Bauchi assembly tasks Govt on hostels, shuttle services in state varsity

By Matthew ELOYI

Members of the Bauchi State House of Assembly have adopted a motion directing the state government to as a matter of urgency construct hostels at the state university campus for the female students as well as provide shuttle buses for ease of transportation of the students.

This is as members of the House decried the state of the government’s university structure, stressing the need for the provision of hostels and campus shuttle for the students.

The decision of the House followed a motion moved by Jamilu Umaru Dahiru representing Bauchi Central Constituency calling on the State Government to construct hostel accommodations in the Faculty of Social and Management Sciences, Yuli Campus of Bauchi State University Gadau and provide shuttle buses.

While leading the debate on the motion, Jamilu Dahiru explained that there is no hostel structure on the campus, which has discouraged students from other local government areas to apply for admission to the University.

He further stated that the campus is about 10 kilometers away from Bauchi town making it to become difficult to most of the students to transport themselves to and from the campus because of lack of shuttle buses and inability to pay a high cost, ranging from N800 to N1000 daily.

The member added that he was reliably informed that the lack of hostel accommodation and the government’s shuttle buses have collectively subjected the students to sexual harassment and intimidations and several accidents involving the students were recorded regularly.

Jamilu Umaru Dahiru prayed that the House should urge the state government to as a matter of urgency provide hostels accommodation in the Campus, liaise with TETFUND to construct hostels, contact various institutions and organizations in the State to fill the gap under corporate social responsibility and government should immediately provide shuttle buses to ease the transportation of the students.

In his response to the motion, the Speaker, Abubakar Y Suleiman who presided over the plenary said that the motion was timely explaining that “even today on my way to the Assembly, I saw a large number of students around Tirwun looking for vehicles to convey them to the campus”.

While contributing to the debate, Yusuf Muhammad Bako representing Pali Constituency said that the matter is affecting everybody because “the students are our daughters and sons who are subjected to various dangers by bad people”.

He added that there are criminals who are taking the advantage of the lack of vehicles to use their personal cars to give lifts to the female students in which they end up spoiling them by luring or in some cases forcing them.

In his own contributions, Bala Abdullahi Dan representing Duguri/Gwana Constituency opined that all institutions have benefited from the TETFUND without sending any committee, therefore, there is no need for the House to send any committee to TETFUND for intervention.

Yunusa Ahmad representing Warji Constituency while contributing suggested that lack of hostel is very a paramount matter pointing out that a private hostel was built opposite the Campus but because of litigation between the owner and a company that is claiming ownership of the land and courts injunctions, the owner of the hostel could not put it to use.

He, therefore, called on the State Government to intervene between the company and the individuals so that other individuals who have an interest can build private hostels for the students to rent at a cheaper cost.

Also, Baballe Abubakar Dambam representing Dambam/Dagauda Jalam Constituency suggested that additional prayers should be added to the motion because according to him, the government does not carry its responsibilities as and when due, therefore the government should consider Public-Private Partnership with individuals like AYM Shafa to build hostels and subsidize the hostel fee.

He also suggested that the House should direct the House Committee on poverty alleviation to discuss with the Ministry of SMEs to use the monies from repayments of some poverty alleviation initiatives to buy vehicles and give them to the university to operate a shuttle service.

However, Minority Leader, Bakoji Aliyu Bobbo representing Chiroma Constituency said that private individuals should not be encouraged to build more hostels because of the high cost of renting saying that the motion was moved to reduce the hardship being faced by students due to the cost of the private hostels.

Kawuwa Shehu Damina representing Darazo Constituency said that government cannot build enough hostels thus there is the need for the PPP and private hostels by individuals adding that even older institutions cannot find enough hostels built by the government.

Also, Musa Wakili Nakwada representing Bogoro Constituency is of the view that government should be discouraged from building hostels because if individuals are allowed to build hostels the cost will drop and hostels will be affordable to students.

After the debate, the House resolved to adopt the prayers of Jamilu Umaru Dahiru alongside the suggestions by Baballe Abubakar Dambam and Hon. Yunusa Ahmad and consequently directed the state government to act on the issue immediately.