Years After Graduation, UNN Doctors Still Denied Professional Certificates By Their Institution

Years after graduating from the College of Medicine of the University of Nigeria, the 2008/2009 batch of doctors can hardly call themselves doctors, as the University has inexplicably refused to issue certificates to certify the completion of their training.

Dr. Ijeomah Augustine, the group’s spokesperson who spoke to SaharaReporters about their efforts to seek redress, underlined growing confusion about the university’s decision to treat them so poorly.

According to him, the only tangible reason put forward is by the university is that there were some discrepancies in the first year results of some of the graduates, noting that after they had completed their programme, it took almost two years for the University Senate to certify them for convocation.
Their names were subsequently published their names in the 2012 convocation brochure.  He explained that when the expectant students showed up at the convocation, they were denied their certificates without any explanation.  Dr. Ijeomah said they later got information that after the convocation in January 2012, the Vice Chancellor stopped signing certificates for that particular class, citing ‘irregularities’ in the first year results of some members of the class.

“What is confusing about this excuse is that a verification process for these first year results is done before [medical students] take every MBBS examination. Secondly, if their excuse is related to the first year, are they saying that every member of the class has such issues?” he quizzed.
Asking why the institution would be holding everybody to ransom, Dr. Ijeomah pointed out that every set following theirs has been issued their certificates.

The group is further disappointed that even though a committee was set up to look into this issue after a lot of protest, they have still not seen much from the said committee one year after its inauguration. They complained that irregular committee sittings, coupled with the lackadaisical attitude of its members towards the issue, raises the fear that nothing is going to come out of its work and that it is time for them to move to the next level with their pleas and protests.

Ijeomah expressed sadness about how the situation is affecting an entire batch of doctors most of whom have no blemish on their academic records, stressing how much each of them is losing because they do not possess their certiticates.

“Doctors who desire to do further training have had their applications thrown out as a result of this issue,” he said.  “Those who wanted to go for masters programs have suffered [the] same fate. The story of those that applied for various scholarships is not different from the aforementioned. This stems from the fact that they find it absurd that a doctor would not have [a]certificate after more than three years of graduation.”

He added that certain medical jobs in Nigeria, especially the non-governmental health sector, require certificates and not just medical licences, and this has automatically excluded them from applying for such positions.   In addition, the permanent licence certification by the Nigerian Medical and Dental Council (MDCN) cannot be obtained without a degree certificate, as a result of which these graduates have been reduced to exhibiting licence payment receipts as proof of permanent registration.

He urged the university and all concerned to desist from the nonchalant attitude they have adopted towards the issue. He further charged the Exams and Records Department of the school to look up the results of the class and bring an end to the matter.