The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Joint Campus Council in Ondo State, has made a passionate appeal to the state government to address the surging cost of off-campus accommodation faced by students in tertiary institutions across the state. The students, in a letter signed by the NANS Ondo JCC Chairman, Mayomi Adekanye, described the situation as increasingly unbearable, with annual rents now ranging between ₦350,000 and ₦600,000 for small apartments often lacking basic amenities such as water, electricity, and security.
Representing students from institutions across Ondo—including Akungba, Akure, Owo, Ikare, Okitipupa, and Ondo—Adekanye called for urgent legislative action to protect students from exploitative rent demands. He proposed a comprehensive policy reform that includes the capping of yearly rent increments, a ban on collecting more than one year’s rent upfront, the establishment of a tenancy tribunal, and mandatory registration and regulation of student housing in the state.
Highlighting similar frameworks already in place in Lagos and Enugu states, Adekanye emphasized that the proposed reforms are neither new nor radical but proven policies that safeguard students’ welfare and ensure dignity in education.
“Every academic session, students in Ondo State face the painful burden of unbearably high housing costs,” he wrote. “These rents are being demanded from young people who are not salary earners, not entrepreneurs, not civil servants but students—children of market women, farmers, teachers, artisans, and civil servants who are already stretched thin by Nigeria’s economic reality.”
He stressed that while landlords deserve to earn a fair income from their properties, it must not come at the cost of students’ survival and academic success.
In addition to regulating the off-campus rental market, the student body urged the state government to invest directly in campus hostel infrastructure. They recommended a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model, in which the government provides land and regulatory oversight while private investors build and manage the hostels at affordable rates for students. They proposed that each state-owned campus receive at least 500 new beds annually, equipped with basic facilities.
“Imagine if each state-owned campus in Ondo had at least 500 new hostel beds annually built with security, water, electricity, and affordability in mind,” Adekanye said. “It would ease pressure on the rental market and restore hope to thousands of students.”
Calling on the governor to take the lead in implementing what could become a model for student housing policy in the South West, the students expressed hope that this intervention could define the state’s legacy in youth protection and educational equity.
“We trust in your listening heart. We believe in your political will and we pray that history will remember you for not just building roads but for protecting young people who carry the burden of tomorrow,” the letter concluded.
NANS affirmed their readiness to engage collaboratively with relevant government ministries, lawmakers, and landlord associations to bring the reforms to life, stating that such action would not only serve students today but lay the groundwork for a fairer educational future across Nigeria.