No Certificates, No Convocation – Minister

Any federal university, which is not prepared to issue certificates to graduands should henceforth not conduct any convocation, the federal government has said.
The visitor to the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), President Goodluck Jonathan, who reiterated his commitment to improving education in Nigeria, said students should no longer wait any more to collect their certificates after graduation.
Minister of Education, Prof. Ruquayyatu Rufa’I, who represented the president yesterday at the 2nd convocation of NOUN in Lagos, said the transformation agenda of Jonathan’s administration include providing easy accessibility to education and that NOUN has greatly assisted in that regard.
The president praised the institution for being the first Nigerian higher institution of learning to conduct online examinations simultaneously for its students.
In her speech, Rufa’I said Nigeria universities that cannot guarantee the immediate issuance of certificates for graduating students should henceforth not bother to think of holding convocation ceremonies.
The minister noted that the nation’s university system must begin to be more innovative at spearheading alternative approaches towards the much desired growth and socio-economic development of the country.
Commending authorities of the institution for making certificates available for immediate collection by the graduating students, she called for unwavering support by the university system, international communities and partners for the present effort of the president, noting that the federal government is committed to developing the nation’s education sector at the basic, polytechnic, and university levels.
Vice-Chancellor of NOUN, Prof. Vincent Tenebe, said the graduands had performed creditably well as 30 programmes of the 31 presented to the National Universities Commission (NUC) in 2012 scaled accreditation test.