affected students would be happy.
“We are begging them to do so for Allah’s sake, and for our safety,” he pleaded.
Shamsuddeen Onawola, a 400-level student from the Department of Sociology, also expressed his frustration on the situation.
“There is darkness all around. As far as we are not animals, they should please consider us. Solar or street light, whatever it is called, will help us against this frightened darkness,” he said.
He continued that “I have been here for almost 4years now. Thank God I am graduating at the end of next semester, because I will not be seeing such kind of thing again. And with the amount of grasses growing during raining season, if places remain dark like this, only God can save students.
According to the findings of this reporter, Jubril Aminu, among studentsʼ halls of residence, consists of 7 Blocks with over thousands of students who paid (N15,000) for the 2022/2023 Academic Session as hostel fee.
Other students who spoke with this reporter also lamented different ways on which this challenges has affected them.
An interview with AbdulHafees Mohammad, a 100-Level Agriculture students said that most of the time, he relied on using touch around or going to school to read due to the level of darkness at hostel premises.
“The room too is unbearable due to shortage of light,” he complained.
In response to the situation, the Hall Supervisor, Baba Sahabi, calmed the students by promising to reach out to the Dean of Students Affairs.
“You know it’s good to have light, most especially at night, but you should be calm and patient, I will report to the Dean Student Affairs,” he promised.
Reacting to the students’ plea, the Dean of Students Affairs, Professor Umar Aliyu, assured the students of forwarding their plea to the school management.
“I will inform the school management about it. We have heard your plea and surely, I will forward the matter to the authorities concerned,” he pledged.