‘UNILAG’ as it’s popularly called, has a high reputation amongst the federal universities within Nigeria. It’s certificates are recognized nationally and internationally and this is because it is perceived to possess a teaching/lecturing workforce that is highly intellectual.

However, the downsides of UNILAG are made glaring in it’s poor student accommodation infrastructure. UNILAG has two campuses: the main campus at Akoka, Yaba, and the College of Medicine campus at Idi-Araba, Surulere (which is where I’m currently at).

I have experiences living on both campuses as I am a final year undergraduate of Radiography, and all medical students are required to stay at the main campus during their first year.

The main campus is heavily congested as there are inadequate hostel spaces for all students. Whilst inadequate hostel spaces is not uncommon across the world, the living costs off campus are very expensive and this is the major reason for congestion within school hostels. The school hostel facilities are also poorly maintained and most hostels have not been renovated for a lot of years.

At the medical campus, there is no issue of congestion but the poor maintenance culture persists and is probably even worse. There is also a unique issue of constant power grid failure within the medical college. I habe had to prepare for, and write exams without power supply on countless occasions. It is a really terrible situation as water availability, as well as cooking become major issues during these periods.

Asides all the above issues, the school management has recently reviewed fees upwards by almost 900%. Taking fees from 25,000 naira to ranges of 140,000-240,000 naira depending on your programme and year. This does not include housing fees which were equally increased.

Studying Radiography(Medical Imaging) at UNILAG has given me access to modern diagnostic centers and facilities which I may not be able to access if I were in other Nigerian states. Students from other states come to Lagos for their industrial training as a testament to this.

Overall, UNILAG gives you exposure you need to succeed in a professional career but the living conditions of students is really poor and needs to be looked into by the management.