Nigeria, April 27 -- The learning environment in Nigeria's universities has become an embarrassment, with the extent of the dilapidation of existing infrastructure. One often neglected facet is students' hostels. Video footage of one of them at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), penultimate week, even on national television, bore utterly repulsive sights.

From overflowing toilets to seedy bathrooms, down to the laundering sections with all the floors turned dark and infested with maggots, and clusters of half-naked students cooking in the hostel court with dried palm leaves, tell the story of total decay, criminal negligence of students' welfare, and how not to run a university.

Eni Njoku hostel was the focus. But the rot is evide...