When John Adebayo, a final-year student, first gained admission to study at the University of Lagos (UNILAG) in 2019, his joy could not be contained. It was a university he had always wanted to study at, and for all the issues he had anticipated, nothing and no one prepared him for what he ended up encountering.

After failing to secure a bed space in a hostel on campus and without the wherewithal to afford private accommodation in and around the university, Adebayo had to pay N40,000 to “squat” with another student who had a bed space. The payment only bought him entry to a room, not a bed. Throughout his brief stay in the hostel, he slept on the floor.

WINGING IT: LIMITED SPACES, INFORMAL MARKETPLACES

For many students at UNILAG, securing on-campus accommodation every year is a process marked by uncertainty and, for the most part, desperation. Every academic session, thousands of students participate in a ballot for limited hostel spaces, and many do not even stand a chance.

UNILAG does not publicly disclose the exact number of bed spaces in its hostels, but available information indicates that the university has between 8,000 and 10,000 bed spaces across 16 hostels. These hostels include both ‘public’ and private hostels, both of which are run through arrangements with the university management.

For the ‘public’ hostels — which are hostels whose pricing, allocation, and management are handled directly by the university — only 12 of them are available to full-time undergraduates. For male students, these are King Jaja, Mariere, Saburi Biobaku, Eni Njoku and Sodeinde; and the female students have Fagunwa, Kofo Ademola, Madam Tinubu, Honours, Queen Amina, Makama-Bida and Queen Moremi.

The previous balloting exercise was often fraught with high portal traffic as thousands of students attempted to secure bed spaces on the same day. To address this issue — and for some other reasons known to the university management — the university management decided to change the hostel allocation process in the 2024/25 academic session.

In an interview with UNILAG Sun, the university’s official newspaper, in January, Musa Obalola, the Dean of Student Affairs (DSA) for UNILAG, announced the new balloting system. In the new system, bed spaces would be allocated randomly to students.

Eligible students would apply for bed spaces over several days, and then the bed spaces would be randomly allocated to applicants on ballot day. The new system took effect in the second semester of UNILAG’s 2024/25 academic session.

However, based on students’ experiences, FIJ has learnt that both the old and new systems have failed to address a critical issue underlying student accommodation at UNILAG: the number of hostels and bed spaces available to full-time undergraduate students contrasts sharply with the size of the student population.

For instance, in the 2024/2025 academic session, UNILAG had 35,177 full-time undergraduate students, far more than the available spaces could accommodate. Even if all 10,000 estimated bedspaces were accessible to undergraduates, it would still fall short by tens of thousands.

FIJ found that this gap in available hostels for students has created an informal market for bed spaces, built on a myriad of unofficial negotiations, backdoor payments and middlemen known as ‘agents’.

BALLOTING EXERCISE FOR 2025/26 SESSION

The balloting process for UNILAG’s recent session — the 2025/26 session — began on November 17. It was initially announced that the application for hostel allocation would run from November 17 to November 20. Then the balloting exercise in which bed spaces would be randomly assigned to applicants would take place on November 21.

The university decided to extend the application process by a week, to end on November 27. This decision meant that the balloting exercise for the session took place on November 28. The eligibility criteria stayed the same, and the date for moving into halls of residence was set for December 3 for applicants who secured bed spaces.

Eligibility Criteria:
200 to 500 level students who have completed course registration for 1st Semester, 2025/2026 academic session, and are within the regular duration for their respective programmes are eligible to apply for bed spaces. (Source: UNILAG’s website)

Those who received bed spaces were also required to pay for them within one week of receiving them. If they failed to do so, they risked losing the reservation.

To understand students’ experiences in the balloting exercise for this session, FIJ spoke with male and female undergraduate students. Many of them shared that, instead of improving the process, the new balloting system did not make things better, and has not solved the problems of inadequate spaces.

Inadequate spaces, combined with an imperfect system for hostel allocation, make it difficult for students to secure hostels through official channels, and for many, staying off campus is not an option. The high cost of houses/hostels near UNILAG, the distance from their homes to the university, the cost of daily transportation, class schedules, and many other factors make staying on campus a preferred and compulsory option for students.

For instance, FIJ confirmed from a student staying at the University of Lagos Women’s Society (ULWS) female hostel, a private hostel in UNILAG, that the price of a bed space ranged from N660,000 to N1.02 million. Another student staying at El Kanemi, another private hostel in UNILAG, told FIJ that a bed in a four-man room cost N710,000.

Checks on Nigeria Property Centre, a property listing website, also show that prices for some self-contained apartments in Yaba, near UNILAG, were as high as N30,000 per day.

When students cannot secure hostel places through the university’s balloting system and cannot afford private accommodation, in addition to the other factors listed above, they resort to other means to stay on campus. One such means is “squatting”.

SQUATTING IN UNILAG HOSTELS — HALF BREAD IS BETTER THAN NO BREAD?

Squatting, to a UNILAG student, means sharing hostel space with someone who was allocated the bed space. A person who does this is called a “squatter”. Although university laws prohibit squatting, it is a prevalent practice at UNILAG.

When a student successfully reserves a space in the hostels, they are shown a list of Terms and Conditions that govern their tenancy. Under these rules, squatting is not allowed. “Under no condition should Students harbour squatters in their rooms. All visitors are to leave the Hall latest by 10 pm. Any Student caught with a squatter will automatically forfeit his/her bed space,” an excerpt reads.

Students caught with squatters not only lose their bed spaces but may also face disciplinary panels. “Violation of any of the above shall be referred to the Hall Disciplinary Committee and or the Student Disciplinary Board for appropriate sanction,” an excerpt reads. This announcement from the university also notes that squatting is punishable by rustication for up to two semesters.

Despite these rules being in place, squatting remains very common in UNILAG hostels. In this article for Campus Reporter, the experiences of squatters in UNILAG hostels were described. To squat in a UNILAG hostel, you either have to pay a stranger or do so with friends who have already reserved a bed space.

Either way, squatters have limited freedom within the hostels.

Speaking with FIJ on December 8, Adebayo, a final-year student, explained that he has been squatting in UNILAG hostels since 100 Level. Describing the conditions squatters face, Adebayo said, “It is terrible. Sometimes, even after paying up to N70,000, squatters sleep on the floor. The rooms are also always full, so the floor is also always full with squatters sleeping on the floor.”

Adebayo shared that, as a UNILAG student, he has paid to squat in school hostels for two academic sessions — 2019/20 and the current 2025/26 session.

“Before the COVID issue, I paid N40,000 to squat with a guy at Biobaku, and then this session, I have paid N80,000 to squat with someone, because none of my friends got any hostels,” he said.

Another student, Kunle Ojo*, a 300-level Mass Communication student, explained that even though squatting comes with many unpleasant experiences, “half bread is better than no bread”.

One of the unpleasant things he described is the occasional raid by hostel porters on squatters. Describing them, he explained that whenever they happen, porters either go around rooms in the hostel and ask students to show their hostel pass. Those who don’t have one are asked to step out. Other times, they ask students to show their hostel pass before they are allowed to enter the hostel.

Ironically, the porters are aware of the presence of squatters in the hostels even after raids, because, according to Ojo, they collect bribes from them whenever squatters move in.

Kemi Rita*, a 300-level student (who did not want to disclose her department), also pointed to the complicity of hostel porters in allowing students who do not get bed spaces to reside in hostels. She told FIJ that some of her friends “go to some porters in the hostel and pay them some amount, and then, they give them a bed space”.

STUDENTS’ EXPERIENCES DURING THE BALLOTING EXERCISE

FIJ spoke with several students who participated in the balloting exercise for UNILAG’s 2025/26 session. Even students who got bed spaces expressed frustration with the hostel allocation process. Derrick Bankole*, a 400-level Life Sciences student, who balloted and got a bed space, described the process as “turbulent and overwhelming”.

Bankole explained that the reasons were the increase in school fees for the session — which UNILAG denied — the requirement for students to pay at least 50 per cent of the school fees before balloting, and the way the balloting exercise itself was handled. Narrating his experience during the balloting exercise in detail, he said, “The balloting date was announced with only about three days’ notice, and although the exercise was supposed to last for three days, it effectively began on the second day instead. This meant one full day was lost, increasing the pressure on students.”

“I spent several hours refreshing the school’s portal, constantly checking to see if the balloting process had opened. Eventually, it opened in the afternoon of the second day, giving students only two days instead of three. Although the University later added an extra seven days to compensate, the entire process was mentally exhausting,” he added.

Chika Jones*, a female student, described a similar experience. “⁠The portal was so unresponsive. I barely got access to ballot. Afterwards, I couldn’t access my portal for over a week,” she said.

Dave Fashina*, a 300-level Engineering student, said, “The new method is not working.”

He noted that the random hostel allocation process used during the balloting exercise made it more difficult for him and other students to get bed spaces. “Previously, at least some people were guaranteed a chance based on speed, but now almost everyone ends up without a hostel,” he said.

Out of all of his friends who participated in the balloting exercise, Fashina said, none of them got.

“Out of my 10 friends, none got a hostel. That is how bad the situation is. It now feels like unless you know an official, you cannot get a bed space,” he said. As a result of not securing accommodation, Fashina told FIJ that he has missed several tests because the distance from his house in Ogun State to UNILAG is far and the cost of transportation is high.

Similarly, Ayoka Adeyemi*, a 300-level Social Science student, said that after she did not get a bed space following the balloting exercise, she has missed some of her classes due to the fear of being stuck in traffic and the high cost of transportation.

“Because of Lagos traffic, I usually miss most of my classes due to the time I get to school. The cost of transportation is also expensive, so I have to opt out of some days of coming to class to balance my finances,” she said.

Another student, Jessica Faniyi*, a 300-level student from the Faculty of Communication and Media Studies, said that she participated in the exercise, alongside her friends, and none of them got bed spaces.

“We don’t even stay in Lagos. We stay in Osun State. I’m just tired, to be honest. Assuming one of us saw it, it would have been easy to squat with each other,” she added.

These experiences during the balloting exercise led Chika Jones* to resort to other means to secure accommodation on campus at UNILAG. Jones told FIJ that she opted to buy a bed space through an ‘agent’ who connected her with someone who had secured a bed space and was willing to sell.

IS BED SPACE BUYING PERMITTED BY UNILAG?

Short answer, no. As part of the rules laid out for people who successfully get bed spaces, it is explicitly stated that bed space buying or selling is not allowed.

BED SPACE BUYING IN UNILAG HOSTELS — A COMFORT FOR THE WEARY?

For students like Jones*, who did not get bed spaces through balloting and cannot afford the high fees of private accommodation inside or outside UNILAG, but also don’t want to bear the costs of squatting, buying a bed space appears to be their solution. This is despite the punitive consequences of doing so.

FIJ has learnt that there is a market for buying and selling bed spaces in UNILAG, which, for the most part, is run by middlemen known as “agents”. These agents are students and other individuals who connect owners of bed spaces with people seeking to buy bed spaces, usually at high prices. The money is split between the agent and the owners of the bed spaces after payment is made.

The fee for bed spaces for ‘public’ hostels in UNILAG for an academic session is N80,000. FIJ confirmed this from Derrick Bankole* and other students who participated in the balloting exercise and got bed spaces.

Bankole, in response to FIJ’s question about how much he paid for the bed space, said, “I paid a total of N81,161.25 for the hostel space. Prior to payment, there were rumours that students would pay N80,000 for accommodation and N20,000 as a caution fee. However, when the payment portal opened, only the N80,000 hostel fee was required, and the caution fee was not included.”

FIJ can report that, in the informal market for bed spaces, although the price for each bed space varies from one hostel to the other, the ‘standard’ price for a bed space in UNILAG’s ‘public’ hostels is around N250,000, which is N170,000 more than the N80,000 fee set by the university.

Jones* told FIJ that she contacted a bed space owner through an agent and paid N250,000 for a bed space. “I met her through an agent, and I paid for it. I bought the bed space immediately, because it was relatively cheaper compared to those who bought later,” she said.

Another student, Mustapha Ali*, told FIJ that he bought a bed space in Biobaku for the same amount. Ali gave the same reasons other students gave for buying the bed space and said it offers him “some comfort” compared to squatting. He also told FIJ that he was put in touch with the owner of the bed space by an agent he saw on a WhatsApp group chat.

For safety and anonymity reasons, Ali told FIJ that he was not comfortable sharing screenshots of his conversations with the agent or the group chat in question. However, he shared the agent’s contact information.

FIJ also gained more contacts for the agents from other students who had dealt with them or knew them from WhatsApp group chats.

DIRECT TO PORTAL — WHY BALLOT WHEN YOU CAN JUST PAY?

Through interactions with students, FIJ has also learnt of the “direct to portal” method for securing bed spaces, in which students would pay school officials and then be assigned a bed space directly on their student portal without participating in the balloting exercise.

Describing the method, Kemi Rita* said, “Direct to portal is very common, you pay to someone who will submit your name directly to the DSA’s office.” Rita noted that she used the method to secure bed spaces in her first year and third year in school.

“In Year One, I paid about N150,000, and in Year Three, I paid 175k. I heard some people also go directly to the Dean’s office, too,” she said.

THE AGENTS OF BED SPACES

FIJ texted the bed space agents to confirm the students’ accounts, especially the prices for bed spaces in school hostels. On December 11, via WhatsApp texts to an agent, this reporter indicated interest in buying a bed space for his younger brother in 100 Level.

On December 17, after a follow-up text, the agent responded that a bed space in Biobaku, a male hostel, would cost N250,000. When this reporter asked how soon he could move in, the agent replied, “As soon as possible. If you pay now, you should be able to move in tomorrow. Hope you’re not in 100 Level?”

When this reporter reminded him that the bed space was for his brother, the agent replied, “The normal price for the bed space is N250,000. But now, since he’s in 100 Level, we would have to settle porters and bring him in like a squatter.

“We would have done editing instead and not have needed to settle porter if he wasn’t in 100 Level,” he added.

The agent demanded a total fee of N260,000 for this reporter to secure a bed space in Biobaku.

On December 10, this reporter similarly texted another agent to get a hostel on campus.

This agent told FIJ that a bed space in Jaja cost N265,000. When this reporter probed further, the agent said that the N265,000 was the total package for the hostel, including money to “settle hostel porters” and edit the hostel allocation slip, similar to what the other agent said.

In one of the voice notes that the agent sent, he said, “What I do is, when I have verified the place and all, you send funds, I give you the bona fide’s number, and then you guys talk about when or how you are going to do the handover of the space.”

On Monday, this reporter texted ‘Excellent Man of Links’, a blogger in UNILAG who connects accommodation seekers with agents and bed space owners. He does this for a non-refundable N20,000 fee.

When asked which male hostels were available, he responded, “Mariere. Jaja.” When asked for the price of both, he said that Mariere cost N275,000 and Jaja cost N260,000.

The blogger also sent the ‘Terms and Conditions’ that govern his “Hostel Bedspace Link-up Service” to this reporter for review.

When this reporter asked him if he could also do ‘direct to portal’ bed space allocation, he stayed mum.

UNILAG’S RESPONSE

FIJ sent emails to UNILAG’s Communication Unit, the Vice Chancellor and the Dean of Student Affairs offices, to get their comments on Monday. This reporter also called Musa Obalola, UNILAG’s DSA, but his number was unreachable.

When this reporter phoned Ganiyu, the Deputy DSA 2, on Tuesday, he promised to reach the DSA and put him in touch with FIJ. He has not done so at press time.

On Tuesday, UNILAG’s Communication Unit responded to FIJ’s email.

Part of their response reads, “The illicit commercialisation of formally allocated on-campus bed spaces constitutes a gross violation of the University’s code of conduct and hall of residence policy, and we are exploring ways to curb this practice. We are also working on strategies to increase accommodation options and support students in need. Regarding squatter passes, the university is reviewing the implementation process/effectiveness of this measure and will communicate updates in due course.”

LIMITED HOSTELS: LAND OR CASH ISSUE?

In an interview with UNILAG Sun in 2024, Folashade Ogunsola, the Vice Chancellor of UNILAG, stated that UNILAG had a land issue. “Hostels are difficult to get. In UNILAG in particular, we don’t have land, and the land around is also waterlogged,” she said.

Ogunsola noted that the land issue had, in the past, foiled an attempt to build a 240+ bed space hostel for students.

“In 2013, I wanted to build a hostel at Idi-araba, and the hostel was going to be just about 240+ bed spaces because we didn’t have space, and it had to go up. But because the earth’s area was not great, the amount spent on the foundation was quite a lot. While we were still negotiating and talking with the builders, they left us and went to Ile-Ife, and with the same money, they built a hostel with about one thousand and five hundred bed spaces. That’s the challenge we are facing in Lagos,” she said.

FIJ also understands that funding for tertiary institutions has been at the forefront of intermittent strikes by university staff unions, most notably the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

They have stated that Nigeria’s public tertiary education system, and implicitly the accommodation system in schools, is a casualty of successive governments’ unwillingness to provide adequate funding for education in general. This has been corroborated by international organisations such as Oxfam, which noted in a 2017 report that Nigeria’s lack of good state provision for education and other public services entrenches inequality.

But whether a land or cash issue, an issue nonetheless exists in UNILAG’s students’ accommodation system, and in the vacuum, informal markets and backdoor payments have become normalised.

*Names have been changed to protect the students’ identity.

@ Foundation For Investigative Journalism