Tenants of the staff quarters of Adamawa State Polytechnic, Yola, have complained about the rent that the management charged them.
The tenants also frowned at the dilapidated condition of the houses, saying that the houses were last rehabilitated in 2002.
The staff who spoke mostly in confidence for fear of being reprimanded, said rents of the houses were hiked without prior notification.
The staff said 46 of them occupied the said quarters in the Yola and Numan campuses of the polytechnic.
The occupqnts complained that the houses for which they were paying N2,500; N1,500 and N1,000 for 3-bedroom, 2-bedroom and one room respectively per month since 2003; suddenly became N12,000, N7,500 and N5,500 respectively in 2021.
They also said similar staff quarters in other tertiary institutions owned by the state government are accessed free of charge.
According to one of the tenants, Maizare Duniya, part of the pain is being in government staff quarters paying #144,000 per annum for a 3-bedroom house while other tertiary institutions in the state are free.
Contacted on the complaints, the rector of the polytechnic, Professor Mohammed Toungo, said he held a meeting with the tenants two weeks ago and that when they complained to him, he told them he was paying rent when he was in the staff quarters of the Adamawa State University, Mubi.
The rector said he also told them that this is Adamawa State Polytechnic located in Yola where rents are much higher outside the campus.
The rector mentioned that efforts are underway to tackle the rehabilitation matter.
He said this includes initiating a phased rehabilitation of the housing quarters using available resources and reaching out to the state government for assistance.
The current income from high rents is insufficient for comprehensive repairs, necessitating a multi-month approach.
