UNIZIK To Grant Amnesty To Overstayed Postgraduates

The management of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, has concluded plans to grant what it called ‘amnesty’ to postgraduates of the university that have stayed between eight and ten years without graduation.

THE WHISTLER gathered that many of such undergraduates got stuck either by carryovers or because they could not round off their theses and dissertations as the case may be. It is not stated if the amnesty would include a reduction of the accumulated school fees of the affected students.

A circular, seen by THE WHISTLER on Sunday, and being circulated by various departmental PG coordinators, read, “Postgraduate students who have spent eight to ten years or more in their programmes are kindly requested to make themselves known. This is in view of the university’s plan to grant amnesty to such students.” The affected postgraduates were asked to send their details to their respective PG coordinators.

Some affected students who spoke with our reporter on Sunday said the offer was a welcome development. “I’m from Benue State, and I ought to have graduated in 2023 after spending about six years,” says Sam Kunle. “The delay is because of the distance and not UNIZIK. UNIZIK runs a round-the-clock PG programmes. That is why some students doing PhD even complete their programmes within three years. The lecturers hardly frustrate anybody. I’ll utilise the amnesty and know how I can graduate this year so that my efforts so far would not be in vain. I’m yet to finish my dissertation, and I heard that my supervisor is on sabbaticals.”

A master’s degree student, who does not want her name mentioned, said, “It’s about school fees. About two years ago, the university increased its fees by about 100 percent. Some of us who couldn’t cope withdrew. I have an accumulated fee of over N1m. If they truly want to grant us the amnesty, let them do fee-cut. That is the major issue. I don’t know how they can intervene to hasten the completion of our researches. Some lecturers of UNIZIK don’t bend. I have been in Chapter Two for many years.”

An educationist and owner of an Enugu-based education consultancy firm, Dr John Okolo, said such grant was usual.

According to him, “Some students may fail to graduate because of strict supervisors. They may not know that they can change supervisors by right. Some need financial support. The university can offer them flexible modes of paying their fees. Some may be introduced to student loans. Some with lingering carryovers can be waived as well. It’s not unusual.”

Normally, doctorate and master’s degrees at UNIZIK take three and four years to complete respectively.