By Lamid Azeez
In today’s world, it is no more a hearsay that ‘ health is wealth and cleanliness holds all forms of diseases’, but the reverse is the case at UDUS. The state or condition in which the students live is nothing to write home about.
What deteriorates the condition is the inability and indifference of the school management to properly address the health threatening environment in which the students live.
Usmanu Danfodiyo University is one of the prestigious universities in Nigeria. Over 20,000 students from diverse backgrounds across the nation come together with a view to acquiring a series of knowledge and skills for the betterment of the future. UDUS becomes the favorite of the majority because they are convinced that the school is equipped with necessary facilities that will absolutely satisfy their academic aspiration and yarning. More encouraging is its commitment to moral inculcation.
It’s however quite unimpressive of my prestigious institution that the learning environment and its accommodation facilities create an unhealthy atmosphere to the detriment of the students. Apart from the poor facilities, I’m forced to say that the management is lax for not putting necessary measures in place to neutralize the condition that threatens the health of its students. The school management in conjunction with the students’ union government has receded from using an instrument of social control to conform students to the norms. In their inaction too, they have refrained from providing and restoring the facilities needed; especially the pipe borehole water.
My experience –in this regard–, if measured with others’, will carry no weight. Last week, I was at the department of Biochemistry to receive a lecture. While waiting for the lecturer, I had a rumbling stomach. I, therefore, walked out of the class and sauntered into the nearest toilet. Immediately after I entered, it was difficult for me to locate a convenient zone to ease the burden on me. Why was it difficult? The place was filthy and looked infectious. Then and there, my condition worsened, owing to the high level of impropriety.
I must equally mention that the students themselves share the blame. The unwholesome environment of the private hostels is a clear testimony to this blameworthiness. The private hostels’ lavatories and the environment are unsterile. The condition looks so offensive that one will begin to think if the habitants are literate at all; no dustbin for refuse, leftover foods are placed everywhere, and the bathrooms are flooded with unmoved water.
The students, with their nonchalant attitude, have also disrupted and congested both public toilets and their environs.
They care less about what will become of their health if they continue to live in such an unhealthy atmosphere. How much more untold stories of malaria have been recorded because of the harmful living condition.
In conclusion, the school management with the students’ union should be responsive to the students’ society and bring forth the rules that guide the usage of public amenities and the cleanliness of the environment. Meanwhile, there should be an established law that will punish those who infringe on the regulations. Health is real wealth, not a piece of gold and silver.