Ibadan Varsity Matriculates 4,261 Students For 2020/21 Academic Session In 2022, Under The Shadows Of ASUU Strike
The Oasis Reporters
February 16, 2022
4,261 Students matriculate, 6.7% of the
60,000 UTME candidates that chose UI
‘Ye matriculants are champions in your own right‘
Nigeria’s premier institution, University of Ibadan in the country’s South West held it’s matriculation ceremony February 15, 2022 for an event that ought to have taken place in 2020 if Covid-19 inspired shut-down of schools and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike hadn’t happened.
Thus, the University had a spillover into 2022, the primary reason it was missing in the admission examination and processes for 2021.
60,000 UTME candidates had chosen University of Ibadan as their preferred academic citadel of learning, while 12,798 qualified to sit for the second examination filter tagged Post-UTME.
In the end, only 4,261 were offered admission, a 6.7% of the candidates that initially applied.
Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU had called for a warning strike, but strike weary lecturers proceeded to get on with the job as relief for young and impressionable students who had been cooling their heels at home for two years in idleness.
The ceremony was mainly driven virtually via Zoom (another new and preferred mode of teaching and learning that Covid-19 has spawned on an unhappy world).
See the notice parents got on WhatsApp:
“University of Ibadan LMSzoom5 is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/93331370245?pwd=aGFnZ1BTcjh0aW1SKy93K0kvUGZQQT09
Meeting ID: 933 3137 0245
Passcode: 586318″
The ceremony kicked off at 10.00 am Nigerian time and clocked off exactly one hour later with full observations of Covid-19 protocols.
The entire premises of 2nd Gate International Conference Center (ICC) was full with gaily dressed parents and relatives of matriculants who arrived with different colours of drinks and food containers to entertain guests and party as well all in keeping with the merriment aspect of sweet Ibadan life.
Parents had come from all over the country to rejoice with the matriculants, especially those, like Ibadan born but Yenagoa resident ‘mummy Ebi’ whose son was offered admission into the University.
“My husband and I are indeed happy that frustration did not push us to seek placement for my son in the prohibitive private Universities. University of Ibadan is world class with a 74 year old history. We are glad to be here”, she told The Oasis Reporters correspondent on the beat.
Meanwhile, lectures are ongoing physically and online, as it seems the University is casting glances at ASUU, hoping for some understanding just as pleas are going out to the Nigerian federal government to accede to the requests of Universities staff. No nation can prosper if it ignores the proper education of it’s youths.
Greg Abolo
@gregabolo
gregabolo@gmail.com
