Universities have started screening prospective students to meet the November 30 deadline of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) for admissions. But for the Diploma graduates of the Fati Lami Abubakar Institute of Legal and Administrative Studies (FLAILAS) in Minna, the Niger State capital, their dreams of going to the university may remain just that. Reason: the institute’s alleged failure to release their results. They are worried that they may lose their admission if the institution does not release their results before the expiration of JAMB deadline, reports ABDULSALAM MAHMUD.
They bought the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) Direct Entry (DE) forms some months ago, in their quest to further their studies after completing their diploma courses. But except for divine intervention, their dreams to become university undergraduates may be dashed. Reason: their final results are yet to be computed.
This is the fate of thousands of diploma graduates of the Fati Lami Abubakar Institute of Legal and Administrative Studies (FLAILAS) in Minna, the Niger State capital, who have been battling the school management over their results. Admission and screening are ongoing in many universities, but their hope of gaining admission this year for degree courses is faint, months after they submitted their forms.
The applicants, CAMPUSLIFE gathered, have been shuttling between their homes and the institute since their graduation in June. Majority of them, our correspondent learnt, travel from Abuja, Kaduna, Kano, Kogi and other distant places to the insitution weekly to check their results.
They flock their lecturers’offices to know when their results will be released. But, no one is ready to give them an answer, heightening their anxiety.
Findings by CAMPUSLIFE revealed that most of the FLAILAS graduates, who applied to study in Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) in Zaria, Federal University, Gusau (FUG), Zamfara State, Kaduna State University (KSU) and Umar Musa Yar’adua University (UMYU) in Katsina State, were barred from partaking in screenings because they could not produce their diploma results.
But, some of them who applied to study at Bayero University, Kano (BUK), Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University (IBBU) in Lapai, Niger State, University of Abuja (UNIABUJA) and Usman Danfodiyo University, Sokoto (UDUS) may be allowed to undergo screening, if they upload or present their diploma results before the screening window closes.
An affected student, Idris Ismail, who applied to study at ABU, expressed disappointment over the “unnecessary delay” in computing and releasing their final results, saying he was annoyed after spending several hours in school to inquire about his result.
He said: “The insensitivity being displayed by the institute management towards many of us who purchased DE forms can only be imagined. If we had known our results would not be released on time, many of us would not have purchased the N6,000 form. Only some of us who sat for the last Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) have hope to be admitted this year. Many rely on the diploma results. The school management should know that we are terribly discontented, to say the least.’’
Idris added that he had been going to the school for his result, but usually returned home frustrated. He pleaded with the school management to compel their coordinators and Heads of Departments to release the diploma results in the students’interest.
Khadija Ahmed, another DE applicant, said travelling on “death-trap” roads from Kaduna to Minna without information about her diploma result has compounded her agony.
“I travelled to Minna on several occasions to get my results. Unfortunately, my complaints and appeals to lecturers and my HOD did not yield positive result. Even if it would take them a year to release the results, I have already missed a university screening. Honestly, I am so dejected and even regretted applying at the first instance,” she said.
Khadija, who applied to study for Sociology at UMYU, said some were not sure if they would not get extra year at the institute because of the delay.
A diploma graduate, who simply identified himself as Usman, wondered why it is taking the departments time to release the results.
Another diploma graduate, Mrs Salamatu Ibrahim, who hopes to undergo online screening of IBBU, said management needed to take proactive actions to help the affected applicants.
CAMPUSLIFE gathered that the institute management asked interested applicants to pay N6,000 for the DE forms. The school invited an on-line registration expert to register the then final year students. The method, according to source, is to save the applicants the stress of going to queue for long hours in banks and JAMB offices.
Reacting, a top academic staff member of the institute, who spoke to CAMPUSLIFE, said there were reasons for the delay in releasing the graduating students’ results.
He said: “It is offensive to say lecturers are insensitive to the plight of the affected students. Even though we empathised with the students, we want to assure them that very soon their results will be released. Some factors that caused the delay include the workers’ strike last July and the on-going Niger State’s labour screening. Besides, there are many exam scripts to be marked.”
Another lecturer, who also pledged not to be named, said the diploma graduates should forget using the results for admission this year. He said: “It is only wise and appropriate for graduating students to be patient, collect their results before applying for a direct entry. This way, they can be sure of any university’s admission.’’
A top administrative staff member of the school said the management was not unaware of the development. He maintained that the management was making frantic effort to resolve the matter.
His words: “Let the graduating students know that the school management is genuinely addressing the matter and will not do anything that will affect future engagement of the students. The fact that their results are still pending is highly regretted. However, we want to assure them that there is painstaking effort to resolve the issue.”
Parents who spoke to CAMPUSLIFE expressed frustrations over the delay in releasing the diploma results. They accused the school management of “gross incompetence”, saying it was unfair to collect N6,000 from students to put in for DE without ensuring their results are released for the purpose.
Mallam Tijjani Abdurrahman, a civil servant, said the school had no reason for not enrolling the diploma students for DE programme. He said many of the applicants would lose admission because of the school’s ineptitude.
Another parent, Mrs Rabi Adamu, who was upset said: “It is disturbing to learn that our children’s results are not ready about four months after their graduation. This is not a good image for a school that should be an example for excellence.’’
