ASUU STRIKE: To Pay For Hostel Rent Or Not, Students' Dilemma

Seven months have since passed and there seems to be no end in sight for the ongoing ASUU strike, while students count their losses, for some of them their plans to have completed their 4-year course and started NYSC this year, has all but failed.

The ripple effects of the COVID-19 lockdown, coupled with the #EndSARS protests lockdown saw a lot of businesses and individuals surviving on the edge with no jobs, expired rents, and sky-high food prices.

Students, on the other hand, have been home for seven months with little or nothing to do with most companies and establishments cutting down on staff strengths and salaries due to the financial hit on their businesses.

Every year after each academic session, the routine for the student is to pay their rent for the next session, a lot of paid hostel fees would have expired, left unused. Another yearly payment is in the offing, what do students do now? Pay up for another year’s rent with no end in sight for the ASUU strike?

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What is the way out to mitigate the losses? Most if not all students have already lost 7 months of their rents and probably more with the ongoing strike. Does the government have any plans at all to address this? Giving the unnegotiable rents in Nigeria, how can the government come to the aid of students at the crossroads? It wouldn't be a subject to debate if the previous payment was utilised by the students.

The question on every student’s mind is “how do I pay for another year’s rent without knowing when the strike will be called off”? Only the government can help students at this point by speeding up the resumption process and also consulting with government-owned hostels all over institutions in Nigeria so as to help students who may not be able to afford the upcoming rent, giving that families and businesses have been hit the hardest by both COVID 19 Lockdown and #EndSARs protest.