Fuel scarcity: Off-campus students groan, skip classes

•NANS, NAPTAN decry situation •Institutions adopting flexible timetable

STUDENTS of higher institutions across the country who are not living on campus are having a rough time commuting to school from home because of the scarcity of petroleum products that has led to high transport fares.

The situation has also led to some of the students missing or skipping classes.

For students who live on campus, moving from one point to the other, especially in institutions with more than one campus, has not been easy as well, as intra and inter campus vehicles are finding it difficult to get fuel to operate, leading to the students trekking long distances.

In Lagos for instance, students of the University of Lagos, UNILAG, who live off campus, have to pay transport fares that have doubled to get to Yaba to connect buses to take them to the Akoka Main Campus.

"I live in Ayobo area of Lagos and from Iyana ipaja, the yellow buses that used to collect N300 or N400 to Yaba, now collect between N700 and N800 per trip. Depending on the time of the day, it could be higher. From Yaba, the yellow buses that ply the Akoka campus still collect N100 because the Students Union would not agree to any increment in fare. "However, you may be on the queue for almost an hour because most of the buses have no fuel or the drivers spent the previous day searching for where to buy fuel or are on the queue in filling stations. We all know that accommodation is a big issue in Lagos as a whole and UNILAG can barely accommodate 30 percent of its students on campus," Victor Olufemi, a 200 level education student said.

It was also found out that the transport fares from Akoka to Oyingbo and Bariga/Shomolu to Akoka have gone up by 100 percent.

Oreoluwa Grace, a Geology student of the Federal University of Technology, Akure, FUTA, got a shocker at the motor park recently while returning to school from Lagos.

"I was stunned when I got to the garage and was told to pay N7,000 as transport fare from Lagos to Akure. Until recently, it was between  N3,000 and N3,500. I called my Mom from the park and she simply said I should just board the vehicle as I had no choice. Because I live off campus, transportation from home to school costs me a whole lot too. 

"I discussed it with my Mom when I was home during the break. I suggested that I should be given my transport fare money separately from money to feed in school. Before the break, transportation usually cost me N300 each day and I would go to school six times a week, that is N1,800 weekly. On resumption, I started spending N400 daily and now it is even worse. A ride on a bike is now between  N500 and N600 from School Gate to the Faculty," she said.

Culled from Vanguard