{"id":1609,"date":"2026-07-15T13:40:42","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T12:40:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/?p=1609"},"modified":"2026-07-15T13:41:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T12:41:08","slug":"students-raise-alarm-over-poor-building-spacing-in-abrkaka-cite-health-risks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/?p=1609","title":{"rendered":"Students Raise Alarm Over Poor Building Spacing In Abrkaka, Cite Health Risks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Monday Juliet<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Students living in off-campus accommodation in Abraka, Delta State, have expressed concern over the increasing construction of residential buildings with little or no spacing between them, saying the practice has resulted in poor ventilation, flooding, generator smoke pollution, and mosquito infestation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The students called on landlords and relevant authorities to enforce proper building standards, arguing that houses constructed too close to one another are exposing residents to unhealthy and unsafe living conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A 400-level Pharmacology student, Daniel Marvellous Nwobi, who resides at Olori 19, Campus III, Abraka, said the problem began about five months ago when his landlord started constructing another building directly opposite the apartment where he lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

“It was about five months ago when my landlord decided to build on the small piece of land opposite our house. I was shocked because the new building was constructed so close to ours that there was barely any space left for fresh air to enter the apartment,” he said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Nwobi explained that the narrow space between the buildings has drastically reduced ventilation, making the rooms hot and uncomfortable for occupants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

“Air hardly enters my apartment because the two buildings are too close to each other. The rooms become hot and uncomfortable most of the time,” he added.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

He further lamented that inadequate airflow causes smoke from neighbouring generators to linger around the buildings, exposing residents to unhealthy air.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

“Whenever my neighbours use their generators, the smoke stays around the building for a long time before it clears because there is little ventilation.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

According to him, poor building spacing has also worsened flooding around the apartments whenever it rains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

“Whenever it rains, my apartment and that of my neighbour become flooded. The stagnant water attracts mosquitoes, and many residents, including myself, fall sick as a result,” he said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Nwobi disclosed that repeated complaints by tenants to the house agent yielded no positive response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

“Despite several complaints by other tenants and me to the agent, we were left to endure the situation because they claimed nothing could be done since the building had already been completed.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

He appealed to landlords to observe proper building setbacks rather than using every available space for construction, stressing that providing accommodation should not come at the expense of tenants’ comfort, safety, and well-being.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Supporting his claims, a 200-level Anatomy student, Divine Ikechukwu Ogechi, who also resides in the building, said poor ventilation has made daily activities difficult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

“I’m always choking whenever I fry food with palm oil or groundnut oil because the smoke does not leave the apartment easily. It takes hours for the smoke to clear due to the lack of ventilation caused by the building constructed directly opposite my apartment.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

She added that many of the challenges faced by tenants could have been avoided if landlords had properly planned their buildings before construction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

“Students deserve accommodation that is safe and healthy. Building houses too close together should not become the norm in Abraka,” she said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Monday Juliet Students living in off-campus accommodation in Abraka, Delta State, have expressed concern over the increasing construction of residential buildings with little or no spacing between them, saying the practice has resulted in poor ventilation, flooding, generator smoke pollution, and mosquito infestation. The students called on landlords and relevant authorities to enforce proper […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1610,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"iawp_total_views":65,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[31,25,37],"class_list":["post-1609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trendingnews","tag-abraka","tag-delsu","tag-housing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1609"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1609\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1611,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1609\/revisions\/1611"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}