Unilag fights bedbugs

Late last year, students of the University of Lagos (Unilag) staged protests after their hostels were invaded by bed bugs. The parasitic insects took shelters inside their beddings, folds of luggage, bags, clothes and furniture and continued to reproduce while their bites left hundreds of students including girls with bumps and pustules in their skins. Students were seen excessively scratching the itchy, bitten areas of their bodies even in lecture halls with few using antihistamines to treat the itching.
To exterminate the rapidly multiplying insects, the university authorities had to seek professional help and spent huge monies in obtaining spraying chemicals to treat the heavily infested hostels as well as replaced infested mattresses with new ones.

Daily Trust went round the campus asking students about the development. 
17-year-old Ola Adedayo could not hide her excitement as she related her experiences within the first few days she had spent on campus as a new undergraduate student. This, she said was not just because she secured admission but for the fact that she would not be sleeping on a bedbug-infested mattress.
Sitting with two of her friends in front of Moremi Hall of Residence, she recalled that she had just been offered admission into the 54-year-old institution when on September 28, 2015 students went on rampage over invasion of bedbugs in some of their hostels.
“Coming at a time I was planning to start school, it was one story that demoralized me as I became afraid of what would become of me if I chose to live on campus,” Adedayo, a 100 level Accounting student said, adding, “I had always wanted to stay in Moremi because my elder sister who graduated about five years ago had told us so many wonderful stories but when the news of protest about bedbugs in hostels broke, I became worried.”
She said she was in the process of finding a roommate with whom she could rent an apartment outside the campus when another friend of hers informed her that the hostels have all been fumigated with new mattresses being supplied.
“That piece of information turned out to be true. Someone at the office of the Dean Students’ Affairs (DSA) confirmed the story to me. So, all I needed to do was to pay the N25, 700 hostel fees as required. And when the balloting was done, I was happy to be given a bed space at Moremi where my elder sister once stayed,” Adedayo said.
The happiness expressed by Adedayo over the extermination of bedbugs was the feeling shown by other students. That atmosphere of conviviality was perhaps what the school needed to trudge on in the 2015/2016 academic session which has just kicked off.
It would be recalled that on September 28, 2015, hundreds of Unilag students had staged a rally to register their displeasure over what they called “invasion of their hostels and mattresses by bedbugs.”
Many of the protesting students said they couldn’t bear a situation where their health was constantly exposed to danger as a result of untidy premises especially with bedbugs spreading on their mattresses.
The protest had shut down academic activities even as the university’s management described it as uncalled for.
The former Deputy Registrar on Information, Olagoke Oke described the protest as “unwarranted,” saying information at management’s disposal indicated that those who championed the protest were actually looking for ways to extend second semester examinations.
“On the allegation of bed-bug infested mattresses, there is no truth in that because management replaces hostel mattresses at the end of every session. After the exams, this session will close, students can be rest assured that new mattresses will be made available again,” Oke said.
Also, on October 7, 2015, Daily Trust had published a comprehensive reportage on bed bugs invasion at the hostels as well as other challenges.
When Daily Trust correspondent visited the school few days ago, however, it was observed that the management has actually started taking steps to address some of the challenges. For instance, it was observed that both Sodehinde and Elkanemi halls were  under renovation. The management had also refused to allocate bed spaces to students in the two hostels, at least for the time being.
Also, apart from the supply of 8,500 new mattresses which were distributed across all the hostels, students confirmed that three fumigation exercises meant to get rid of bed bugs, mosquitoes and other insects were carried out.
“Already, some of the hostels with water challenges have been fixed. The problem of bedbugs is no longer there, at least for now. And as you can see, renovation is currently on-going at El-Kanemi and Sodehinde halls of residences. So for now, we are watching with keen interest how management is addressing issues that were raised in the past and we believe they will keep up the tempo,” Muhammed Olaniyan, President, Unilag Students’ Union (ULSU) said.
However, not everyone is basking in the euphoria that heralded the renovations. Tajudeen Komolafe, a 300-levelstudent at Faculty of Sciences said the management still had a lot to do in providing more hostels. According to Komolafe, the number of bed spaces ought to be growing with the rising population of students. He argued that the idea of providing new mattresses may not address all issues especially if students’ rooms have more population than necessary.
“In the rooms, there are those who are genuinely allocated with spaces and those who squat. In some cases, you even have squatters outnumbering those who are genuine room owners. But you can’t blame them, apart from the fact that some are from poor homes and don’t have the means to pay for bed spaces, the numbers available are still not commensurate with what we need,” Komolafe said.
For the new Deputy Registrar on Information, Oluwatoyin Adebule, “the university will neither fail nor shirk its responsibilities at all time.”
 He said it was not the students’ protest that brought about the supply of new mattresses rather, a routine exercise that has been in place for some time now.
“The protest of last year was unnecessary and a non-issue. The university has always ensured replacement of mattresses from time to time. And if the students say there are bedbugs; who spread them? Does the university rear bedbugs? You will agree with me that the hostel occupants are the ones who generate them.
“Anyway, the university has supplied new 8,500 mattresses. And I can assure you, we will always carry out our responsibilities from time to time,” Adebule said.