Mrs Agnes Sobande, Dean, Students’ Affairs, Yaba College of Technology, on Thursday said the college has adopted electronic ballot system for allocation of hostels to students.

Sobande said this at the 2018/2019 e-balloting and hostel allocation for students in the college.

She said that 942 female applicants applied for hostel accommodation in the Akata, New female hall and PG hall, adding that only 311 successful students would be allotted bed spaces.

According to him, the process will be conducted by officials of the Centre for Information and Technology Management in the college.

The dean said that the male hostel, Bakassi Hall, was still under renovation and would be allocated in few weeks.

She said two out of the five hostels were not available to students last session due to their dilapidated state which needed immediate renovation.

“This is an epoch making event because this is the first time the e-balloting system will be done openly in Yabatech; we did it last session but in a very small way.

“This session, we decided that all students that bought the application form for hostel will be subjected to e-balloting to make the process open, fair and transparent.

“We adopted this process so that you can see it and see how transparent the process is and show you that you don’t need to know anyone before you can get a bed space.

“Today, we are allocating only the female hostel; 942 applied and only 311 space will be balloted and allocated.

“We will have a supplementary list as the process continues and more people apply,” she said.

Sobande commended the management of the college for its investment in the hostels to make them habitable and conducive for students.

She said that the process was fair as students from all schools and departments in the college would benefit.

“The system has been configured to spread the allocation evenly among all students from ND I, ND II, BSC, HND I and HND II.

“The name of those that are successful will be published on the student’s portal.

“The world is evolving and we are going with the trend. Next year will be better because we will get to a point that students will sit in the comfort of their homes, apply online and ballot for hostel as it is being done in University of Lagos,“ she said.

The dean urged successful students to complete their registration, saying that would be the criteria to get a bed space.

Dr Sola Oyebola, Director, Centre for Information and Technology Management (CITM), said e-balloting system would be fair to all.

Oyebola said electioneering process could also be automated but all bottlenecks like insincerity and lack of trust must be addressed before it would be accepted.

A student, Miss Aderonke Oloro, HND II, Office Technology Management, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the process was very transparent.

“It is transparent, nothing hidden about the process.

“I like the process and hope all institutions can adopt it. (NAN)

– Mar. 28, 2019 @ 04:10 GMT |