Have you ever yearned for something for a long time, and then got it, only to regret ever wanting it?
This is my predicament as I type this review.
A couple years ago, when I got my admission letter into the ‘prestigious’ Federal University, Oye Ekiti, my joy knew no bounds. A solid 3 years after high school, and now great progress! Or not.
I resumed earlier than the official date, to get settled and familiar with the environment early enough. I travelled down to the school from Lagos, anticipation at its peak in my heart. The journey was quite stressful but the excitement of it all made sure it didn’t matter.
Then, the first bubble: darkness. I arrived in the dead of the night. No flint of any kind. Do people even live here? Or maybe light would come tomorrow, at least. “No. Don’t expect light at any point in time. If you see it at all, you should celebrate”, a senior confidently told me.
Really? What have I gotten into? Well maybe that’s just it, it can’t be all that bad. Yeah, right.
School resumed and then I saw reality.
The lecture halls are the worst. They look like they were hurriedly constructed with stolen funds. In a class of almost a thousand students, there are no facilities available to enable the lecturers carry everyone along. So, lectures are more like gatherings than actual lectures.
Don’t get me started on the unnecessary bills we have to pay. This alone made me start to question the importance of schooling. We are literal ATMs here. Bills come from anywhere, anytime. From lecturers who are underpaid by the government and have to make ends meet, from so called class governors who also want to make some quick buck, the list is inexhaustible.
Just yesterday, I wrote my last exam for the semester and then the faculty announced that we all would have to pay a thousand Naira for a matriculation oath, compulsorily. This is something we paid for as part of our registration process. It is really terrible.
I can go on and on.
Is it the thick bushes in the school premises that can aid criminals or the fact that the school has no walls?
How about the cows and their masters that roam the premises? This doesn’t feel like a school. It is more of a jungle and only the fittest comes out okay.
The only thing that stands out in the school is the library. The building is perfect and well equipped. Beyond this, everything else needs a prayer point.
I would not wish this school on my worst enemy.