Graduates of tertiary institutions in Nigeria contend with the stress of obtaining their certificates.
Miss Ugochi Nwachukwu graduated from the Department of Mass Communication, University of Nigeria Nsukka in November 2010. She was happy to have scaled the hurdles of clearance in some of the varsity’s units and was glad about embarking on the compulsory one-year National Youth Serve Corps scheme.
After her service year, she went back to her alma mater in order to obtain her certificate. Nwachukwu never suspected there would be delay in the collection of the certificate.
The workers in the university’s Exam and Records department however kept asking her to go and return at a later date.
She said, ‘‘My result was not released with the first batch because of the slow manner of working on our files. I had duly completed the required clearance. After my result was released, I went to collect my certificate but was told it was not ready.
I was issued a statement of result with which I embarked on the compulsory one-year National Youth Service Corps scheme. But it was only tenable for a year after which one is expected to collect his or her certificate. I went to the school many times but the Exams and Records section was unable to give me any reason why my certificate was not ready.’’
It took her many trips to the university before luck smiled on her and she was able to collect her certificate. She noted that it was important for tertiary institutions to start early processing of the certificates of final year students once their results had been approved in order to forestall delay.
The Public Relations Officer of UNN, Mr. Gabriel Ndu, said he was handling an emergency after he patiently listened to the request of our correspondent that he should comment on the development.
He stated, ‘‘I am in an emergency right now. I will get back to you.’’
Nwachukwu is however not the only graduate who has experienced frustration in the course of trying to collect certificates. Mr. Abayomi Adebowale who studied in one of the external centres of the Lagos State University also has a similar experience. In his own case, he graduated in 2008 but could not collect his certificate until after three years.
Our correspondent learn't that it was even easy for his set because some of those who graduated after them were still going to the institution to collect their certificates.
‘‘I am not sure if full-time students of the school experience the same thing but it is common among part-time students. It is important that the school authorities look into the case because part-time students pay more than full-time especially in this regime of high school fees,’’ he said.
Adebowale also linked the problem of delay in the issuance of certificates to the backlog of results of the institution’s part-time graduates.
One of the full-time graduates of the institution, Mr. Tunde Oyelami, however said graduates obtain their certificates after tendering their statements of results.
‘‘It did not take me long to collect my certificate. I graduated in 2003 and collected my certificate in 2004. Once a graduate presents his or her statement of result after being cleared, getting his certificate cannot be difficult.
Even my master’s certificate is ready but I have not collected it because I have not completed clearance. Those who studied in the university’s external centres may have their certificates delayed because of other reasons. But for full-time graduates, it is not hard to collect certificates,’’ he added.
The university’s Acting Director, Centre for Information, Press and Public Relations, Dr. Sola Fosudo, told our correspondent that any student having problems in collecting his or her certificate should write to the varsity’s vice-chancellor.
Abiola Morakinyo, who studied Master of Business Administration (Executive) from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, said it took him five years to get his certificate.
He said after his set graduated in 2008 and held its convocation in December 11, 2009, their certificates were only issued to them in 2013 after several complaints. Morakinyo added that the school authorities later told them that his set was inadvertently omitted.
A graduate of OAU, Mrs. Abigail Fadehan, however said it was not difficult collecting a certificate from the university once a graduate fulfils all obligations.
She said, ‘‘By a graduate fulfilling all obligations, I mean ensuring he or she undergoes prompt clearance in the required units; bursary, library, department and so on. I know that OAU certificates are issued to deserving graduates immediately after convocation. It is the same with transcripts. It did not take me a year to collect my certificate while it took me just two days to get my transcripts.’’
Fadehan’s claim was corroborated by the PRO of OAU, Mr. Biodun Olanrewaju.
Olanrewaju said the school authorities issue certificates to final year students immediately the Senate approves their results.
He stated, ‘‘The process of collecting certificates in OAU used to be simple but we have now made it simpler. We have a computerised system which makes it easy to issue certificates to our graduates after convocation. Once a graduate has done the required clearance, we commence the process of issuance. Though we have a forgery-proof system in place, we often ask the owners to come for collection in order to authenticate that we are giving the certificate to the original owner.’’
Timothy Francis, who graduated from the University of Lagos in 2008, said he was unable to collect his certificate from the university on time because of what he described as ‘administrative bottlenecks.’
He added that he couldn’t find some of the receipts he needed to tender in a particular unit for clearance. ‘‘I was virtually moving from one office to the other because there was no way I could get cleared without the receipt. It was later I got everything sorted out and that was two years after graduation. Things seem to have changed now because of the advent of technology. I also think the reason some people have not collected their certificates is because there are some conditions that their universities have set for them to meet,’’ he said.
According to him, tertiary institutions should design processes to make it easy for genuine graduates to collect their certificates after convocation.
It was learnt that in order to check errors, the UNILAG authorities have recently put in place an arrangement to monitor certificates while processing them.
The Directorate of Academic Affairs has initiated a certificate processing form which final year students could download and make corrections where necessary.
A graduate of the Federal Polytechnic Bida, Niger State, Timothy Oriloye, said he collected his certificate a year after graduation because he was determined to overcome any problem that could hinder him.
‘‘Some students are the cause of the reason why they do not get their certificates on time. They defer what they are supposed to do till the last minute, ’’ he said.
