Real estate prices in Abraka have been mercilessly inflated by greedy landlords who collude with "non-academic" students. These so-called "students" rent apartments at exorbitant rates of over N350,000. The resultant effect is that those who genuinely need such apartments do not have access to them due to their high demand by "millionaire students". Even if one is willing to pay this amount, the demand cannot meet the supply and thus, landlords tend to increase their prices once they see the demand. This is one of the effects of society's acceptance of deviance as a norm. Abraka, a university community which I grew up in, is slowly becoming too toxic for any sane person to dwell comfortably.

In my search for an apartment in Abraka, I have seen and learnt a lot about the "non-academic" student industry. I once saw an apartment where its former occupant kept used baby pampers, underwears, school uniforms for nursery school children, female pants, and a vodoo carving, among other items. These items were hurriedly abandoned by the former occupant and I believe they have achieved their purposes. Apart from vodoo contraptions, I have also heard of cases where dreaded cultists and perhaps armed robbers occupy apartments and pretend to be normal people in their joie de vivre. With dreadlocks and hardened faces, many of them simply claim studentship and nobody asks further questions with the assumption that they are "non-academic" students.

BEDC runs a unique line specifically for the "non-academic" students. In one of such instances, residents pay as much as N17,000 per month (with air condition) in order to have a steady supply of electricity for about 12 hours or more everyday. BEDC is just one in the long list of agencies that have peculiar packages for "non-academic" students.

The irony about being quite a young academic in Abraka is that people tend to profile you as a "non-academic" student. I have been profiled by many landlords who, I believe, do not want "non-academic" students in their houses. Sometimes, I do not even get a chance to explain that I am a lecturer. Even when I do get the chance, they do not believe me. A particular woman just saw me and despite the "Apartment to Let" sign she put up, she just told me that there was no apartment for me. Another landlord said he will investigate my claims of being a lecturer, despite showing him my ID card. Such is part of the bitterness we face for turning the other way when things go wrong in our society.

I went to an apartment that was near completion and I got the phone number of the landlord. I called and introduced myself as lecturer in need of an apartment. The landlord laughed and hinted that I won't be able to pay for his apartment. That was how that call ended. If a lecturer, in a town where only a university employs more than 80% of the working class, cannot afford an apartment, the implication is that the place was built for students. Setting aside the logic of a student staying in a two or three bedroom apartment, should a student ordinarily be able to pay N450,000 for an apartment he/she doesn't really need in a university where fees are not more than N60,000? The implication of this is that people build houses specifically for "non-academic" students. I do not quarrel with their choices as the apartments belong to them but then, these apartments frequently attract the attention of police officers and armed robbers and as a result, no responsible person can stay in the same vicinity as these "non-academic" students. With a lack of "safe zones" to stay, real estate hyperscarcity for the working class has become the new order.

What befuddles me most is that many of those who create the scarcity of apartments in Abraka are not actually students or members of the working class. Some of these "non-academic" students come from far and near to rent apartments in Abraka with the sole aim of blending in. In a town where people don't ask questions on how "students" can drive cars that are worth N10 million or more or why "students" stay in a well-furnished apartment with a rent of over N400,000, anyone can come and claim to be a "student". The lesser evil that we accept has blinded us to the greater evil underneath.

Many have not suffered the agony I've gone through in the past few weeks and are therefore silent on the growing menace. The beauty of our complicity in this is that it will affect everyone of us, one way or another, someday. It may not even be in the form of real estate prices as inflation has also affected the prices of clothes, furniture, groceries, artisans, etc. No one is immune. A day will come when Abraka will be a colony of the "non-academic" students and real students will become a threatened specie!

Lalasticlala

Interesting reading,but many of these issues are also prevalent in most University Communities..

Methinks it's a reflection of the general decadence in our society..

DarkJeddi:
Interesting reading,but many of these issues are also prevalent in most University Communities..

Methinks it's a reflection of the general decadence in our society..

This community's own is something else. The community has nothing else apart from the University and so it is expected that life should be easy and cost of living should be low. Unfortunately, because of how well we tolerate certain abnormalities in the town, things have gone south. Cost of living in this small town is the same as Asaba and Warri, if not even worst.

You do have a point that this issue cuts across many University communities but then, I don't think the activities of these "non-academic" students have affected the economy of other places as much as this small community. In a town where only university staff and teachers are the working class, many of them cannot afford accommodation, clothes, groceries, etc. Even those that can afford accommodation, for instance, have to cohabit with these boys because the apartments were built for them.

We need to checkmate a whole lot of things in our society before we lose it.

fratermathy have you tried taking your search to River road?, back then houses there are cheaper, you could get a two bedroom apartment for 150-180k. Don't go towards "campuses 4 road" axis, houses there are very very expensive.

Haven't been to the town for a while now, but the story I'm hearing so far isn't really encouraging. Good luck with your search.

Efewestern:
fratermathy have you tried taking your search to River road?, back then houses there are cheaper, you could get a two bedroom apartment for 150-180k. Don't go towards "campuses 4 road" axis, houses there are very very expensive.

Haven't been to the town for a while now, but the story I'm hearing so far isn't really encouraging. Good luck with your search.

Oniovo, the boys have colonised the entire length and breadth of the town. Many people now stay in Warri, Sapele and Ughelli and come to work in Abraka. It's so sad. Obiaruku would have been good o but the insecurity there is something else. Armed robbers are on a spree there. I just pray our society bounces back for the better.

fratermathy:


Oniovo, the boys have colonised the entire length and breadth of the town. Many people now stay in Warri, Sapele and Ughelli and come to work in Abraka. It's so sad. Obiaruku would have been good o but the insecurity there is something else. Armed robbers are on a spree there. I just pray our society bounces back for the better.

Please avoid Obiaruku for now, the cultism there is alarming. We allowed this to develop to this stage, sadly nothing can be done about it, they have turn the town into something else.

Well you can try Eku, it's just a 20 minutes drive (N250 if you are using public transport), Houses there is about 120-150k for standard two bedroom, sadly I don't know if they have constant power supply.

This is an interesting exposure and one that i am very concerned about as a Delta State citizen. I once asked someone about the hostel situation in relation to Delsu if there is demand for private hostels. I wanted to setup one in Obiaruku and run a shuttle service from there to the school ( people take bike i heard ). Now hearing now about the cult and armed robbery issue is disappointing. One way of providing housing for student and staff is to provide low cost apartment within the school premises.

Another way it is being done in some developed countries is to setup a housing company ( non-profit ) for that city or LGA alone. The housing company will go into agreement with the school and the city or local government to provide housing for school students and staffs only. As a student you will never see any housing offer cheaper than the one provided for students by that housing company in that city or LGA. The school sends student status once every year to the housing company so they don't need to run around for verification of student status. The situation in Delsu seems to be every man to him or herself so it will always be open for exploitation and profit oriented.

Efewestern:



Well you can try Eku, it's just a 20 minutes drive (N250 if you are using public transport).

From Eku to Abraka is N250? A 20mins journey? How much is now Abraka to warri or sapele?

I thought that since delsu doesn't run all those programs she used to run, the population in that town would be small and by implication, there will be many unoccupied houses and many vacancies. Try FSP road, Umege or monkey joint areas you might get a place.
cc. Asuustrike1, Godstile make unu chok mouth torch lite d mata

oyonu:


From Eku to Abraka is N250? A 20mins journey? How much is now Abraka to warri or sapele?

Abraka to Warri is 350 while road side cabs charge 400 and 500 on a very busy day. The reason the price for Eku isn't that cheap is because Delta city (Uduaghan) bus doesn't have any bus station in Eku, so those road side cabs do charge a lot.

oyonu:
I thought that since delsu doesn't run all those programs she used to run, the population in that town would be small and by implication, there will be many unoccupied houses and many vacancies. Try FSP road, Umege or monkey joint areas you might get a place.
cc. Asuustrike1, Godstile make unu chok mouth torch lite d mata

Abraka is completely filled up because many young lads come to the town to stay even though they aren't students. FSP Road is a yahoo boys infested area. They even have a red light district there now. Monkey Joint is saturated with yahoo boys too. I don't know about Umeghe but since it's a village, modern houses may not be so much there. Even at that, I won't be surprised if the yahoo boys have reached there too because the murderers of Elozino were arrested at Umeghe.

fratermathy:


Abraka is completely filled up because many young lads come to the town to stay even though they aren't students. FSP Road is a yahoo boys infested area. They even have a red light district there now. Monkey Joint is saturated with yahoo boys too. I don't know about Umeghe but since it's a village, modern houses may not be so much there. Even at that, I won't be surprised if the yahoo boys have reached there too because the murderers of Elozino were arrested at Umeghe.

Wow Abraka don change! If you are a staff, try get a BQ in staff quatre campus3. The BQ there is even big and better than most houses in town