Emmanuel Ukudolo I Sunday, Jan 17.26
ABEOKUTA, Ogun – The National Teachers Institute, (NTI), Kaduna seems to have lost its relevance and has evolved into an instrument of frustrations for many students who have passed through the degree programme offered by the school in conjunction with the National Open University, NOU, our investigation has revealed.
This is because students who have passed through the degree programme run by NTI in conjunction with the NOU are yet to be issued statement of results five years after completion of the programme.
Our investigation at Allover Polytechnic, Ota, Ogun State, one of the centres used by NTI for degree programme in Ogun State showed that students who have passed through the programme are in a pathetic and very discouraging state. All the students who passed out in 2001 are yet to be issued their statement of results not to talk of certificates, five years after completing the programme.
All they received from NTI is “To Whom It May Concern”, nothing else. All efforts made by students to obtain their results and certificates have proved abortive.
Pushed into a very desperate situation, most of the students are now forced to make payment to dubious officials for provisional results, which they are unable to obtain from NTI even after such payments.
A student, who passed through the degree programme at the centre in Allover Polytechnic who spoke to us on condition of anonymity, described the situation as sad and very discouraging adding that she has been unable to use the degree five years after passing out.
Our checks at NTI Abeokuta confirmed the difficult situation facing students in the degree cadre. A source who spoke to us laid the problem at the feet of NTI in Kaduna. NTI, we were told has refused to send in the results for distribution to the students.
We gathered that the lacuna has been created because the university involved is yet to formally release the results after marking, making it impossible for NTI to meet the needs of the suffering students.
We gathered that the problem is further compounded by lackadaisical attitude of officials at the NTI headquarters in Kaduna when it comes to attending to the needs of students coupled with the perception and usefulness of certificates in the northern part of Nigeria against the dependence on certificates in other part of Nigeria.
To further balance the story, we got in touch with NTI Kaduna for the second time through the official WhatsApp channel (09166504342) and the response they gave was as usual.
After raising our queries, the official at NTI asked for my names and the following were the reply to this query: “Pls I want to find out why my sister who graduated from the degree programme in 2021 cannot get her statement of result and certificate five years after graduation.
“She was admitted into the Degree programme in the Department of English. She did the NTI degree programme at the centre in Allover Polytechnic In Ota, Ogun State”
The reply we got from NTI, Kaduna is as follows: “”She is to follow up with her centre manager or go to the state office regarding her certificate.
We probed further: “She was there (Abeokuta) but was told that neither certificate nor statement of result is ready because NTI Kaduna has not sent it.
The NTI official followed up with the question: But did she apply for it?
