set to graduate 13,242 students this week

The Management of Rivers State University (RSU) has decried attacks on its students living at the Emuoha campus on the outskirts of Port Harcourt City, Local Government Area (LGA) of Rivers State, where the main institution is located.

The Vice Chancellor of Rivers State University, Prof. Isaac Zeb-Opibi, condemned the recent robbery attacks on its students living at the said campus.

Some students of the institution last week staged a protest over alleged incessant attacks by miscreants and harassment by locals in the community, saying they were no longer safe, and called on the school management to relocate them to the main campus.

The students also took their protest to the Emuoha Local Government Council to register their grievances, lamenting that some of them have lost valuables and personal belongings to the miscreants who invade their residence.

However, the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Isaac Zeb-Opibi, who spoke on Monday ahead of the university’s 37th and 38th combined convocation, said the satellite campuses in Emuoha, Etche, Ahoada, and Sakpenwa, all in the state, were established with good intentions by the Rivers State Government.

He said the institution will not shut its satellite campuses because of the activities of some criminal elements in communities where students live.

Zeb-Opibi, however, faulted the protesting students’ call to relocate them from the campuses.

He stated, “When this attack happened, the Governing Council and the university management met with the traditional ruler of the community. He made some promises. But after that, there was another attack on our students. So we have planned a town hall meeting with the king, chiefs, security agencies, and others to see how the problem can be addressed.

“And because the facilities are not enough to accommodate all the students on the campus, we are discussing with those who are landlords to the building our students occupy. So they are also expected to attend that meeting.

“We are sure with this commitment from the community, from the governing council of the university and management, the situation will be addressed, and our students and staff will be comfortable staying there.”

The VC added, “Therefore we are not in a hurry to relocate our students from Emuoha to this campus because those campuses were created with the consent of the state government. So this university indeed cannot shut down those campuses without the permission of the state government,” he stated.

Zeb-Opibi said while the host communities of Ahoada and Etche have been very supportive, “Some elements in Emuoha seek to bring an otherwise appreciative community to disrepute by constantly attacking, harassing, and robbing our students,” even as he expressed optimism that the town hall meeting would yield positive results.

Highlighting the lineup of activities for the convocation, the VC said the institution will graduate a total of 13,242 students, saying it coincides with the 55th anniversary of the university.

The VC stated, “It has two sets of students convoking, the 2023/2024 and 2024/2025 sets; hence, it is a combined convocation. We are graduating a total of 13,242 students at this convocation ceremony.”

He explained that for first degrees, 10,628 students will be graduating, while a total of 2,594 will bag graduate degrees at the combined convocation, among others.

Prof. Zeb-Opibi said the university was unable to give the accurate statistics of the graduating students because of those still trying to sort out their course registration problems.

“We are hopeful that on the day of the convocation, the statistics as to how many are first class, how many are second class upper, second class lower, and others will be made available.”