Students' Union Steps In as UNICAL Hostel Bedbug Problem Returns Almost a Decade Later

Students living in the halls of residence at the University of Calabar are sleeping on new mattresses this week after the institution's Students' Union Government procured 500 replacements and initiated fumigation of the hostels to address a bedbug infestation that had gone unresolved for years.

SUG President Emmanuel Obo unveiled the mattresses at one of the campus hostels on Monday, describing the intervention as a direct response to complaints from students about the condition of existing bedding across the halls of residence. He spoke from personal experience, having lived in the hostels since his first year at the university.

"I was immediately confronted with a reality that many of us have endured for years, the deplorable condition of hostel mattresses across our halls of residence. As a proud Malabite who has personally resided in the hostels since my first year, I understood this challenge not merely as an administrative concern but as a lived experience shared by countless students," he said.

The problem is not new to UNICAL. In 2016, the university management under then Vice Chancellor Zana Akpagu supplied 698 new mattresses to replace infested ones following a visit to the halls of residence. Nearly a decade later, the same issue has resurfaced, this time prompting action from the student leadership rather than university management.

Obo said the mattress procurement and fumigation exercise marked the beginning of a broader welfare agenda under the current SUG administration, with further interventions planned to improve living conditions across the hostels. He acknowledged the support of Vice Chancellor Prof. Offiong Offiong and university management, noting that their cooperation had been instrumental in making the initiative possible.

Prof. Offiong had, during a recent inspection of hostel facilities, pledged management's backing for efforts to improve student welfare on campus.

For students who have endured disrupted sleep and discomfort in accommodation they have little choice but to occupy, 500 new mattresses and a fumigation exercise represent a tangible, if overdue, improvement to daily life on campus.