He said that some of the affected students had finished their programmes successfully but their results were not processed, while others had their results processed but their certificates were not signed.
Udo, who stated this on Friday while speaking with newsmen in his office, blamed the situation on the dual mode of signature at the colleges where certificates have to be signed in the college before returning to Abuja for endorsement by the Executive Secretary of the National Commission for Colleges of Education.
The provost said, “In my tenure, by God’s grace, we have been able to exhume well over 9,000 certificates dating back to 2010. These people had finished, but they could not have their certificates.
“We had this dual mode of certificates at the colleges. By dual mode, I mean that after signing the certificates here at the college, the certificates have to go to Abuja (NCCE) for the signature of the Executive Secretary before they come back to us.
“Some of these students had finished; some of the results were not processed; some of the results were processed, but their certificates were not signed, and you have to pay to NCCE to print the certificates from the Nigerian Security, Printing, and Minting Company.
“So, these are the processes. But over 9,000 students on record who had finished without certificates now have certificates. That was in March 2020. So, I told them to come on Tuesdays and Thursdays for their certificates.”
He said, however, that when they come to collect their certificates, they have to be screened by the school to ascertain whether they have been cleared or not.
Udo added, “The only thing is that when you come, we shall check your records to see whether you have been cleared as a student. If we check our records and you were not cleared, give us evidence of clearance if you were cleared, and where you lack this evidence, then you have to pay your fees because many people used to graduate without paying school fees.”
The provost, who disclosed that his creation of a portal for paying for school fees has created enmity between him and a lot of people, promised to leave a sound administrative and academic tradition.
He said, “I want to leave behind a true academic tradition. I can tell you that there are a few staff members in this place who felt that it was going to be business as usual. I want to leave a college with records and a true sense of academic and administrative traditions, and I am very particular about this.
“By academic tradition, I mean you are not supposed to have a degree when you did not write an examination.”
