MY interaction with my Eastern-based young undergraduate relative somehow opened my eyes to the menace of off-campus system of education. It also made me recollect why my friend and her son had issues over his accommodation as a fresh student. Chiagozikam, meaning God has blessed me so much, at 17 is his mummy’s boy. He had become masculine enough while leaving secondary school. The little boy and his civil-servant mother were excited when he was admitted into one of the tertiary institutions in the Eastern part of the country. In the euphoria of the happy moment, mother and son would be communicating into the wee hours of the night almost on a daily basis while celebrating his great feat. In their conversations, his mother concentrated more on mentoring him on life’s challenges he might encounter in his would-be new environment.

But part of Chiagozikam’s enthusiasm as friends told him was to experience and explore the other side of student’s freedom because no daddy or mummy would follow him to school. His new name became “On your Own” (OYO). This means that either he manages the freedom he is about to reconnoiter or the freedom will manage him. The teenage boy has heard so much from his friends who gained admission earlier how they jolly and frolic in school, which is normal with young people.

Chiagozikam was so eager to return to school, do you blame him; who wouldn’t be? But on a second thought, his mother suspected from their discussions that his lifestyle was changing. So, she intensified her words of wisdom the much she could even as she insisted and secured a bed-space for him in one of the male university hostels, a feat that was difficult. He finally settled down in the school hostel, but found love with his off-campus friends. Shortly after, he started living with them and his freedom got out of hand. In no time, the bug that bites mischievous boys caught up with him and he began to speak their language. He stopped taking his mother’s pieces of advice. And like a novice, which he was, his first holiday at home was welcomed with a funny gait, curved eyebrow, perpetual mirroring, and woman-like gesticulations. The mother took a second look, monitored his phone calls and discovered that his young son has been initiated into the dreaded homosexuals club. She was heart-broken and shattered on the discovery, but she nevertheless swung into action to rescue her son before his condition gets worse. The boy in his confession said: “I will graduate tops in my class, command respect and be on top of my game as a homosexual student.” But Gozik as his fellow students renamed him instead became a huge disappointment.

But the consequences of Gozik action do not play out in all cases. Some wise students, both boys and girls, have gone through the off-campus experience successfully while some were caught in the web. When the decision is placed on an index, one discovers that the choice of an off-campus has brought about the increase in co-habiting among students. Female students leave their parents’ home and move straight into their boyfriend’s off-campus house in school and both begin to live as husband and wife when they are not. A scenario that is described as single at home, married in school. Homosexuals and lesbians identify themselves immediately and continue the crime from where they stopped. Cybercrime get higher when these youths get into their rooms and lock up, no one has the right to disturb a tenant who has paid his or her house rent. What about unplanned travels to attend to compulsory nude clubs among our girls? As young people who are sexually active in age, life becomes a den of immoralities to perpetrate and experiment all sexual accomplishments. All forms of decadence among the youths on both sides have become very normal and accepted because students live off-campus. So many young future generations are no longer students, but have been trapped in secrecy and depravities. This is not about running off-campus hostels down or praising their mates who live on campus; no. The difference is the ‘limit’ to what someone can do in public and private environments. That ‘limit’ could save some lives and situations. Students who live on campus know their limits, it is not as if they do not commit offences, but they know their limit and consequences of their wrong actions. There is a time limit for people who live in a constituted area. Off campus has no limit, though there are some students living off- campus who still conduct themselves properly. This analysis could be likened to evil activity taking place inside the Uber system of transportion and the Molue. Yes, both are all forms of transportation, but the differences are the comfort zones of the vehicles. In time of distress between Uber and Molue which one is safer and where can one get help faster? It definitely has to be Molue as cranky as it is because there are always this crowd, and that horde are not all criminally minded.

Meanwhile, with all these debaucheries, off-campus system of education has gained ground in most tertiary institutions across the country, particularly the Southeast and one doubts if it will ever be eradicated. It became acceptable because most of the universities in the Southeast operate with little or no school accommodation for students, so also accommodation for the members of staff of the institution. Students themselves prefer such places where their privacy is not interfered with. Off-campus students live like workers who earn salaries. When one eats one’s future as a student, what next will one expect or look forward to as a future worker? Students no longer eat ‘without’, do not squat again and obey the landlords and landladies of the room. Rather, they contribute big money and pay house rent thereby losing the pecks that allow the school pass through an undergrad. Reading is normally secondary for off-campus students because there are a lot of reasonable and unreasonable activities that disorganise their system.

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The big question is why would students be responsible for their accommodation in most schools in the Southeast? Why make it so difficult with exorbitant charges? What used to be the norm was for year one and final year students to compulsorily get school accommodation on campus. The reason being that freshers coming from all over the country cannot be left to be stranded while final year students need an accommodation to settle down and study for their degree examinations. Year two and three are no longer new in the environment, thus they can become official squatters.They do not enjoy the privilege of the owners of the land. Squatters do not enjoy that jollof rice shared by hostel executives at the end of every academic session. Other students who live off campus are about 10 per cent, but it is no longer so now.

Only God knows what has happened to the old and faithful university arrangement. It became a source of concern because so many students have gone into what should not be acceptable by the societies due to the freedom associated with off-campus. I am probably sounding like an old matron of 1925, old school right? Yes, does anyone enjoy cybercrime? Has any community welcomed an armed robber son or attended an event where ritualists and prostitutes win awards? What about the greed and quest to own the world?

If we all keep chasing money and look the other way while the increase in the menace stare us eye ball to eye ball, how will the future be? Why then did the likes of the late Prof Peter Omoluabi, a renowned psychologist proposed for a GST course on ‘Freedom’ for Year One students in Tertiary Institutions then?Kudos should be given to Ibrahim Magu, the acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) who stressed the need to include anti-corruption studies in the curricular of institutions of higher learning in the country; to stop the surge of cyber-crime among the youths, especially undergraduates.

Kudos to all off-campus hostel investors, but it could also be taken a bit further by going into joint partnership with the school authorities.

For the universities who depend on off-campus hostels, the practice have existed for years, students hostel should not be built for ages, rather it should be a top priority on the scale of preference to curtail some of these immoralities among the youths. The earlier we all begin to think of things that are universally acceptable, socially desirable and economically profitable, the better for us all.