The University of Nigeria Nsukka, UNN, has dismissed a recent admission racketeering allegation against the institution, saying that it lacked empirical evidence.
The Nigeria Senate had recently at its plenary discussed the allegation of admission racketeering brought by Senator Onyekachi Nwebonyi of Ebonyi North Senatorial district.
Vice Chancellor of UNN, Prof Charles Igwe, however, dismissed the allegation while addressing a press conference for the 51st convocation ceremony of the institution.
Igwe said that what obtains is that because of the stiff competition for the University’s admission into most of the professional courses, those who were unable to make the cut-off marks resort to blackmail such as the Ebonyi Senator did.
Igwe stated that the allegation was far from the truth and negated the transparency pillar upon which the University of Nigeria stands.
He stressed that the university had always conducted its admissions transparently, complying strictly with the Federal Government’s established criteria of 45 per cent merit, 35 per cent catchment and 20 per cent Educationally Less Developed States, ELDS.
Nevertheless, the Vice Chancellor announced that no fewer than 288 of the university’s 2022/2023 graduates bagged first-class degrees and will receive their awards at the 51st convocation on Friday.
The convocation week-long event will feature the Executive Secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund, TETFUND, Architect Sonny S. T. Echono, who will deliver the convocation lecture titled, “University Autonomy and the Challenge of Sustainable Education Funding in Nigeria”.
The vice-chancellor further disclosed that of the 12,962 graduating students, 11,444 will receive first degrees with 67 receiving diplomas, adding that 1,451 will receive postgraduate degrees for academic session.
A further breakdown of the Bachelor’s degrees, according to Igwe, includes 4,853 for 2nd class (upper division); 5,077 for 2nd class (lower division); 653 for the Third class with seven graduates leaving with a pass while 616 were unclassified.
He noted that the unclassified degrees are awarded to graduates of some courses, such as medicine, pharmacy and veterinary medicine which are not usually classified into first, second or third class.
“Similarly, a total of 67 diplomas will also be awarded at the convocation. The breakdown is as follows: 7 Distinctions, 35 Credits, 22 Merits and 3 Passes.
