Row over EKSU/AOCOED affiliated programmes

Tribune Online
Row over EKSU/AOCOED affiliated programmes

FORMER students of Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti on affiliated education degree programmes with the Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education, Otto-Ijanikin, Lagos (2016/2017 set), are currently at loggerheads with the college’s management over delay in the release of their final results and the demand for N25,000 from each student to collect the results.

They claim that while delay has denied many of them employment opportunities, promotion at work places as well as impeded further studies, asking them again to pay N25,000 just to collect notification of results (not certificates) is exploitative and unacceptable.

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The ex-students, under the aegis of Concerned Students, wondered why their mates in other EKSU-affiliated colleges, including Michael Otedola College of Primary Education, Noforija-Epe, Lagos; Emmanuel Alayande College of Education, Oyo and Kwara State College of Education, Oro, have since collected their own results after the payment of just N15,000.

Mr. Hassan Raheem, the leader of the group of over 200 affected persons, told Tribune Education in an exclusive chat that AOCOED and not EKSU is responsible for their ordeals.

He alleged that it is AOCOED that did not remit, as and when due, all the fees paid by the students to the university, which is why the university has not processed the results.

According to him, each student paid N100,000 as tuition per session for the four-year degree programme, apart from various other small levies.

“So, we paid heavily without owing the school a kobo. We paid N400,000 each and those among us who had an extra year paid an additional N100,000 to make half a million in all. And you have to pay your tuition in full to be allowed to sit for each semester exam in the college.

“So, why did AOCOED not remit the amount meant for EKSU from the money as agreed between the two institutions,” he asked, describing the action as fraudulent and a breach of trust.

Raheem, however, said the group had formerly taken some steps, including petitioning the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) for intervention in the matter.

Raheem said: “We sent a petition to ICPC when we realised that AOCOED management had not been doing anything positive since May 2018 when we started the struggle to ensure our results are released after our several appeals to the college yielded no desirable result.

“We have sent two petitions so far to the anti-graft agency. The initial letter was addressed it to the director in charge of Lagos office of the agency, but to our utmost surprise, nothing was done for whole two months after submission.

“We then wrote directly to the head office in Abuja and addressed to the chairman of the commission. And within that same week, we received a telephone call from the Lagos office, telling us that they had been directed by the headquarters to wade into the matter without delay.

“They invited me to their office as the leader of the group, but I went with some other mates.  It was then they opened a file and documented our complaints and then invited the leadership of the college; but we’re yet to hear from them again.

“And now, whether ICPC intervenes or not, we can’t pay N25,000 for notification of results. The amount is outrageous and we cannot afford it. Majority of us, including my humble self, paid through the nose to be able to complete our programmes in the college. Some even obtained loans and are yet to pay back.

“So, AOCOED should not turn us to ATM (automated teller machine). Is it not even disheartening to hear that students will have to pay as much as N25,000 to collect ordinary notification of results when they will still have to pay N50,000 to collect certificate? Notification of result is supposed to be free since it won’t be useful again once the certificates are available.”

But when contacted, AOCOED’s Information and Public Relations Officer, Mrs A. O. Osinaiwo, confirmed the delay of the results but said the director in charge of the affiliated degree programmes in the college, Dr Joseph Owoso, should be able to give details on the matter.

When contacted, the director, who also confirmed the delay, claimed that the results were now ready and had been approved by the EKSU senate for collection by students.

“It is now left for students to come forward for their statement of results,” he added.

When asked about the N25,000 mandatory collection fee to be paid by each student, Owoso confirmed it, saying “N25, 000 is what the school charges for the collection of statement of results, and that the collection of the amount did not start with the 2016 set.

“Aside that,” he explained further, “every affiliated college with EKSU running degree programmes has the power to charge independently for notification of results. This is N25,000 in AOCOED, and the students who need the results have since been coming to collect theirs. Even today (Monday), some students came to collect their results; and likewise last Friday.

“So, if there is now a group of students who are saying they don’t want to pay the N25,000, that is their own cup of tea and not mine. After all, they are not paying to my private purse but to the college.

“They should go to the University of Lagos (UNILAG) to do the same programme. They will know how much they will pay for admission fee alone. They may also go to Michael Otedola College of Primary Education, Noforija-Epe, Lagos; or Emmanuel Alayande College of Education, Oyo as well as Kwara State College of Education, Oro and find out how much they pay there.

“So, are those students going to tell us that it costs each school the same amount of money to run the programmes? The distance of each of these colleges to EKSU is not the same and likewise the resources expended.

“It’s like they don’t want to know how much it will cost the school to process the results, how much they will need to pay as alumni fee, and how much the college paid lecturers that taught them and all that.”

While confirming that the group had taken the matter to ICPC, Dr Owoso said the group believes in confrontation to resolve issues.

Meanwhile, Tribune Education contacted the director of the satellite programme at EKSU, Professor Michael Omirin on the matter after the university’s Public Relations Officer, Mr Bode Olofinmuagun, had denied knowing about the affiliated programmes.

The professor of Tests, Measurement and Evaluation, however, blamed AOCOED for the delay in releasing the results and also refuted the claim by AOCOED’s director that the students have started collecting their results.

According to him, though both EKSU and AOCOED have resolved the issue that caused the delay and the university is through with the results, the senate is yet to approve them.

“The senate is expected to do that on Wednesday (yesterday) and by Friday stamp them; and the director of the programme at AOCOED can then come to collect them on that same day and hopefully start giving them out to students by next week.

While declining to mention specific amount each affiliated college is supposed to charge for notification of results on the premise that he is not a school bursar, Professor Omirin noted that the certificates could be issued for collection only after convocation ceremony, and that he does not know the date yet.

Row over EKSU/AOCOED affiliated programmes
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