NDU orders all Final-Year Students Back to School for Project Defense

There is an uproar in Niger Delta University (NDU), Bayelsa, as the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Samuel Gowon Edoumiekumo, orders over 3,000 students to leave their Christmas and New Year break and come for their defense.

According to a report, most of the affected final-year students were finding it difficult to comply due to the distance of their houses from the school.

The report went further to reveal that stakeholders made up of traditional rulers, parents and sponsors of students at the Niger Delta University (NDU) have sent a Save-Our Soul message to the state governor, Senator Douye Diri to intervene and prevail on the Vice-Chancellor to rescind his directive.

The letter reads:

“We call on the state governor to prevail on Professor Samuel Gowon Edoumiekumo to rescind his order and for common sense to prevail over his spontaneous directive that all final-year students and lecturers must return to the university to commence their project defence on Wednesday, 29th December 2021.

“We, as peace-loving stakeholders in the institution, are calling on the Governor to use his good office and the Spirit of Christmas which is celebrated around the world to prevail on Prof. Gowon to immediately withdraw his spontaneous directive and allow the students and lecturers to spend the holiday seasons with their families until early January 2022 when universities across the country will resume.

“The Christmas Spirit and season is a time of love, giving, family unification, and much more which has been celebrated for centuries. People around the world travel to unite and spend time with their family members during the Christmas Holiday Season. Therefore, to spontaneously demand that students and lecturers return to school in the midst of the holiday season to commence their studies is unconscionable and unchristian-like.

“Across the country and globally, schools are closed for the Christmas Season and are expected to resume in early January 2022. It is no secret that Nigerian roads are unsafe during the Christmas season. Many families do not even have the financial resources to transport their children back to school within this holiday season as they have made such plans for January 2022. We are calling on the Governor of Bayelsa State, His Excellency, Senator Douye Diri to urgently come to our aid.”

However, a senior lecturer of the school who spoke on condition of anonymity argued that the Vice Chancellor’s intention was good and in order.

In his words: “What we are trying to do is to ensure that the institution meets up with its calendar year and to ensure that the final-year students meet up with the service year.”

https://siggy.ng/ndu-orders-all-final-year-students-back-to-school-for-project-defense/