Greed, conspiracy, official corruption fingered in the abandonment of the estate bequeathed to UNN by the late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, the university’s founder
From IKECHUKWU NNADI
In the surroundings of the first indigenous university in Nigeria, the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN), the unthinkable is happening in its accommodation sector. One of its glorious, sprawling legacy edifices, the famous Zik’s Flats is gradually and almost irretrievably
turning to ruins.
Nnamdi Azikiwe Flats, Zik’s Flats for short, has become an eyesore of sort and economic waste to the great home of Lions and lionesses, the UNN, in recent times as a result of its dilapidated state.
The popular Zik’s Flats is an estate of 20 storey buildings and 12 bungalows used as hostels by the Nsukka Campus of the university for its students for over three decades but got dilapidated in the last 10 years due to abandonment and neglect, a situation that has thrown hundreds of students into a huge accommodation problem.
When Daily Query visited the Flats, neglect, dilapidation, eyesore were written all over the buildings as almost all the window glasses have been shattered while the walls have become visibly weak due largely to the constant rainfall on the buildings.
Needless to add that the Flats has been taken over by grass, shrubs and even trees, even as many not-so-good guys, some indulging some in illicit activities, are also seen inside and around the flats.
Good memories of the Zik’s Flats
In the early 80s, the Flats provided a big accommodation relief to hundreds of UNN students who were mostly new entrants, with many still new in the university town and environs as a whole.
Daily Query gathered that the estate, which originally belonged to the late Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, the founder of the University, was, shortly before Zik’s death, bequeathed to the UNN as part of his social responsibility contributions to the institution as well as to help to help the university to reduce the accommodation problem experienced by the university as a result of its growing student population.
Originally solidly built two-storey duplexes and bungalows with about 700 hostel-size rooms, the Flats has over 3,000-bed spaces, expansive playgrounds, a line of dozens of stores, a car park and a cafeteria with many restaurants.
As a matter of fact, Zik’s Flats was definitely the most beautiful and exciting hostel to live in, in the early 80s UNN.
Apart from their being architectural masterpieces, the hostels also shared a perimeter fence with the Great Zik’s Onuiyi Haven, where the family of the country’s first President currently lives.
Indeed, Zik’s Flats was the exclusive residential hall for first-year students, meant to kind of introduce them to the school system and enable them to adapt to studying before being moved into the main campus. It was like an incubator, a preparatory school.
The beginning of the dilapidation
The dilapidation of Zik’s Flats, UNN is an ugly situation that has left many stakeholders in education wonder what could have led to this sorry state of one of the legacies of the first Nigerian President, Nnamdi Azikiwe.
For more than a decade now, the estate has been left abandoned and virtually taken over by grass, trees and dangerous reptiles. This situation, to say the least, has become a threat to residents of the surrounding buildings in the neighbourhood, majority of who are students living off the university campus, but especially members of the family of the late Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, as well as traders selling around the flats.
With over a 100,000-student population and an annual intake of about 15,000 students, Daily Query gathered that the UNN has 17 official halls of residence with a total bed space of less than 18,000.
Therefore, it remains a puzzle yet to be unraveled as to why such strategic estate of additional 3000 bed-space, germane to any accommodation problem-solving effort of the UNN authorities, would be left in such total ruins.
Reasons for the abandonment
For over a decade now since the abandonment of the hostel, many people, including the university’s critical stakeholders, have continued to adduce reasons for the ugly development, given the high student population growth of the UNN which, thus, badly needs such a facility to ameliorate the on-campus accommodation problem facing it.
In the University town, comprising Nru, Orba, Ihe/Owerre, Obukpa and Onuiyi communities, a hostel facility is like an oil well to the owner. This perhaps explains why private hostel businesses are thriving more in Nsukka town with each room going for a minimum of N250, 000 as against N12, 000 paid for a bed space within the university by students.
Suspected unseen hands in the abandonment of Zik’s Flats
Nevertheless, in spite of this huge amount, coupled with the prevailing economic situation, it has been suspected that many members of staff of the University may not want the rehabilitation of the Zik’s Flats especially when some of them and top officials of the management present and past are alleged to be secretly building private hostels around the surrounding environment and consequently allowing the school hostels to deteriorate.
For instance, checks by our reporter showed that before he left office in June 2019, the immediate past Vice-Chancellor of the University of Nigeria, Prof. Benjamin Chukwuma Ozumba, inaugurated the construction of a modern hostel complex on a Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) Model. The hostel complex which promised to be a new model of hostel accommodation in the country was to replace the old dilapidated Ziks Flats.
Unfortunately, our investigation revealed that till this moment, the project never got off the ground.
Stakeholders express concerns
Since the dilapidation crept in, stakeholders in the Ivory Tower have continued to express their concern over the sorry state of the flats.
Many of them are miffed that at a time many students are facing accommodation challenges, with their concomitant health consequences, the university thought it wise to leave Zik’s Flats to deteriorate and waste away.
Speaking to our reporter, one of the former students of the University, Dr. John Nweke lamented that the Flats has become an eyesore to behold.
According to Nweke who did his first, second and third degrees in the department of Public Administration, UNN and lived a few metres away from the Flats, “it is very unfortunate that the
university could leave such structure to waste away when it is in dire need of accommodation for its increasingly teeming population.”
Questioning the reasonableness behind the abandonment, he said: “What does it take the University to renovate this hostel? What has
the university been doing to see that this legacy project does not go into ruins like this?
“But, whatever it will take to put the Flats back in good shape, it is worth the expenditure.
“Remember we are talking about enduring legacy here. Even at our local level, if your father bequeaths a house to you, no matter how rich you eventually become, you can never allow such a bequeathed house to deteriorate. That is our culture and that is how it is supposed to be.”
Another former student, Dr. John Ugwu described the situation as “very much appalling”.
Ugwu, who disclosed that he once lived in the hostel, said it is unbelievable that a university that is in a constant shortfall for students’ accommodation would allow the place to remain desolate.
“It beats my imagination as to why a university, such as the great UNN, should allow these structures to be in this current state with no student living there in the past seven years,” he said.
According to him, the only possible reason Zik’s Flats and other hostels in the university are “being allowed to rot away,” is so as “to allow private hostel owners, most of whom are members of the university staff, to make heavy returns on their investments.”
“Apart from the rumours we have heard, I know that members of the university management and most members of staff of the university have numerous hostels within Nsukka town. These hostels charge between N150, 000 and N250, 000 per annum for a room. Do a comparison with what each student pays for a bed space in school hostels.
“And to think that most of the Vice-Chancellors in recent times, including the immediate past V-C, Prof. Igwe, were past occupants of Zik’s Flats makes the rumours strongly believable. So, I think it’s a deliberate policy of making the private hostel owners have good returns on their investments that led to the abandonment of Zik’s Flats and other hostels by successive administrations in the
university. If not, just tell me what else could have inhibited the V-C from rebuilding the place where he once lived as a student.
“The situation is equally affecting other hostels in the university. You must have heard about the disturbing state of hostels within the campus. This is part of the strategy to force students to live in
private hostels,” Ugwu agonized.
The profitability of renovating Zik’s Flats
However, as the fortunes of Zik’s Flats continue to dwindle, arguments have erupted among economists as to the economic benefits of its renovation.
A senior member of staff of the university, who asked not to be quoted, revealed that the renovation would gulp at least N5bn.
According to the employee, this would surely cost the university more than what it could earn in 20 years.
“Remember it is the housing project we are talking about here. You should know that rebuilding Zik’s Flats alone will gulp more than N5 billion and after that, you begin to charge N12, 000 or N15, 000
accommodation fees per session. We have not even talked about maintaining the hostel itself which costs the university almost N100 million per session.
“Also remember that the university will pay for the costs of providing electricity, water, internet services, security, sewage maintenance,
repairs and cleaning.
“When all these are put into consideration, I think this is one of the frightening reasons successive administrations, including the current administration of the University led by Prof. Romanus Ezeokonkwo the Vice-Chancellor, have looked away from rebuilding Zik’s Flats.”
All efforts to get the reaction of the university’s
spokesman, Dr Okwun Omeaku on the matter proved abortive, as, according to him, he’s not competent enough to speak on the matter, except under the authority of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Administration) who is the only person with the authority to speak to the press on the matter.
Also, when Daily Query visited Prof. Uche Azikiwe, wife of the late founder of the University and Nigeria’s first President, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, for her reactions, she was unavailable for comments.
