Students React As Danfodiyo Varsity Prepares to Award Students’ Performance

As a way of improving students’ academic performance, the management of Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, released a memorandum last week declaring the university’s intentions to award outstanding undergraduate students annually.

According to the memorandum signed by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), Prof. Lawali Abubakar, management explained that the university wishes to utilise this as a method of “institutionalising an annual undergraduate student excellence award.”

The recipients shall: “[Receive] a scholarship equivalent to the registration fees for the student’s program at the beginning of next academic session; A letter indicating that he/she was the best student in the previous academic session. [Attend] a cocktail party organised by the Vice-Chancellor, with one friend of his choice, a parent or guardian, the Head of Department, and the Dean of Faculty; Publishing the names of the students in the University Bulletin,” the memorandum discloses.

To qualify for the scholarship, the memorandum directed all Faculty Deans to submit the names of best students in their faculty – who have nothing less than 4.50 CGPA on the five-point scale.

Reacting to this new development, Mikail Rodiyah, a 200-level student of Law expressed satisfaction, noting that the scholarship would go a long way in incentivising students to perform better and serve as a reward for their hard work.

She said: “It is a very cool development. It will encourage the students to perform very well in their study and the scholarship is a prize for their hard-earned grades.”

Lawal Maryam, a student from the Faculty of Agriculture who also spoke with this reporter, described the management’s plan as a nice development. She was, however, dissatisfied with the criteria and described it as “strict” qualifications which, according to her, may hinder the chance of many students from some departments in the university.

“Actually, it is a nice development. But I’m personally not pleased with the requirements. It is too strict. What will happen if there is no one in 4.5 from a faculty? This may, in fact, impede some departments from enjoying this opportunity. The qualification should purely be for best students in every department irrespective of their CGPA,” opined Maryam.