Guardian

SIR: It is surprising, a great embarrassment really that a set of graduates from a premier university in the country – University of Nigeria, Nsukka, specifically medical graduates of class of 2009, are yet to be issued their MBBS degree certificates after three years post-graduation.

It is alleged that it took the university three years to convocate these students in a ceremony held in January 2012. Despite the long wait before the university could officially graduate them, they were downcast when the vice-chancellor placed an embargo on issuing them certificates, setting up a committee to investigate irregularities in their first year results.

The official statement from the office of the vice-chancellor stated that some of the graduates in the class of 2009 did not pass their General Studies courses, which was a compulsory part of their first year curriculum. The investigative committee has sat for over one year without any oficial statement. No certificates have been issued to these doctors, and they live each day without proper certification.

This has cost these doctors opportunities to further their training both home and overseas. This is simply a case of punishing students for the inefficiency of the administrators. Questions are being raised: shouldn’t these investigations have been done before the doctors sat for their final MBBS examinations?

The image of UNN as a citadel of learning is being compromised. If urgent steps are not taken, the career advancement of these doctors will be stalled.

• Sebastine Ikeoha and Ebube Okorie,

UNN Class of 2009 Medical Doctors.