SaharaReporters earlier reported how the graduates accused the school management of trying to ruin the future as there was no reason given for the delay after nine months of graduation.
Former students of the Adeyemi College of Education, Ondo State, who graduated in February 2023 on Monday protested over a prolonged delay by the school management to mobilise them for the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).
In a video sent to SaharaReporters, the aggrieved students were seen protesting at major streets in Ondo State and carrying different placards to express their displeasure over the manner in which the school authorities were handling their matter.
“Mama thought we scammed her,” one of the placards read.
The Adeyemi College of Education is a federal government higher education institution located in Ondo City, Ondo State, Nigeria. It is affiliated with Obafemi Awolowo University for its degree programmes.
One of the affected students said, “We postponed our protest that was supposed to hold last week to 27th of November 2023, due to the fact that management communicated with us through the college P.R.O when they saw our report from SaharaReporters.”
“But till now that I'm speaking to you, we haven't seen any sign of seriousness on our demands and that is why we are staging a peaceful protest to press home our demands.”
SaharaReporters earlier reported how the graduates accused the school management of trying to ruin the future as there was no reason given for the delay after nine months of graduation.
The aggrieved had students told SaharaReporters that the students who graduated from the College in February would shut down the institution on Monday (today) if the management failed to provide a concrete reason for the unjustified delay.
One of the aggrieved graduates who spoke to SaharaReporters had said: "I’m a graduate of Adeyemi College of Education. Graduates of that school have been having issues for the past nine months now. We graduated in February this year and that is almost nine months now.
"Since then, the management of our school has been very lazy, showing a nonchalant attitude towards our mobilisation for the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).
"So, till now we haven't seen our graduating list. We haven't been doing any clearance let alone mobilise for NYSC and it is almost nine months.”
When contacted on the telephone, the Public Relations Officer of the school, Oluseto Olatuyi Abidemi, had said that the College was not delaying the students.
The spokesperson said, “These graduands are not our students per se; they are students from Ife (OAU) in affiliation to Ife. We are moderating their degree students and their result is taken to Ife for moderation.
“Once they are cleared from Ife, it would be sent back to us for mobilization; that is the process and the process. We can't force it because we are not totally in control.
"If someone is saying he should be mobilised in 2022, if we take their results to Ife and it has not been moderated by Ife, they have to wait; it is a process."
On the issue of clearance, she said, "Once they're cleared, once Ife says these students are cleared, we will start the clearance within the system. They will go to the health centre, they will go to the library, they will go to their department and nobody in this school can say these students will not be cleared.
“They are being cleared by different points. If they come to my office for clearance, I will clear them."