Emmanuel Thomas, Lagos
September 28, 2015 – In what appeared to be a melodrama, students of the University of Lagos(UNILAG) on Monday protested over what they described as invasion of bed bugs in their living rooms.
We gathered that the students were infuriated by presence of the blood sucking insects which have invaded their beds in the hostel thus making very difficult for the students to pass the night without hassels.
The students vented their spleen by blocking entrance into the ivory tower to call attention of the authority to the nauseating state of the hostels.
Normalcy has returned to the University of Lagos, Akoka after a protest by students disrupted academic and socio-economic activities in the area.
However, the Dean of Student Affairs of the institution, Professor Tunde Babawale said full academic activities have returned to the campus.
The Dean said the management had taken note of the demands of the students and would address it appropriately.
Professor Babawale explained that the school could not send students out of campus for fumigation exercise since their semester examination was around the corner.
He said the school authority had on two occasions this year carried out fumigation of student hostels towards improving their health status.
According webmd.com, bedbugs are active mainly at night and usually bite people while they are sleeping.
“They feed by piercing the skin and withdrawing blood through an elongated beak. The bugs feed from three to 10 minutes to become engorged and then crawl away unnoticed.
“Most bedbug bites are painless at first, but later turn into itchy welts. Unlike flea bites that are mainly around the ankles, bedbug bites are on any area of skin exposed while sleeping. Also, the bites do not have a red spot in the center like flea bites do”, the website said of the insect, adding that people who don’t realize they have a bedbug infestation may attribute the itching and welts to other causes, such as mosquitoes.
