Problems of poor facilities in students’ hostels

According to Adenuga, Olufowobi and Raheem (2010) students hostel accommodation are saddled with problems of poor facilities in some major area which include but not limited to, poor or inexistence of cooling system, poor erosion control facilities, leaky septic tanks, water mains, roofs and gutters, doors and partitions, windows, electricity, plumbing, interior roofs and canopies, ceiling, corridors and rooms, washrooms and toilets. In their study, they discovered that most of the hostels have defects in waterproofing; doors, windows and joinery; piping/plumbing and ductwork; tiles; sanitary wares; fittings and jointing; claddings and curtain walls; ceiling components; services, plastering; biological and chemical attacks; masonry; paints; structural concrete; floor components and ; structural steel.

Ojogwu and Alutu (2009) in a study of the most common problems of students’ hostels in University of Benin discovered poor state and inadequacy of the features such as obsolescence, lack of internet services, ageing, poor cafeteria, poor air conditioning, poor ventilation, congestions, damages, broken tiles, bad fittings and exorbitant cost among others.

Some of the Identified problems include:

S/N	Facilities	Identified Problems
1	Bathrooms	Poor drainage system, insufficient water supply, unhygienic, slippery floors, not sufficient, fitting not working, over flow of water, lack of water, few taps, showers not working, dirty on weekends, broken tiles, no doors, showers not controllable, use of sub-standard fittings, not sufficient,
2	Reading room	Stuffy, serious noise from the surrounding, no cross ventilation
3	Common room	Congestion, no air conditioning system
4	Cafeteria	Stuffy, no competition thus poor food quality
5	Parking lots	Students prohibited from use, not duly marked out, bad pavement to the parking lots
6	Cooking facilities	Poor maintenance, not conducive
7	Internet facilities	Slow server, not functional
8	Fire safety	Out dated, needs replacement, no training on how to use it, few are available
9	Ventilation facilities/ Fan	Inadequate, series of electrical faults
10	Lighting facilities	Inadequate, damaged ones are left unattended to, not bright enough
11	Sporting facilities	Inadequate, needs repair
12	Hostel furniture	Insufficient, not in good shape, poor maintenance of bunks, ageing
13	Refuse disposal system	Late disposals of refuse
14	Mini Market (shopping complex)	Expensive sales, poor maintenance, problem due to monopoly, far away from hostels, sales at exorbitant price.
	Others	Walkways always muddy in rainy season especially honours road, poor response to complaints, noise from outside hostel is seriously disturbing, porters don’t pump water

(Source: Ojogwu & Alutu, 2009).

References

Adenuga, O. A., Olufowobi, M.B. & Raheem, A. A. (2010). Effective Maintenance Policy as a tool for Sustaining Housing Stock in Downtown Economy. Journal of Building Performance, 1 (1), 93-109.

Ojogwu, C. N. & Alutu, A. N. G. (2009). Analysis of the Learning Environment of University Students on Nigeria: A Case Study of University of Benin. Journal of Social Sciences, 19(1), 69-73.