N250bn hostel rollout: Adopting PPP to tackle student accommodation problems

By Adesina Wahab

With over 40,000 student population, there is no doubt that about 8,000 bed spaces are not enough and securing an official accommodation on campus is a Herculean task. That is the situation at the University of Lagos, UNILAG. 

The situation is not different at the nearby Yaba College of Technology, Yabatech, where there are about 2,600 bed spaces to over 20,000 students. This year, the situation has been compounded by the need to lock down one of the hostels with 1,000 bed spaces for renovation and overhaul. The story is not different in most Nigerian campuses. 

Efforts to tackle the challenge with the hostels  built and run by private individuals and bodies have not made significant difference, as the rent is prohibitively high. 

Recently, the Federal Government embarked on a programme where the Tertiary Education Trust Fund, TETFund, the Federal Ministry of Education, host institutions and private developers collaborate to provide hostel accomodations in schools. This year alone, about N250 billion is to be expended on the projects.

Speaking during the soil-turning ceremony of the projects  at the Lagos State University, LASU and Yabatech, the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, said the projects would be on a Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) arrangement. Giving the breakdown of the N250 billion to be spent in the building of new hostels across various universities in the country, Alausa stated: “We are spending N100 billion, N2billion each to build 500 spaces of student hotels in over 50 tertiary institutions. We’re also building 24 PPP hostels with a capacity of at least 1,200 to 1,500 bed spaces across 24 tertiary institutions in the country, of which LASU is a beneficiary. A typical example of that PPP is that the Federal Government, through  TETFUND,  will bring one billion naira, and the private investors will bring three billion naira;  making it four billion naira for each project.

“That translates into about N96 billion to build 24 hostels across 24 institutions. And we’re also spending another one billion to deliver at least 300 bed spaces of hostels in another 24 tertiary institutions in the country. So all in all, cumulatively, we’re spending about N250 billion in just 2026 alone to deliver world-class, high-standard student hostels across all our various tertiary institutions in the country, both federal and state.”

Speaking on the completion of these hostels, he explained: “These are projects that we are fast-tracking in a way that starts delivering comfort to the students as soon as possible. For the PPP hostels, the completion period is 24 months. For the over  200billion hostels, we have a completion period of less than 12 months.”

He further explained that the Presidency via the TETFund has a five-point agenda for universities, which includes: the rehabilitation of students’ hostels, rehabilitation of classrooms, and lecture theatres and auditoriums; building of new classrooms and lecture theatres, and rehabilitation of engineering workshops.

Speaking about the soil-turning of the construction of the PPP 1,500-bed hostel in LASU, the education Minster noted: “This PPP hostel will be built to international standard for the comfort of students, and also to address the shortfall of hostel accommodation in LASU.”

Expressing delight over the promises of the FG,  the Vice- Chancellor of LASU,  Prof Ibiyemi Olatunji-Bello, said the projects, especially the construction of 1,500-bed capacity hostel, would go a long way in addressing the issue of accommodation.

Her words: “We have over 85,000 students, and we are accommodating just about 7,000. This 1,500-bed hostel will also improve the number of students that will be on campus, their safety and social relations.  

Giving his view on the development, the Chairman of the National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, Joint Campus Council, JCC, Lagos Axis, Quadri Ishola Odewunmi, commended Alausa, and the Rector of Yaba College of Technology, Yabatech, Dr Ibraheem Abdul, for the groundbreaking ceremony of a 1,500-bed hostel at the institution.

Odewunmi, who was at the event  with other student leaders, described the initiative as a way of solving the accommodation challenge faced by many students of the institution. He extolled the Minister and the Rector for their commendable efforts at improving student accommodation, not only in Yabatech but across tertiary institutions in Nigeria. He particularly praised the Minister for his proactive and responsive approach to issues affecting Nigerian students, noting that his leadership has rekindled hope within the student community.

While appreciating the strides made in student welfare, the Chairman also urged the Minister to extend similar attention to lecturers and other non-academic staff, emphasizing the need for a holistic improvement in the education sector.

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