Varsity students in Kogi vacate hostel over bandits, kidnappers attack

Varsity students in Kogi vacate hostel over bandits, kidnappers attack

Vice-Chancellor, Federal University, Lokoja, Prof. Olayemi Akinwumi has said students are reluctant to take up hostel accommodation because of bandits and kidnappers.

Chairman, House Committee on University Education, Rep. Abubakar Fulata, said this in a statement in Abuja yesterday.

The statement followed a visit by the committee to the university as part of its oversight.

Fulata quoted Akinwumi as saying the university’s two hostels with a combined capacity of 500 occupants were empty.

The vice-chancellor said the university management was also afraid of allocating the hostels because of fear of activities of kidnappers and bandits.The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that some students of Kogi State University were kidnapped in May. Two of them were killed by their kidnappers.

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He said the school was vulnerable to the activities of bandits and kidnappers because it lacked perimeter fencing.

”That is why we did not allow our students to move to the hostels,” he said.

He further quoted Akinwumi as commending the lawmakers’ visit to the school, while seeking the assistance of the lawmakers to help address the challenges of a new school like Federal University.

He said infrastructure challenges as well as insecurity had been the major obstacles to the smooth running of the university.

He said apart from the infrastructural challenges, employing competent hands into various faculties and departments remained a challenge.

Fulata promised the support of the committee to ensure that the university had the necessary infrastructure to carry out research, teaching and learning.

Varsity students in Kogi vacate hostel over bandits, kidnappers attack