Some ex-students of the University of Port Harcourt (Uniport) have accused the school of excluding their names from its recent graduation list despite defending their final year projects in 2021.

In December 2022, UNIPORT held its 33rd convocation ceremony for the 2018/2019 and 2019/2020 academic sessions. While 9,536 students graduated, others have neither been cleared nor seen their final semester’s results.

FIJ learnt that the affected students were supposed to have graduated with the 2019/2020 session. The affected UNIPORT students, alongside their counterparts who graduated, defended their projects between August and September 2021.

They ought to have concluded academic activities in the 2019/2020 academic session, but they couldn’t because of the 2020 Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike. The strike lasted for nine months and stalled academic activities across Nigerian public universities.

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A source, who does not wish to be named, told FIJ that all efforts to get the school management to communicate the reason for the delay had been futile.

“I have defended my project since August 2021, but I don’t even know my Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) because I have not seen my results for the second semester of the final session,” said the source.

According to the source, the school had in February 2022 published the names of those that appeared on the convocation brochure on a list that was accessible at their various departments.

“I did not see my name on the list. For instance, out of over 300 students in a department, only 94 names appeared on the convocation list. The rest don’t know their fate,” the source said.

NO CLEAR REASON FROM MANAGEMENT

FIJ gathered that some of the affected students across various departments went to their exam officers to know if they were excluded because of their results, but they were not shown the results.

Another source, who also doesn’t want to be named, said the students knew that the delay stemmed from the result verification committee.

“The university refused to release our results, process our degree certificates and mobilise us for NYSC. We pleaded with the department, but they said they were not with our results,” said the source.

“Anytime we ask why we have not been cleared, they ask us to wait. We have been waiting, yet nothing has been done.”

Frustrated by the school’s seemingly nonchalant attitude, one of the students recently tagged Professor Owunari Georgewill, Uniport’s Vice-Chancellor in a LinkedIn post.

FIJ learned that the student later deleted the post out of fear that it would be misinterpreted as an attack on the VC.

According to some screenshots obtained from a source, the vice-chancellor had insisted that “only approval of degree results translates to graduation”.

He also asked the students to get the spreadsheet of their results from their departments and bring them to him for onward action while responding to some of the comments on that particular LinkedIn post.

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This, however, does not sit well with a source who spoke with FIJ, as he maintained that it was not the duty of the students.

“We’re not even supposed to use our hands to submit that spreadsheet. It’s the work of the exam officers,” he said.

‘WE HAVE NO REASON TO WITHHOLD RESULTS’

While responding to the allegations, the vice-chancellor told FIJ that the university had no reason to withhold students’ results.

The VC said he had already signed every result sent by each department, and that the students were expected to check their results at their various departments to see if they had any carryover that might have caused the delay.

“There is nothing like a group of 2000 excluded students or a second graduation list as they have been clamouring. Once I sign any degree result, the student has graduated. We don’t do anything like graduation list or pasting of a graduation list. Those are strange words,” said the VC.

“Tell them to go back to their departments and check their spreadsheets. I have told them to bring their spreadsheets to me. Once all their results are clear, I will sign them. If the department fails to give them, they should report to me. I will go there.

“Some of them are carrying over some courses, but they won’t go to the public to say that. Some of them failed some courses, but they won’t say it. They should take responsibility for themselves.

“The school cannot release a result that is not there. They should check their results individually. If they have checked and there is no issue, nobody will stop them from getting their results.”