The Provost, College of Education, Afaha Nsit, in the Nsit Ibom Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, Prof. Daniel Udo, has revealed how over 9,000 students who graduated from the institution without certificates since 2010 have had their certificates issued to them.
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.”