The trajectory of the 2019/2020 session of OAU graduates has been a recurrent development which often makes one wonder about the plights of the students who have spent almost three years at a particular stage.
The 2018/2019 session which ended in 2019 and ushered in students in their penultimate into the final year was first truncated by the pandemic in 2020, which ravaged nations of the world. The generality of students had to sit at home for almost a year before resuming back academic activities.
The session started in February 2021 with online classes in the first semester and went smoothly without hiccups while the second semester was both online and physical. The semester was close to perfection until the university decided to send students writing examinations home for a month for protesting the death of a fellow student; Another year was wasted in the pursuit of an academic degree.
The session finally ended in November 2021, and at the time of filing this report, some of the supposed graduates are yet to see any of their results, while some have not even defended their final year projects.
A graduate of the department of English and Literary Studies, Kehinde Babajide who expressed his displeasure about the whole situation said: “We finished our exams in November 2021 and it is only right to see our results. Though I have completed and defended my undergraduate long essay, the unreleased results have restricted me to an extent. I have no idea when I will be going for NYSC, my friends and I could not apply for scholarships to study abroad. I have not seen one result from the five courses I offered in the rain semester. The unreleased results have disrupted a lot of my plans.”
“I think the ASUU strike is one of the factors behind the unreleased results but we wrote our exams in September and November. It is only right to see our results after the exam. Presently, the school is disorganized. Some lecturers are teaching while others are not and it’s affecting many departments.”
“If the school is fast-tracking the process, I should have seen at least one result. This is not the first time this is happening; I don’t think the school prioritize students. My friends who have not completed and submitted their projects, their supervisors claimed that they are ASUU members, hence, they cannot attend to their projects,” he expressed.
“Honestly speaking, it’s frustrating and sad that once again our lives are being put on hold. Class of 2020 have to write their final exams in late 2021 and 3 months after in 2022, some don’t have their results out yet or done with their project, our mates are already serving while it seems we are here wasting away”; these were the words of Adebowale Damilola, a graduate of International Relations who expressed his grievances about the whole situation.
When asked if the main reason for the delay is because of ASUU strike, he responded: “Well. Of course, it is. We have some ASUU lecturers who won’t attend to the students they are supervising since they are not obligated due to the strike. The issue here is that the school might actually be working on doing something but then, the ASUU strike will hinder it mainly. Even if the school send out a memo to all lecturers to release results in time. The lecturers can’t be faulted for going against the memo since there’s a strike, they are not obligated to do any work.”
“As students, this is a really sad case, to be honest, but it is what it is. As regards the project, it’s a different stroke for different folks but generally speaking, I will still say the strike is the one delaying this,” Damilola noted.
Peter Oyebanji, a graduate of Accounting replying to this reporter stated: “I’d like to serve and get everything that has to do with this degree over with, for my department, I really can’t say how much this strike is affecting the whole “resultish”. But I know some of my lecturers are ASUU members.”
When asked if the school is doing anything to fast track the process, he responded; “we both know this VC doesn’t care about students, for my department, I’d say the kind of lecturer you get highly affects how fast your project submission would be. Most of the folks I know that are still on their project have all complained about the lecturer’s pace.”
In the same vein, Faith, a graduate of Microbiology expressed her displeasure; “I’m not too happy about it, it’s delaying a whole lot of stuffs. I can’t apply for a job, can’t go for NYSC, and can’t start making further decisions on mapping my life plans out. It’s unfair to see people you entered school with or before them already serving. ASUU isn’t the main issue but the school itself. ASUU strike started recently and I suppose activities are still run as normal on campus. It’s not ASUU, it’s the administrative sector of the school.”
Responding to why she hasn’t defended her project, she said: “I’ve not defended my project and there’s even no news about it. Since last year, just saw one of my results recently. I can’t say this is what caused the delay but I’m sure this could have been done if they had us in mind.”
Recently, While the Academic Staff Union of Universities, declared an addition of eight (8) weeks to the already used four (4) weeks, the school management extended the mid-semester break by (4) weeks following the initial two weeks which will end on April 10.
This development prompted some of the students to express their displeasure on Twitter.