by Anike Jacobs

Babcock University graduands who failed to wait till the end of their convocation ceremony, which held on June 21st at the school’s stadium, have been asked to pay a N25,000 fine.

Students of the university who filed in their complaints narrated it thus:

The convocation ceremony of the Amethyst Graduating Class 2014 of Babcock University was three in one – first degree, masters and PhD.

A number of dignitaries were present and some of them were presented with honorary doctorate degrees. The program lingered on for over 5 hours during which many parents for whom inadequate provision had been made, had to stand through the program even while it rained, to watch their children convocate.

However, certificates were only handed to first-class graduates (first degree) and the rest were to return to the school later on to get theirs.

Due to the impatience of the parents who were drenched, agitated and tired of all the unnecessary speeches and protocol, a somewhat disorderly exit of the parents ensued. Who could blame them? Many of them had far distances to travel back. Of course, they started to call their children, who found ways to exit since in fact, their own ceremony was over.

Weeks later when the rest of the certificates were ready for collection, students were mandated to pay N25,000, an order said to have been from the Vice-Chancellor (supposedly because the procession that was to be done at the end of the ceremony was ruined causing some form of embarrassment to the school). The Registry used lists said to have been signed by the graduands that waited till the end of the program, to issue out the certificates. If your name wasn’t on that list, you had to pay N25,000 before getting your certificate. This is unfair on too many levels. The roll call should have been done at the beginning, ” they complained.

The Public Relations Officer of the university is yet to react as the time the filing of this report.

Sola