OPEN LETTER TO THE GOVERNMENT OF ENUGU STATE BY CONCERNED GRADUATES OF ESUT
The Enugu State Government House,
His Excellency Rt. Hon. Dr. Lawrence Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Gburugburu),
The Executive Governor of Enugu State.
15th July, 2020.
Your Excellency Sir,

RE: A CALL FOR URGENT INTERVENTION ON WHAT WE CHOOSE TO REFER TO AS “LEGALISED EXTORTION” GOING ON IN OUR SCHOOLS,

We humbly ask for your permission to make this an open letter and to start by asking “is Enugu education also in the hands of God?. Your Excellency this question is provoked by recent decision by the governing council of Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT).

Your Excellency, the management of the above mentioned institution recently released a memo dated the 8th July, 2020, Titled: Collection of Unclaimed ESUT Certificates, which was signed by the Ag. Registrar, Barr. T .M Ikpenwa, directing all graduates of the institution to come forward and claim their original certificates. The memo further stated that failure to comply with this directive one month after the date of the publication would attract a penalty of N10,000. Your Excellency it is pertinent to note that the collection of these certificates is not free when on the contrary it is supposed to be. Infact as it is contained in the institutions’ online payment website (esutportal) it would cost each affected individual not less than N40,000 to go through the process of collection.

Your Excellency sir, as the unemployment rate in Nigeria continues to rise, Enugu state is not left behind so it is in our opinion that the least our institutions of higher learning would do is to compound the problems of teeming unemployed graduates roaming about the street especially at the wake of this difficult times brought on the Global community by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Your Excellency sir, while we acknowledge the fact that this sort of payments is not peculiar to our dear school ESUT as it is already a tradition in most Nigerian schools, we are moved to question why such tradition should be allowed to continue in Enugu state controlled institutions especially ESUT. Sir it is bad enough to demand that graduates who are mostly unemployed pay even a kobo to collect a certificate they studied so hard and paid so dearly to acquire, but giving them time frame to do so in this difficult times failure which would attract additional payment is to say the least preposterous.

We therefore humbly plead that you use your good office to prevail on the university council to overturn that decision and as well put an end to this legalized extortion and mindless tradition. We have no doubt in our hearts that as an empathetic, considerate, people oriented and peace loving Governor who have demonstrated great concerns on the affairs of the State's citizens, you will address the issue urgently.
Long Live Your Excellency,
Long live Enugu State
Enugu state is in the hands of God.
From concerned graduates of ESUT.

Enugu State University of Technology is a corrupt institution and the Governor of Enugu State is a fantastically corrupt man if he fails to wind their corruption down.