There is a serious problem of rent in Osun State. It started in Osogbo, where tailors, local chemists, hairdressers, provision sellers, and tenants call themselves caretakers and pose as emergency house agents to exploit innocent house seekers.
Unlicensed and unregistered people posing as home agents have infiltrated major towns across the state, causing a rent problem. These ‘home hunters’, as I prefer to call them, are notoriously fortunate. They do not work excessive hours or in vain.
Their primary responsibility is to discover good residences with compromising owners who are greedy. They have a ready market for Yahoo boys. But the rent crisis has worsened. It is no longer just a lack of somewhere to stay or sleep. It has become a greed issue.
When this crisis started, many assumed it was a problem for Osogbo people and did not pay attention to it. Both stakeholders and the government allowed the rent crisis to escalate, and it has now become a bigger problem. They did not remember that wickedness is like food: the more you insert, the more the gut expands.
In Ilesa, the rent crisis is no longer a problem. It is now a calamity, a cancer, and a pandemic. From Ayeso to Ilaje to Oke-Opo to Ido-Ijesa to Imola, it is easier to steal a president’s phone than to rent an apartment.
The cost of a single room in these areas can get a two-bedroom flat in other areas.
A single room costs ₦150,000 to 200,000. There is a self-contained apartment for N400,000 to N500,000. A room and parlour self-contain with POP costs #1 million to #1.2 million. There are some rooms with bad conditions that cost between ₦120,000 and ₦150,000. Four students now combine resources to rent a single-room apartment.
Some students of the University of Ilesa now live in Ibodi, Isua, and other communities in Atakunmosa West because they do not want to be strangled by the cost of renting a house. Some stay in the Bolorunduro area with college of health students, exposing themselves to night trips. Those who pay #150,000 for a single room do not see the value in the said building nor enjoy the luxury.
In some cases, there are cracked walls, wooden windows, broken floors, and leaky roofs in some rooms and students still pay exorbitant fees to secure those buildings in order to be close to the institution. My heart goes out to fresh students and their parents who have endured misery at the hands of emergency caretakers. They are the most severely affected by the current rent problem. They have been cheated and frustrated.
Some caretakers would take these students to buildings that do not suit their taste and collect the sum of #5000 before they could check or access the building. Many terrible buildings have been badly renovated and dubiously packaged for rent to innocent students who want to live close to the school. Some landlords vacated their houses and went to rent apartments in new areas because they want to lease their houses to fresh students.
Many students are depressed. Their parents are confused. They did not only pay over #350000 as school fees, but they must also pay exorbitant fees to get accommodation for their kids. These students have been frustrated. A student of UNILESA could not hide his tears when he told me that he has nowhere to sleep. I asked him to come and stay in my place, but he rejected the offer. He claimed that it would take him the sum of #3000 (to and fro) per day. I watched a fresh student fighting his tears because he only wanted to learn.
But there must be a solution to this rent crisis. What is the school management doing about it? The school what? The management is headed by Prof. Asaolu. If he does not understand what human management is all about, I do not blame him. He is a scholar of accounting and finance. His business is money and more money. His core mandate is that UNI-ILESA must be money-tight. Who knows, maybe he does not care if students sell their kidneys or livers as long as they can pay school fees and rent accommodations?
Let the school build hostels to protect the interests of students. Let Ijesa elites, especially those who promised heaven and earth before the college was upgraded to varsity, build hostels to protect students from wolves (caretakers). But the school has built hostels. Then why are students still complaining? Is it that the hostel cannot accommodate all students? Yes. It only accommodates fresh nursing and medical students.
Why didn’t the school management liaise with landlords within its environs? They should pity the students now. What would they tell landlords during the meeting? That no single room must exceed #60,000 per annum at worst. No self-contained room or self-contained room and parlor must exceed #120,000 or #150,000 per annum, respectively. But there’s inflation now. Things are now very expensive. Even those who built their houses when a bag of cement was #3500, including those who inherited houses, complained about inflation and bags of cement.
Does the school management have moral rights to dictate to or liaise with landlords? No. A room inside the school hostel costs almost N800,000. Four students stay in a room. A student has access to a bunk and a corner. Both the bunk and corner cost 200,000. If a student could pay #200,000 for a bunk and corner, how would they be able to convince landlords who offer a larger space for the same amount?
UNI-ILESA, through his hostel, makes #800,000 per room. What the varsity makes from a room is bigger than what a landlord makes from a building. Yet landlords must reduce their rent fees because it is only the duty of Asaolu-led management to make money, while landlords must not make money.
In 2025, UNI-ILESA had witnessed two major robberies, which threatened the peace and safety of students despite ridiculous pay. I feel sorry for the new students at the University of Ilesa. I extend my condolences to the university administration and landlords. My sympathies go out to parents of new pupils. This is referred to as ‘self-inflicted injury.’ The varsity is a captured zone. I see remote-controlled species or specimens not free humans.
The outrage was necessary. The outrage was mandatory. The UNI-ILESA students cannot breathe again. They have been suffocated by the school administration and their collaborators in crimes against humanity. Is Asaolu-led management brutal, reckless, and evil? I do not know. Why should new students be smoked through fire of sustainability?
Let me console myself that the Ministry of Education is not aware of the rent crisis. Let us assume that the Osun State Government is not aware of the onslaught against UNI-ILESA students led by the school management and landlords.
Now that they are aware, what would happen? Will UNI-ILESA students breathe peacefully? Will Governor Adeleke come to their rescue? Will the Asaolu-led management see reason and tow the path of decency, humanity, compassion, and pity? We shall see.
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