PTSDs All Uites Share

As we get older, we often reminisce about times past. We look back on some of these memories with fondness. Some make us laugh, some make us cry, and some we recall as key learning points. Memories are very important for all human beings; they serve as proof that we walked the earth. Remembering people and being remembered— even when we are long gone - these memories will linger on for as long as possible, whether good or bad.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD is a disorder characterized by the inability to recover after experiencing or witnessing a terrifying event. Some memories are so deeply ingrained that even a mere mention of them evokes a physical reaction in the present. These memories can trigger PTSD. As students, we will inevitably encounter moments that can leave a lasting impact, potentially even triggering PTSD. It might be an unprepared test, a heartbreak that's kept you single, or even the falling flakes of garri.

In the University of Ibadan and its associated University College Hospital, there are some things that everyone who passes through those walls will experience that will inevitably give them PTSD. Provided you are, or were, a student at the great University of Ibadan, I am inclined to warn you that the following things you read will trigger memories you have tried hard to bury. Reader’s discretion is advised. Let’s start light with a small but mighty creature that can be found in every hostel in UI and UCH—the small but equally terrifying bedbugs. 

Bedbugs can be found in every one of the three rooms in the hostels. The number might not seem much, but when you take into account that the average hostel has at least 20 rooms per floor, four floors, and at least three blocks, the statistics become terrifying. These small creatures have tormented, and continue to torment, many inhabitants of UI and UCH. Many will have tales of their epic battles against them.

Many will have “sure, effective” ways of getting rid of them. There is one thing all survivors of these creatures have in common, though: the mere mention of them sends their skin into a frenzy. The mere sight of them triggers paranoia, prompting a frantic urge to fumigate everything in sight. My apologies to those reading this and now scratching their skin.

Another thing that is guaranteed to give UI and UCH students PTSD is electricity- or rather, the lack thereof. Blackouts are all too common in these institutions, with the current over 80-day blackout in UCH being a key example. In a decade, survivors will recall their protest against darkness, their frantic struggles for water and power to charge their phones, and the faces of market vendors when a well-dressed, phonetically accurate, English-speaking student confidently bartered the price of stove irons. 

Uites will remember exam periods when the usually reliable power supply inexplicably failed, coinciding with major exams. They will recall battling heat and bugs in their hostels and frantically seeking power sources to charge their phones, power banks, laptops, and everything in between. If you ever encounter someone well-prepared for power outages, don't ask questions. Don't make them relive those memories. Just offer a nod of understanding, a hug, and support for their choice. Their minds are forever wired to prepare for the inevitable darkness. 

The coup de grâce on this list is a four-letter word that UI students dread seeing or hearing while browsing online updates about Nigeria. That word is ASUU. The Academic Staff Union of Universities' name is synonymous with one thing: strike. Ask any UI students to associate ASUU with a word, and the response will always be "strike." This is the most triggering of all. Countless students have lost precious time to ASUU strikes. 

Even if you miraculously avoid bedbugs and darkness, an ASUU strike will get you. Other events may also be triggering for UI and UCH students, but at least one of the above experiences is common to all.

Olajide Olamide