Solving the problem of transportation in Unilorin

The transportation of students to and fro the main campus of University of Ilorin is becoming quite troublesome owing to a number of factors which are mitigating against the smooth and fast movement of students, staffs and others.

This is not in anyway a new situation, it has been around for quite some time now. Though the management of University of Ilorin has always been trying their best in curbing the ugly situation to a bare minimum, it has always found new avenues of rearing its ugly head up again and again.

Beyond 6-7 years ago, there were only about 2-3 Unilorin-owned buses (the long large ones called "longer-by-far") which ply the school route from Unilorin park at Tanke to school and fro asides the other small commercial buses and taxis. Also, the buses do extend to the Challenge bus stop in town. Suddenly, they stopped getting to challenge after the Mini campus was moved to the current site around Oke ose.

We were happy when a company came in with their buses named "Safetrip" in 2012 after the subsidy strike. They also came and ply the route from Challenge, Unilorin terminus at Tanke down to school. The transportation problem became less visible then. They left within a year with no explanation whatsoever to the students.

Just before WAUG (West African Universities' games), the management of Unilorin acquired and were also given buses by the federal government in preparation. The buses owned by the school amounted to about 7. These all contributed to alleviating the problem of transportation back then to an extent but not totally.

Now, we have more students and more staffs owing to the creation of more departments in the University. We expect that the school management and not just the Students Union Government will work on getting more buses for the school.......

We prefer the Management to procure and run the buses and not individuals or companies simply because that of the school is always cheaper. The school bus charges #20 from Tanke to School park and vice versa while the charge by other buses and taxis is at the minimum #50.

The solutions we prefer is that Unilorin gets more buses itself and not invite more companies to run the transportation.

Recently, we have been having a drop in the number of taxis and small buses plying Unilorin due to the increase of some buses from a company now plying the school. This is negating the effect.

Below are our submissions for a smooth and thorough fare for students of Unilorin especially in the main campus.

1. The University of Ilorin should get more school-owned buses and improve on the transport departments' management of the buses.

2. All buses currently owned by the school should be put in good shape and be RELEASED for the transportation of students and not just for occasions or decoration of the Works department's arena.

3. Let us have more hostels within the school compound. Unilorin has one of the largest yet to be utilized land masses as a University in Nigeria. The school has been trying in this regard but we want more. More hostels within the school will mean lesser number of students who need to be transported to and fro the school daily.

4. Our private car owners especially staffs should encouraged to carry passengers along in their empty vehicles. A lot of empty vehicles zoom past the teeming number of students who are supposed to be in their lecture rooms in the morning ignoring their plight. This should not be.

5. The timetable of students should arranged in tandem in such a way that student's lectures won't all begin at relatively close times and end around the same time. The disheartening thing about Unilorin's transportation is the upsurge form it takes around 7am -9am in the morning and then 4pm-6pm in the afternoon down till evening. Most times in between, there is very minute traffic. If there is a way the timetables can be formulated while putting all these into consideration, things will be easier.


Finally, we really hope the University management will heed to our advice and come to the rescue of students who miss early morning classes not due to nonchalance but to unavailability of vehicles to convey them to school.