Issues of sanitation on campus; UHAS in perspective - Makija appeals for change in attitude

Several concerns have been raised by the management and some students of the university pertaining to the way we (students) litter our surroundings (class rooms and lecture halls).These concerns, have however, yielded no positive result as the filth continues to engulf our learning environment with no end in sight.

Waste bins have been made available at vantage points all over the university campus and even the entrances to some of the lecture halls so, it really  saddens my heart when I enter lecture halls on campus only to be met with filth we the students have generated ourselves. How difficult can it be to dispose off the waste we have generated ourselves at the appropriate place? I don't really know whether to attribute this attitude to laziness or ignorance but I would very much like to eschew the latter.

Perhaps some of us may have forgotten what the "H" in UHAS stands for so let me use this opportunity to remind us that, not only is this university an institution for higher learning but also a health institution at that.

 If we, health professionals in the making who should know and do better, if not best, in matters concerning sanitation and hygiene are rather the very ones behaving this way, how do we expect the younger ones in the second cycle and basic schools to behave?
How do we go out there to treat people of their ailments or more so, educate and advice them on the need to keep their surroundings clean when we are the worst culprits ourselves?

On the 24th February, 2019, the Northern Students’ Union of the university of which I happen to be  the vice president, scheduled a meeting at Trafalgar, Lecture Hall 1.  And I can't even begin to put my shock into words at what I encountered as I entered the said lecture hall, with black polythene bags, water sachets, plastic bottles etc jeering at me from every conceivable angle.
It was a rather dissapointing experience and even more so, incomprehensible at the mere thought of the calibre of people at whose feet this shame  could have been laid, "OURS".

In fact the filth was so immense that, the hall could have easily passed for a refuse dump yet students where comfortably seated in this filth "studying".
Pictures of the waste the Northern students gathered in such a small lecture hall was an eyesore.

Permit my asking, but is this how we keep our homes?
If yes, it is fine with you,  but this kind of behavior must be left back at home where it may seem not a problem.

It does not portray maturity at this stage of our lives to just throw waste anywhere and anyhow without feeling some sense of guilt or a drag on our conscience.
I am pleading with the student populace to desist from this act so that we can grow in the aspect of sanitation as a people, a university and a country at large.

THIS IS THE TIME FOR US TO STAND UP, OPEN UP, WISE UP AND BUILD UP.

By: Nlankpe Makija Abel