Old graduates of the Rivers State University of Science and Technology (RSUST), Port Harcourt, who failed some academic courses while in school but were granted waivers to enable them graduate, are to lose their degree certificates.
The affected graduates, some of who passed out seven years ago, are to return and re-sit the courses they failed.
Governor Chibuike Amaechi gave the order just as he set up a panel to look into incessant strikes by the university’s branch of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
Speaking at the formal unveiling of the Rivers State brand in Port Harcourt, the Governor said the vice chancellor of the University had been directed to withdraw all such certificates.
“I have told the vice chancellor of the University of Science and Technology to recall all degree certificates awarded to some students to enable them graduate. Even if they are bank managers, they should come back and write those courses.”
Governor Amaechi said the directive was a fall-out of the just-concluded education retreat in Calabar where it was decided that any form of academic fraud in the state should be punished to save the image of the state’s education system.
He was optimistic that the exercise would go a long way to spur students to work hard and refrain from examination malpractice.
On the current strike by the Academic Staff of the University, Amaechi said he would constitute a visitation panel to look into the affairs of the university with a view to tackling the issue of incessant strike by lecturers of the institution.
He said lecturers in the university earned attractive salaries compared to their counterparts in other state-owned universities, describing the strike as blackmail.
“Lecturers cannot continue to blackmail Rivers people annually with strike for the selfish reason of their pockets. When did you hear that the lecturers went on strike because of lack of equipment? Imagine a university of technology that has no engineering equipment”
He urged students of the university to be patient with the discomfort of the present situation as government was determined to tackle the issue once and for all.
The brand, tagged “The Taste of Rivers” was unveiled in a festive mood with fireworks, musical entertainment by top musicians, including P-square, Asu Ekiye and Duncan Mighty.
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