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By Muktar Balogun.
The past graduates from Federal University Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE) have written to the school management to demand their certificates.
This was revealed in an open letter, primarily directed at the Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof. Sunday Abayomi Fasina.
In the open letter which carried the signature, “Concerned Alumni,” it was revealed that among the four sets of graduates that the institution has so far convocated, it is only “a fragment of the first set that has received their certificates”.
Counting their losses, the alumni listed missed “scholarships; expensive job opportunities; and defamation of character from potential employers,” as what they have had to face because they possess no certificate since graduation.
In the latter part of the letter, the alumni, while urging the institution to certify the graduates “without further delay,” also advised the school against “organizing another Convocation if the graduands will not be given their certificates”.
Below, the letter reads in full:
“An Open Letter to the Vice-Chancellor, FUOYE: Demand for our Certificates
“Dear Prof. Abayomi Sunday Fasina,
“Behind these voices are the wails and groans of thousands of “hanging Graduands” of the Federal University Oye-Ekiti, with muffled lamentations, timid grievances, and craved interventions. This letter is a tiny dove that the voices are hoping will provoke an urgent reaction from you thereby saving our education system from further decay.
“Do not mistake these voices for a no-respecter of protocol; the voices know this letter is best passed through the Alumni Leadership but over the years, the leadership is yet to secure a space where their presence can be felt. Not to mention that you avoided the chance to address these voices when invited to do so. However, as cultured citizens of this citadel of learning who breathes the words that rest on the crest – Innovation and Character for National Transformation – forward is the only direction we need to think. Like a common saying in Nigerian parlance, even if your cheeks are drenched in tears, forward you should go still. Nonetheless, it is also important to consider what path led us here.
“As explicitly posited by Oxford Dictionary, a graduate is “a person who has completed a course of study or training, especially a person who has been AWARDED an undergraduate or first academic degree”. It is, therefore, on this basis, that the message in this letter is established.
“Of the four sets of graduates that Federal University Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE) has convocated, beginning from 2016, proven information has it that it is a fragment of the first set that has received their certificates. However, the unwillingness to certify the remaining, which has been followed by many probes – consultations of the appropriate authorities by the same “Graduates or Hanging Graduands”, has only been repeatedly displayed in the all-time “the collection of the certificate is already at the advanced stage” response, that these “Audio Graduates” get.
“It is expedient to, at this point, express that the inactivity of the university, towards performing its obligation to these Graduates, has caused unquantifiable grave damages. Among them is loss of scholarships, expensive job opportunities, and defamation of character from potential employers who regard these individuals as liars, claiming to be graduates that they are not.
“With exhausted patience on the unending promises of the institution to certify the 2016-2017 – 2019/2020 sets of graduates that the school has produced, it is clear that the university has no intention to award certificates to the recent graduates if they grace the proposed convocation ceremony. It, therefore, becomes expedient that we state our stance on the coming convocation.
- That all Graduates that had already been convocated be issued their certificates without further delay.
- That the University shouldn’t harbour the dream of organizing another Convocation if the Graduands will not be given their certificates knowing fully well that the First Degree Certificates can only be signed by a substantial Registrar which over the years has been extremely politicized in FUOYE and in the process negatively affecting the lives of Graduands/Graduates.
- That the University shouldn’t collect any fee from the Graduands without necessary measures in place to give the Graduands their Certificates on the Convocation Day.
“This can be regarded as a forward notification.
E-Signed:
Concerned Alumni
Cc: Fuoye Governing Council
DVC Academics
DVC Administration
Acting Registrar
Bursar
Dean, Student Affairs
Dean, Postgraduate studies
Chief Secuirty Officer
ALUMNI A. FUOYE.”
