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Married In School but Single at Home: Causes, Consequences and Advice for Students Involved

Causes and Effects of Cohabitation Among Nigerian Students

CAMPUS COUPLE

The rate at which undergraduate students cohabitate on campus is becoming alarming and this has become necessary for POLY TV to discuss this topic so as to shed light on the causes, importance and Effects of cohabitation among Nigerian students.

Cohabitation can be defined as the coming together of two opposite sex students living together as one in the same room and in layman language can be referred to as “Couples living” that is, the living together of a male and female student as husband and wife. The female student will perform the role of a house wife by cooking, washing and doing all other chores while the male counterpart will perform the role of a husband by providing money, foodstuff and at the same marathon sex. Couples living can be sweet because of the benefits involved and at the same time the effects can’t be overemphasized.

There are two types of cohabitation/couples living on campus which are: Permanent Cohabitation and Temporary cohabitation.

(I) PERMANENT COHABITATION.

Permanent cohabitation is the type of couples living whereby the male and female students live together as husband and wife. In this case the male and female will Merge their foodstuffs together, house rent will be combined and other stuff will be merged together so as to contain both for survival during their stay on campus.

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(II) TEMPORARY COHABITATION.

This is the type of cohabitation whereby the student will abandon his/her own hostel for that of his boyfriend/Girlfriend. In this case, the lady can spend weekends in his boyfriend’s hostel and sometimes a whole week or more than that but one thing is certain, the student won’t always be available in his/her own hostel and the best place to find them is in their partner apartment/ hostel.

Reasons why students cohabitate on campus are

1. FREEDOM.

Once a student gets admission to a tertiary institution, they feel like they are now matured to live independently without any interference. Some students who live a couple’s life on campus take advantage of their freedom to do whatever they like. So they make use of the freedom to enjoy life with their lover. In a situation whereby the parents might want to visit they have ways of arrangement to the extent that the parent won’t know what is going on.

If you fall into this category, My advice for you is that you should try to make use of your freedom to do things that will benefit your life and not wasting your time cooking and washing plates for a guy whom there is no assurance that you will both marry after school. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to teach you how to live your life because I understand everyone has his/her own life to live. I’m just trying to call for awake because majority of those who did in the past regret their actions.

2. MONEY.

The love of money has pushed many ladies to live couples life on campus while others might be because of financial challenges. For example, A female student who can’t afford accommodation for herself might eventually end up living with a guy. Some may have spent their school fees, accommodation fee on something else and living with a guy who is financially buoyant might be the solution to their problem. Money is one of the reasons why students cohabitate on campus. Some guys also move into their girlfriends hostel due to financial problems.

Well who am I to blame you for living a couples life because you are not strong financially. However, If you fall into this category, I will advise you to try as much as possible to Stop the habit of cohabitation, try to liberate yourself, never depend on a man for survival because sooner or later he might use it against you. You Need to find ways of getting your own money so that your man can respect you and not sit down in his room doing what you ain’t supposed to do.

3. BLIND LOVE.

Blinded love has been a major reason why students cohabitate on campus especially nowadays once you toast a lady on campus boom 24 hours later she has moved into your house. It always starts with visitation. From there the guy will ask her to stay till the following morning from there one night followed by two nights the next thing you will see her spending two weeks later she will upgrade from Temporary cohabitation to permanent cohabitation.

The reason why they live together as husband and wife is because of love. Is love truly blind??? No!!! love is not blind Because you know the effect of what you are doing just that you choose to ignore. There is nothing wrong with spending some time with your lover and I’m not saying you should not love or be in a relationship. I’m just trying to tell you to apply sense. Don’t cohabitate either temporary or permanent cohabitation, both are bad for students.

4. MARRIAGE.

Most of the students want their relationship to end in marriage so they believe that practice makes perfect and the best way to practice what marriage looks like according to them is to start living as husband and wife on campus. If you go to the campus today and ask any ND student about their plans after school some of the answers you will get is “Marriage” I don’t know why students are eager to get married. This has been the reason why couples living on campus are getting too much. If you fall into this category, I want you to know that relationships are not the same as marriage, don’t allow the sweetness of a relationship to rush you to do the right thing at the wrong time. Although some couples end up in marriage but majority of the relationships do crash after graduation.

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EFFECTS OF COHABITATION

1. PRE-MARITAL SEX

Cohabitation exposes you to premarital sex which is the bedrock of early Marriage the grassroots of over population and poverty. Couples living on campus can make you a sex addict which might become a problem for in future. Free sex and marathon sex is one of the advantage of cohabitation and the effects of premarital sex can’t be over emphasised so the choice is yours. Cohabitation is sweet but the consequences are bitter. I just hope you know what you are doing

2. UNWANTED PREGNANCY.

If you are very very observant you will notice these days that a certain percentage of graduating students have given birth while few of them already got pregnant out of wedlock which might be the effect of cohabitation on campus. How disappointed will your parents Be if you tell them you are pregnant now?? If you don’t want to end up being a single mother with an unwanted pregnancy, stay away from couples living on campus.

3. ABORTION.

Another effects of Cohabitation is Abortion, couples living on campus expose you to Multiple abortion Which in turns Kill your chance of conceiving in future. Some ladies even opted for family planning whereas they are not yet married all to enjoy the pleasure in cohabitation. Be careful so that you won’t use your pleasure today to destroy your future. Apart from the fact that cohabitation can result to multiple abortion which is risky to your well-being, It is also a big distraction as you may not be able to focus on your studies.

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4. REGRET.

You may end up regretting all your actions because in most cases couples living on campus don’t end in marriage; it ends the moment one graduates from the institution(Not in all cases). Imagine you didn’t not later get married to him/her that means you just wasted your money, time and resources. There is time for everything don’t rush.

Some people cohabitate because their friends do it but let me also remind you that you are not your friend, you are different. Even if others are doing it, that doesn’t mean you should do the same. You can nurture your relationship with your partner, spend quality time together and at the same time still achieve your goals but don’t be foolish to start cohabitation because the relationship might not end well.

Some ladies will just move to a guy’s house and start living as a wife. Please stop that shit because doing this will make you lose your self worth, dignity and your partner might see you as cheap.

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