ERRAND-OF-NO-RETURN: Curbing Duping, Cheating, ‘Riding’ In Danfodiyo Varsity Hostels
By: Taoheed A. Adegbite
From her restless ankles, forced by every features of her body to assuage from running, resulted to jumping. No doubt, the day had been good to her. Beneath her toes were aged colour-riot slippers, with which she trailed the path of a female hostel, joyously returning from the hostel mini-mart to answer her paymaster.
It was on Thursday, and the day was gradually fading to the dusk with little peeping of the rays of the sun from the sky. While fasting Muslims waited to overcome the tyrannic rays of hellish sokoto sun, this little girl’s concern was to answer her temporal master – her faded blue veil responded to the attention of her legs, forcing a rope pinned to small, sparsely inscribed paper on her chest to respond to the stingy breeze. She has just passed the small road-bomb around the hostel security mosque when she was abruptly stopped – it’s a peer command borne out of curiosity.
Watching the little girl she sent on errand at midway in a chitchat, Hajarat (not her real name) – putting on an ‘obey the wind’ ‘niqab’, which in response to the little breeze sketched out the contours of her body – became baffled. The feelings on her face were mixed. A cocktail of the relief from overheating room – accessing little breeze outside, coupled with dismay finding her long-awaited errand girl at roadside with hawking peers. In her voice is a replica of modern vuvuzela, borne out of anger as she shouted, “Number Six!”
Out-of-School Kids, Self-Parenting On Errand
Majority of these children are not wholly forsaken by their home but the fact that most of they fend for themselves, from the remnants food dispose by the students on campus and the commission they receive after running errand is a great analogy of how parental care has forgotten children running errand Usmanu Danfodiyo University students’ halls of residence . In quest for daily livelihood, many of these children have scores to settle with school, instead, they wake up every morning to find their legs tolling the path to a door-to-door roaming of students’ apartments.
The statement reads: “Even though primary education is officially free and compulsory, about 10.5 million of the country’s children aged 5-14 years are not in school. Only 61 percent of 6-11 year-olds regularly attend primary school and only 35.6 percent of children aged 36-59 months receive early childhood education.
“In the north of the country, the picture is even bleaker, with a net attendance rate of 53 percent. Getting out-of-school children back into education poses a massive challenge.” UNICEF notes.
As numbers of out-of-school children rise on a yearly basis, that of the girls is on the increase most, which according to the report, half of the girlchild population in the north are not in school. However, education deprivation of children in the north is centered on factors like: economic barrier,socio-cultural norm and other practices against formal education, rather, afford them to running errand.
UNICEF Report adds: “Gender, geography and poverty, is an important factor in the pattern of educational marginalization. States in the north-east and north-west have female primary net attendance rates of 47.7 percent and 47.3 percent, respectively, meaning that more than half of the girls are not in school. The education deprivation in northern Nigeria is driven by various factors, including economic barriers and socio-cultural norms and practices that discourage attendance in formal education, especially for girl.”
ERRAND OF NO RETURN: Agony Of Student-Victims
With the presence of these children (popularly referred to as ‘Yarinya’) in female hostels as errand girls, and their opposite sex (referred to as ‘Yaro’ which semantically means ‘a small boy’) in male hostels – many students hardly attend to some basic cores – tossing plate, cloth washing and the likes to the court of these Yarinya in exchange for commission. In Usmanu Danfodiyo University – laziness of many students is the joy of these ‘yarinyas’ due to a charged and negotiable commission they earn, serving as helping hands for students.
With a daily increase on the influx of the children searching for livelihood in students’ halls of residence,the table turns most of the time, as students started falling victims of duping in the hands of errand girls – losing their hard-earned money to the hands of untraceable ‘yarinyas’. In her chats with this reporter, Aminah Abdullah – a 400-level chemistry student, related a bitter experience on how an unknown errand girl ran away with her money.
She began: “Then, I was a ‘jambito’ (a slang attributed to a new student) , I stayed at Nana Asmau (DV) hostel. Oblivious of what yarinya girls are capable of doing, I innocently gave my one thousand naira to a Yarinya girl to buy me tomotoes of 100 naira, I waited for this girl for more than three hours but she didn’t return.
“I even tried asking her fellow Yarinya, giving them a description of how she looks like but none of them seemed to admit they knew her – they claim that she is not the only one bearing that name. I had to forget about it. Till this very day, I have not set my eyes on this girl and my money” narrated, Aminah.
Another student – a 300-level student of Microbiology who pleaded anonymous with this reporter explained that, despite her knowledge of how some of those errand girls operate, tiredness once forced her into the hands of an errand girl who ran away with her #500 sum of money, she said, “Though almost all of us at the hostel give them work to do, like washing ,but I’m not a fan of sending them on errand until that day. I was so tired and had to buy something at the mini-mart. The only option I had was to send one of them, I could remember what I sent her was just #70 out of #500 I gave her. But I later discovered my money was gone after an hour”
‘Traceable Errand Girls, A Student’s Idea
Students losing money to the hands of errand girls, instead of the usual after-return commission is a music that never grows stale in the ears. And in a bid to prevent crisis between students and errand girls on campus whenever one among the bag eggs got caught, Nabilla Sirajo Muhammad – a 400-level student of Agriculture and hall governor of I block (Ine of the female students’ halls residence) while speaking with this reporter, explained the part she took in actualising the introduction of identity card as a way of fishing out bad eggs among errand girls.
Nabilla started: “I decided to introduce it because of the cases we had in hostel, they are fond of running away with students money. Stealing our items anyhow. I decided to bring it up so that we reduce the rate of this bad habit.”
Nabilla Sirajo, who could be referred to as the brainbox behind the introduction of identity card for errand girls working in students’ hostels – also disclosed the tactics used in selection, noted that not all those working as at the time the I.D card got incepted are allowed to continue working. She also noted that those selected are based on a long time character assessment, asserted that any errand girls without I.D card are not allowed into the students’ hall of residence, much less running errand for commission.
She continued: “Not all of them are given this card. Just few are selected, and are selected base on the character. Some of them, hostel matron knows them very well, and if any problem occurs we would be able to trace them through her. Meanwhile, the deputy dean is aware and I’m very sure the Dean is also aware. He (deputy dean) gave the go-ahead and since he’s aware, the school management should be aware too.
Responding to the impact of her introduction on both errand girls and the students, Nabilla said, “Well! It has reduced the rate of the problem we used to have before. And we thank God from the way they welcome it, we’ve been able to stop the attitude of many of them perambulating in the hostel, shouting and running to disturb students.”
Golden Selection, Numbered Errand Girls
The fact that Identity card is the only a pass for errand girls to enter some female hostels on campus is not enough the head-aching part for many of them, rather, the changes brought to how free many of these girls enter hostel and run errand anywhere as they wish. Meanwhile, with ‘Yarinya’ having a meetings minds over the weekend with their hall governor, as started by Nabilla – addressing issues of ‘riding’ from the part of some students, and its inclination of sparking fuss, becomes feasible.
A group of errand-girls at IB female hostel, who spoke with this reporter, explained how they feel being forced to use identity card, noted that not only does the card serves as a pass to hostels, rather, its golden golden selection is enough for them to be worried about.
In her Hausa accented-tongue, a 13-years old girl who identified herself as Fatimah from Gidan Fati – a village in the outskirt of the University, said many of her friends without identity card are not allowed to enter female hostels, much less working for students. She said, “She (hostel governor) gave us the card and said we should go and laminate it. Those of us given were numbered, because many were not given, only few. And we are the only one she said should be entering the hostel to work. And she used to gather us every weekend to talk to us”.
Hauwa, another errand-girl – in her early 10s (though she couldn’t say her exact age) at ‘Kwankwasiya’ hostel who spoke with this reporter made it known that Kwankwasiya hostel is yet to start using the card. As against the narration that errand girls do run away with students money, Hauwa asserted that not all the students who send them on errand usually fulfil the agreed commission, noting that some are fond of telling them to come back but would nowhere be found.
“My friends in other hostels have told us about the card. They said their hostel governors gave it to them and they paid #30 for the card (lamination). One of my friends at IBlock said they were selected and not everybody that was given, and that their hall governor usually talk to them every weekend.
” Though it has not been discussed with us here, ‘Da Allah’, select me for our hall governor please. I don’t want to be sent away” hauwa, in her rooted Hausa accent pleaded with this reporter.
“Yes! My Deputy Is Aware, And I’m Also Aware” – DSA Reacts
Responding to questions on this new development, Prof. Aminu Mode, the Dean of Students’ Affairs of usmanu danfodiyo university ,sokoto said the introduction of identity card for errand-girls indeed a welcome development.
“It’s a welcome development and we are aware of its introduction. Though we also had plans for the operation of those kids in our students’ hostels, but I know this would go a long way of its essence,” he told the NEWSDIGEST.
The DSA, however, promised that with the introduction of this for female errand-girls, the male counterparts working in male hostels would very soon start the same.
The DSA added: “Many of these kids have become part and parcel of those hostels. The best way to curb whatever problems they do have with students is to regulate their activities. So very soon, ‘Yaro’ boys ( male counterparts) will start using such”
However, all efforts to reach the chief security officer of the University (CSO), Col. Gwandu proved abortive. The CSO in a meeting with campus journalists in a time past, had promised the introduction of uniform jackets for all children running errand in hostel as a way of improving security measures.