Mary Akande (not her real name)
got admitted into a government owned university in the southwest. However, she could
not secure an accommodation in the competitive school Hall of Residence.
As a fresher, she did not know
how to secure a room off-campus. Stranded, Mary approached her colleagues to
squat with them in the school hostel pending when she would get accommodation. She
was allowed, but after six weeks, she was caught by porters and expelled from
the premises with a stern warning never to be seen around the hostel....
Forlorn and hopeless, she packed
her belongings and left the campus. On her way to town, Mary met a 300- level
student who helped her during the registration. She explained her predicament and
sought his help to get accommodation in town.
She agreed to stay with the guy
who stays in a single-room apartment. Mary was there for the rest of the
session. Upon resuming after a long session holiday, Mary’s friend waited
endlessly for her to resume…but, she could not. She was four month pregnant and
her acquaintance was responsible. Unable to face the stigmatization, she
dropped out of school.
The narrative above is a trend in
many higher institutions across Nigeria. Male and female students live under
one roof as couples-albeit without the consent of their parents. When it is not
affecting their academic performances, unlucky couples drop out school because
of their inability to combine their ‘married’ life with academic activities.
It has been gathered that
students who indulge in the act deliberately choose off-campus halls where they
get total freedom to invite the opposite sex to stay with them, a practice that
most institutions’ authorities frown at in school hostels.
In some cases, female students,
who live in off-campus hostels, invite their male friends from other campuses to
spend weekends with them. During the visit, they will go everywhere as a ‘married
couple’ and even prepare “delicious soup” to make the stay memorable.
In the process, many of the girls
indulging in the act get pregnant but because their partners are not ready to
marry them off, they mutually agree to abort the foetus. Before finishing their
programmes, many girls may abort six to seven pregnancies, which may damage
their fallopian tube and render some of them barren. But for the guys life goes
on.
Franklin Ajakaiye, a law student
of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), said ladies should be blamed because they
were always the initiator of the practice, citing personal experience.
Investigations have shown that
most students who engage in the act mainly do so to familiarize themselves with
their partners before marriage.
Despite the harsh lessons, the
practice is still a common occurrence among students, who should be blamed for
it? What’s your opinion of this tendency? Can you also speak from personal
experience?
Culled: The Nation
14, 11, 2013. 13:15
Nice write-up. very didative, so educating.....walking in dominion.
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