…as management seeks help to accommodate 41,000 students

By Davies Iheamnachor

THE NNPC Exploration and Production Limited, NEPL, a Subsidiary of the Nigeria National Petroleum Company, NNPC, (formerly, Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation) has completed and handed over a 224 capacity to the hostel University of Port Harcourt.

This was as the university said it was facing accommodation constrain in the institution, noting that over 41,000 of its students reside outside the school premises.

NEPL said it built the 224-capacity hostel for the federal institution to ease the burden of accommodation for students, noting that it poses a security risk for students to reside outside the school premises.

Speaking during a brief ceremony to hand over the Ultra-modern students hostel to the institution, Luwei Doubra one of the heads of the Community Relations Department of NEPL, said it has been the practice of the organization to deliver its Corporate Social Responsibilities to the people.

Doubra represented, the Manager Community Relations Department, Mr Dahiru Abubakar, and the one who was to represent the Managing Director, of NEPL, Mohammad Ali Zarah, said the choice of a hostel came through its need assessment in the university, hinting that the university needed more hostels to host its teeming students.

He said: “It has been our practice. NEPL is a subsidiary of the NNPC and NNPC as we all know is a national company, where all Nigerians are stakeholders as such NEPL carries out some Cooperate Social Responsibilities, having identified and seen where there are needs for such intervention of projects. We go in there and execute the project accordingly.

“The choice of hostel came as a result of our need assessment. We carry out a need assessment. When we carried our need assessment we noticed that there is a shortage of hostels inside the university campus.

“We noticed a lot of students littered outside the premises, outside the confinement of the university. We feel that that is a serious unsafe act and it is a threat to the life of such student living outside.”

Doubra opined that the project would enhance the academic performance of students of the institution, adding that it would bring the students closer to the learning process.

He further said the university was chosen to receive the facility because it has a good culture to maintain the hostel, adding that ability to maintain was one of the parameters considered before moving in for the project.

He added: “To protect them and to secure their lives and give them a conducive learning environment we believe that bringing them in and close to their classes will be of more use to them in terms of their performance. They will perform because they easily access their classes.”

However, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor in charge of Administration, Prof. Clifford Obiyo Ofurum, who received keys to the twin two-storey buildings for the Vice Chancellor of UNIPORT, Prof. Owunari Princewill, called for more intervention in the area of accommodation for students in the school.

Ofurum stated that the school has a population of over 45,000 students, regretting that only 4000 of the students have accommodation within the school.

He said: “We are highly impressed with the project. We are not just delighted but today marks a memorable day in the annals of this university. The hostel is one thing we have ever yearned for.

“We have about 45,000 students in this university and only about 4000 are accommodated. So we still have a shortfall of about 41,000 students. So you can imagine what this would have done to the university. We appreciate greatly.”

He called on other well meaning corporate institutions and individuals to see the very outstanding need of the university, even as he promised a good maintenance habit on the facility.

“My prayers is that other cooperate bodies and wealthy individuals should key into what NEPL has done today. The university is actually a fertile ground to invest ones money.

“If you go around the university you will see other hostels that were built 20, 30 years ago are still maintained. I can assure you that in our own way the University of Port Harcourt will continually maintain this hotel like we do to other hostels.

“Hostel maintenance is part of our annual budget. Having received this keys today, the onus is on us to continuously maintain this facilities. We will do that.”

Ofurum added that the university is worried that over 41,000 of its students live outside the school premises, saying that it impedes on academic performance of students

“Sure, it does give us worry. That is why we are also appealing to other bodies to follow suits because by the time we have ten of this it will go a long way to ameliorating this hostel deficiency,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Managing Director, STAN and DEKA Resources Limited Engr. Sam Alabi, the firm that handled the project, said the facility was completed within 12 months, adding that specifications were adhered to.

Alabi said: “It is a twin building of two storey each. It has 56 rooms and each of the rooms has the capacity to take four students. So, we are looking at total of 224 students being easily accommodated here.

“Part of the facility we added to this building is Common Rooms equipped with TVs. It also has a potter’s office. 56 rooms and all of them are in suit. It has kitchen, bathroom and convinces. It qualifies to be a modern building. We used top quality material.”