Thursday, March 28, 2024

Final results of 1,500 Kogi varsity ex-students held without explanation

  • You’re denying us service, job opportunities, students accuse institution
  • Results stolen with computer system during strike – Source

 

The fate of no fewer than 1,500 ex-students of the Kogi State University, Ayingba, is now hanging in the balance, owing to the failure of the institution’s authorities to issue them their statements of result or certificates, 15 months after completing their university education (first degree).

This has made it impossible for them to be mobilised for the National Youth Service Corps since they left school.

This set of former students finished from the university in January 2017, but their results were not released, making it impossible for them to go for the compulsory one-year NYSC.

This situation has also cost many of the ex-students job opportunities, as they have no statements of result or certificates to prove to employers of labour that they actually graduated from the Kogi State University.

I have been to several places with my Curriculum Vitae, but after I must have undergone tests and interviews, I’m always denied the job due to none-possession of result, despite my brilliant performance and success at the screening or interview

 

An impeccable source in the university gave our correspondent a breakdown of the number of affected ex-students in each of the departments of the institution.

The affected departments and number of ex-students caught in this logjam include: Mass Communication Department, with 179 ex-students; Political Science Department (252); Sociology Department (243); Faculty of Education (357); Soil Production Department (42); Agricultural Economics and Extension Department (45); Economics Department (230); and Faculty of Natural Sciences (157).

One of the affected graduates of Mass Communication from the university, Mr. Toyin Folarin, said he had become depressed with his inability to secure any employment due to the failure of the institution to release his result.

He lamented that he lost job opportunities on three different occasions because he could not present to his prospective employers any certificate or proof that he actually possessed the qualification he had claimed in his application.

Folarin said, “Well, it has not been funny. But personally, I can say I’m utilising the opportunity well.  It’s over 15 months of graduation; no youth service, no result and no one is saying anything!  Most of the period of my first six months were spent at home with my family. So, when the service was not forthcoming, I engaged myself in public speaking, public sensitisation on right values, and volunteering for NGOs, among others.

“I have been to several places with my Curriculum Vitae, but after I must have undergone tests and interviews, I’m always denied the job due to none-possession of result, despite my brilliant performance and success at the screening or interview.There was this scenario where I was given the job, but close to my resumption, I was called not to bother, that the position was no more vacant, and that’s because I could not present either my statement of result of certificate.”

He said with his inability to secure a job due to his non-possession of a statement of result or certificate, he resorted to menial jobs to make ends meet.

Folarin, however, expressed hope that the authorities of the university would have a rethink and issue the ex-students their results to enable them to be mobilised for the NYSC scheme before the end of this year.

“However, I hate being idle; so I was left with no job offer than the casual types. Hopefully, one day, may be this year, my school will wake up and submit our details for mobilisation,” he said.

Tracing the cause of the problem, Folarin said that the prolonged strike by the university’s branch of the Academic Staff Union of Universities resulted in the students staying longer in school than required.

He said, “I guess almost all departments in the institution had earlier had some delay. For instance, there was a strike immediately after my last paper; after resumption, many departments called their students to come and rewrite some papers as the results of the ones written earlier were not released by the various lecturers in charge. These lectrurers, who were members of ASUU, were sacked by the Kogi State Government through the institution’s management. In all these, my department was lucky not to be affected by any of these problems. This shows that we were very good to go.

“But, unfortunately, when the mobilisation for the NYSC was ready, we were informed that our results were not approved!  Since then, till now, our documentation is lying helplessly at the department as both the head of department and the examination officer watch us begging for what is rightfully ours and we have even fulfilled all academic and financial obligations. What a pity!”

Another ex-student of the Political Science Department, Wole Obayemi, said, having waited for so long for his statement of result or certificate, he had to go into organising motivational programmes to mentor younger ones.

Obayemi noted that he had stopped writing applications for jobs because he was certain he would not get employed anywhere without a certificate.

He said, “I finished since January last year. It took me more years than the normal time I was supposed to have finished. We were supposed to go for service in July that same year. But unfortunately, I wasn’t mobilised due to the nonchalant attitude of the university. I have been at home from that January 2017 till now, and no news of mobilisation. We have been hearing rumours. I have tried to get up by building myself to become a better man and I have been preparing for the big world before me because being a graduate is a different world. I have been adding values to people’s life.

“I am not letting it get to me. That is the only thing that is making me happy. Most people will not want to believe that you did not have issues with your academics and that it is the school that is keeping you. People that I graduated ahead of have gone to service before me and are rounding off now. I did not bother to apply for jobs because they will not give people without results.”

Similarly, an ex-student of the Department of Sociology, who simply identified herself as Tope, said, “Well, it has not been easy. I have been at home for almost two years now without going for the youth service. I’m not always happy when I see my mates in other universities going for service. Some are already done with service and some are about to round off. It’s not a good experience at all. Staying idle at home without going for the youth service has been frustrating.

“Our results are not ready and we can’t serve without our result, neither can we be mobilised. It’s a shameful thing, having graduated for almost two years now without a certificate. I have not been able to apply for jobs because I have no result. No one will employ me without a result. Since I couldn’t apply for jobs without result, I started learning a
trade.”

But a staff of the university, who pleaded anonymity, disclosed that the prolonged strike by the institution’s chapter of ASUU was compounded by the theft of the computer system in which the students’ results were stored.

He added that the institution had to find some means to recover the ex-students’ stolen
documents.

“After their final exams, ASUU went on strike for six months before it was proscribed by the governor; this was the first cause of the delay.  The other reason was that the systems in the school were stolen, when it was close to the date for submission of results to NYSC. We had to recover all documents; so, many graduates fell victim,” he said.

When contacted, the institution’s Public Relations Officer, Mr. Joshua Edogbo, said he would need to make findings and clarification from the Student Affairs Department to ascertain the actual situation of

things.

“The institution is always committed to the breeding of good students for the society. Therefore, it will not engage in any practice that will make them lag behind in their pursuits,” he said.

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