Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour@GRVlagos
Officially titled the ‘Construction and Furnishing of a 484-bed Landmark Student Hostel at the University of Lagos’, it was included in the Zonal Intervention Project (ZIP) Appropriation Act of 2020, with a total allocation of N1.6 billion for its construction.
The hall was commissioned on January 3, 2024, by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, who represented his predecessor, Gbajabiamila.
However, to the disappointment of many students, the newly constructed hostel did not function as a government-funded project; it was just another commercial enterprise.
“When they were commissioning it, I really thought this would be a huge relief, but that wasn’t the case. The cost of a bed space there is as expensive as other private hostels. We could even get some that are cheaper than what they are charging at Gbaja Hall,” says Jude Egbas, a Law student who has been squatting with his friends for two semesters.
Businessday Investigations found that students living in the Femi Gbajabiamila Hall of Residence pay N950,000 per session for a single-occupancy room while occupants in a four-man room each pay N710,000. This amounts to N2,840,000 for every four-man room in the facility.
