–Ridwan Ojewale, ABH PRESS
How unfortunate would it be for one to specially suffer among special sufferers?; the typical depiction of life in the biggest block of Alexander Brown hall. G block (sheltering about 70% of the hall guys) is truly the farthest to the exterior but definitely not far enough to be forsaken like the bootless crop whose life or death makes no difference.
The male peculiarity may well explain why there seem to be no much noise about the hardship and deplorable condition, it most certainly explains the reluctance and nonchalance of the stakeholders involved. It has been proven time over time that attention and action rates are almost always proportional to the level of female involvement and proximity to the central areas of the hall. When issues involving ladies arise, one cannot but admire the zeal put into fixing them by the male stakeholders in collaboration with the ladies’ who softly call up on them and in their feminine way ensure that all they wish to be well is well.
Not only will you never see these female stakeholders/leaders as either advocates or moral supporters when issues arise in the male domain, even the guys that jump up at the mere sneezing of the ladies take weeks or say months to notice the problems around them. Unfortunately for them, the feministically-confused ones see nothing special neither in their toils nor their purported sacrifices on guys’ behalves; what a hard-earned futility!
The plight of G-blockites didn’t just start and probably would not just end. Last year, there was a general problem with the hall’s (electrical) connection and at the first wave of intervention; all the female blocks were taken care of save F block. While others waited almost endlessly due to the then ongoing industrial action, in a Maradona way, F block got the management to create them an alternative solution and up, there was light! G block?
For quarter a year, half of the block had no direct power supply and the “guys” had to “tap current” from the few rooms that managed to have while the “boys” who were too afraid of the porters’ scare satisfactorily lived in their perpetual darkness. It was a indeed a bitter experience but perhaps not as bitter as the fact that it was almost not regarded an issue and many Brownites didn’t even realize that G block had no power supply for those periods.
Shortly after, there was a leakage of the sewer that ran directly behind the ground floor bathroom. G-blockites had to completely abandon one of the bathrooms leaving them with two (since one has already been rendered unusable a long while). And in those two, feaces were usually seen nicely swimming their ways along the water path as students bathed. That again took several weeks to get rectified.
After the great renovation and reconstruction of the water system that left the hall near waterless, G-blockites leant a better definition of struggle. Aside the fact that the block’s population couldn’t even earn it any special dividend in the multi-million naira project, there was not an iota of consideration for the satellite harborers some of whom would from the last floor go as far as A block in search of water and also have to transport it through the same distance after enduring a frightening queue. We obviously need not mention how the cleaners fared. Glory is to God, one year post-renovation; water now washes out the dirt and debris of the supply way albeit infrequently.
As though a diabolically fortified winze that the block will also never be free of problems, the bathroom of the ground floor turns pool every morning and the last set of students to use it would bath with nearly half of their bodies outside in avoidance of the accumulated bath water. For several weeks now as well, the block’s behind has not been the most pleasing sight to behold. It is so bad that one almost turns a bat man avoiding soiling the legs with the sewage flow that has established an alternative route for itself.
After it almost completely claimed the walk way and a part of the laundry lines, it found its way to the back of FCR and has created a pool around the pit covert. It is such a beautifully bad scene that a Brownite remarked that soon, fishes would be found therein. Scarifyingly, people walk over this covet and its gradual weakening (by this water) may one day put someone in a deep-shit trouble. For then, another problem would have surfaced and we would also count months to have it resolved.
Aren’t we G blockites?
I agree that G block’s situation is pretty bad. But is this post an attempt to solely shine light on this or to subtly imply that females have cunning ways of getting what they want from the management? Because females live in the bqs behind G block and the situation there isn’t much better. The better state of those blocks have less to do with the fact that they’re female and more to do with their location. G block should simply follow F block’s example and demand repairs relentlessly.