AAUA VC Condemns Cohabitation among Students

Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko, AAUA Vice Chancellor Condemns Cohabitation among Students as Student Affairs Division Holds Summit on Cohabitation.

The Vice Chancellor, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko, Ondo State, Nigeria, Prof. Igbekele Ajibefun, on Wednesday last week, condemned the prevailing cohabitation syndrome among students of tertiary institutions.

Professor Ajibefun, who was represented by the Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Professor Benson Akinnawonu, gave the disapproval in his Opening Remark at a One-Day Summit on “Cohabitation among Students” organized by the Student Affairs Division of the University in conjunction with the Airtel Telecommunication outfit.

The Vice Chancellor said, “Cohabitation among students is a reprobate act that requires all hands to be on deck to arrest the ugly trend. Living together and having sexual relationship without being married is a trend that has virtually eroded the level of morality among the youth, particularly students of higher institutions.

“Findings by researchers have proved that cohabitation among unmarried students has been on the rise and if deliberate and pragmatic steps are not taken by all stakeholders, including managements of tertiary institutions, parents and religious leaders, this anomaly will continue to rise unabated and the society will ultimately suffer for it.”

Prof. Ajibefun commended the Student Affairs Division under the deanship of Dr. Bolanle Ogungbamila for the initiative and thanked Airtel, one of the nation’s leading telecommunication networks, for the partnership to campaign against the immoral trend.

In his Welcome Address, Dr. Ogungbamila identified low level of monitoring, mentoring and inadequate hostel accommodation as factors that have engendered cohabitation among the students.

He said, “The low level of monitoring and mentoring coupled with inadequate hostel accommodation have engendered co-habitation among our students. Apart from constituting a source of distraction, co-habitation has physiologic, psychological, economic, academic and spiritual implications for students who engage in the act.”

The resource persons at the summit were the Director of Women Studies and Development Centre, AAUA, Dr. (Mrs.) Nireti Duyilemi, who spoke on “Campus Co-Habitation: A Negative Attitudinal Disposition that Debases the Dignity of Womanhood”; and Dr. (Mrs.) A.A Akintola, who examined the topic, “Adolescent’s Risky Sexual Behaviour and Its Consequences on Reproductive Health.”