Varsity Students Ignore COVID-19, Resume off Campus, Call for Resumption of Graduating Classes
We are adults and can adhere to NCDC guidelines- Students
University Gate
By Eric Adah
Benue State University, Makurdi joined a nationwide ASUU strike in February 2020 while the Second Semester Examination was ongoing before the announcement by authority that the institution remains closed due to the ravaging Covid-19 pandemic.
This is to say that academic activities have officially been suspended while students vacated their campuses and
off campus residences. In a twist of event, the University host community has continued to welcome returning students in their various homes, thereby making the University
environs busy and lively.
Vivian Agada, a 200 level Mass Communication student said she was tired of staying in the village doing nothing.
She decided to come and learn tailoring instead of wasting so many months at home, since she did not know when school will reopen for academic activities.
Another student who prefers to be called Sandra, 400 Level, Languages and Linguistics said, she could not cope with the hardship in the rural area. She has returned back to her school residence, where she is working in a restaurant as a waitress pending resumption. She however appealed to the government to open the University for graduating classes. She claimed that they are adults and can adhere to the guidelines of NCDC.
Also sharing her story Gift, a 300 level student in the Department of Sociology said life was becoming unbearable for her in the village as she frequently got sick, as a result of poor water consumption. She also said “it is difficult even when you have money to get good food. There is hardship everywhere, but at least it is better in the urban areas.”
A restaurant operator off BSU Campus, Mrs. Grace Odiba said “customers have increased now compare to the first month of lockdown.”
She was amazed that her ‘customers’ have returned, though most of the returnees are female students.
Confirming the situation, a lecturer in the Department of Educational Foundations, BSU Dr. John Adikwu said it is good that most of the students have returned and have engaged themselves in different entrepreneurship skills, which will help them since no date is fixed for resumption. He however expressed displeasure about some of the students that have returned to indulge in untoward life styles, instead of engaging in meaningful ventures that will better their lives. Benue State University with a student population of over 20,000 have more than half of its students residents off campus in the University community. The population constitutes a beehive of activities for business operators around the vicinity.
