N250bn hostel rollout: PPP strategy to address student accommodation challenges

By Adesina Wahab

At the University of Lagos (UNILAG), a student body of more than 40,000 leaves only about 8,000 bed spaces available, making it difficult for students to secure official on‑campus accommodation.

Yaba College of Technology (Yabatech) faces a similar problem, with roughly 2,600 beds for over 20,000 students. This year, the situation worsened when a hostel containing 1,000 beds was closed for renovation. The shortage of housing is a common issue across many Nigerian campuses.

Efforts to address the shortage by relying on private hostels have not been effective, as the rents are prohibitively high.

In response, the Federal Government has launched a programme in which the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), the Federal Ministry of Education, host institutions, and private developers collaborate to build new hostel accommodation. The programme is expected to spend about N250 billion this year alone.

During the soil‑turning ceremony for the projects at Lagos State University (LASU) and Yabatech, Minister of Education Dr Tunji Alausa explained that the projects will follow a Build‑Operate‑Transfer (BOT) model. He detailed the allocation of the N250 billion: “We are spending N100 billion, N2 billion each to build 500‑bed student hotels in over 50 tertiary institutions. We’re also building 24 PPP hostels with a capacity of at least 1,200 to 1,500 beds across 24 tertiary institutions, with LASU as a beneficiary. A typical PPP example is that the Federal Government, through TETFUND, will contribute one billion naira, and private investors will contribute three billion naira, making a total of four billion naira per project.”

“That translates into about N96 billion to build 24 hostels across 24 institutions. And we’re also spending another one billion to deliver at least 300 bed spaces of hostels in another 24 tertiary institutions in the country. So all in all, cumulatively, we’re spending about N250 billion in just 2026 alone to deliver world‑class, high‑standard student hostels across all our various tertiary institutions in the country, both federal and state.”

He added that the projects are being fast‑tracked to provide comfort to students as soon as possible. For the PPP hostels, the completion period is 24 months, while for the over N200 billion hostels, the target is less than 12 months.

Minister Alausa also outlined the TETFund’s five‑point agenda for universities, which includes the rehabilitation of student hostels, classrooms, lecture theatres, auditoriums, the construction of new classrooms and lecture theatres, and the rehabilitation of engineering workshops.

Speaking at the soil‑turning of the PPP 1,500‑bed hostel at LASU, the education minister noted that the hostel will be built to international standards to improve student comfort and address the accommodation shortfall at LASU.

Prof Ibiyemi Olatunji‑Bello, Vice‑Chancellor of LASU, welcomed the government’s commitment, saying the 1,500‑bed hostel would significantly alleviate accommodation issues. “We have over 85,000 students, and we are accommodating just about 7,000. This 1,500‑bed hostel will also improve the number of students that will be on campus, their safety and social relations.”

Quadri Ishola Odewunmi, Chairman of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Joint Campus Council (JCC), Lagos Axis, and Quadri, praised Minister Alausa and Yabatech Rector Dr Ibraheem Abdul for the groundbreaking ceremony of a 1,500‑bed hostel at the institution. He described the initiative as a solution to the accommodation challenge faced by many students and commended the minister’s proactive and responsive approach, noting that it has rekindled hope within the student community.

Odewunmi also urged the minister to extend similar attention to lecturers and other non‑academic staff, calling for a holistic improvement in the education sector.

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