The pain of our ‘pen pushers’

Believe it or not, journalists too are affected by the non-issuance of academic certificates long after graduation.

Ask Alemma Emmanuel Aliu, a journalist with The Guardian newspaper in Benin and he will tell you. He graduated with HND in Mass Communication, from Auchi Polytechnic in 2003. But he is yet to get his certificate.

“The reason given for the non-issuance of my certificate is that our certificates are among the backlog of certificates yet to be signed by successive Rectors. Ironically, some students who graduated after 2003 have collected their certificates,” he moaned. On how the non-issuance of his certificate is affecting him, Mr. Aliu said: “I lost post-graduate admission into National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) because of my non-possession of the certificate.”

But when contacted, the Public Relations Officer for Auchi Polytechnic, Mr. Mustafa Oshiobuge, argued that, “from 2008 when Dr. (Mrs.) Philipa Omamhe Idogho became the Rector she has been signing graduating students’ certificates. In fact, the certificates of any graduating set are ready before convocation. Not only that, she has been signing the unsigned backlog of certificates she inherited and I think Aliu’s own should be ready.”

Mr. Friday Osagie Otabor, the Edo State Correspondent of The Nation, graduated from Federal Polytechnic, Oko, after obtaining ND (National Diploma) and HND in 2003 and 2006 respectively. But as he told Education Review he has written several applications to ask that his certificates be released to him. But there has been, as yet, no positive response. “One is always worried as to when both certificates will be released,” he added.

If there is one higher institution in Akwa Ibom State in which almost all the lecturers are PhD holders, it is the International Institute of Journalism (IIJ), a professional institution run by the national secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), initially for its members who did not have the stipulated professional qualification before joining the profession.

But the reputation the institute earns in curriculum content, it gives away through the shoddy way it handles the processing and issuance of its certificate, in a way that leaves its former students frustrated. At the moment, some of the students who graduated from the institute in 2008 are still waiting to collect their certificates and this has adversely affected their academic and job promotions.

Mr. Friday Umoh, a senior information officer in Akwa Ibom State Ministry of Information but seconded to the state internal revenue service, is one of such affected people. After waiting for his certificate for years without success, he, on January 18, 2013 wrote to the President of the NUJ through the Akwa Ibom State Chairman of the Union to complain about his plight.

“I wish to bring to your notice that I registered in 2007 as a PGD student in Journalism. I concluded all academic activities as requested by the school authorities in 2008.

“Right from that time till today, I have written letters to IIJ authority in Abuja through its coordinator in Uyo, requesting for my original certificate so that I can use it for admission and promotion in service. It may interest you to note that in the civil service, without original certificate, you can never be promoted,” Umoh whose registration number is IIJ/PGD/07/191, further stated.

Like Umoh, a deputy director in the radio service of Akwa Ibom State Broadcasting Corporation, Mrs. Mary Akpambang-Asuquo, is waiting for her certificate from the same IIJ. But she appears a little luckier than Umoh in that her corporation honoured the statement of result she tendered at the corporation’s promotion interview. But all the same, she has been given specific date within which to produce the original certificate which she is yet to obtain from the institute since graduation in 2009. Her registration number was IIJ/HD/07/096.

The dream of Akam Ekim who also works with Akwa Ibom Broadcasting Corporation to switch over from being secretary to a reporter in the radio service was aborted for non-possession of certificate. Ditto for her dream to read Master’s in Mass Communication after obtaining a Post-graduate Diploma (PGD) in Journalism   from IIJ. Her registration number is IIJ/PGDJ/07/213.