The centre director, Port Harcourt Study Centre, National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), Dr. Nnenna Nancy Chukwuma, has charged students of her centre to be wary of the activities of imposters who masquerade as personnel and/or agents of the university to lure undiscerning students and swindle them of their hard-earned resources in the name of giving them admission or solving one issue or another for them.
Chukwuma gave the charge during the students’ forum organised for students of the centre immediately after the end of the 24th Matriculation Ceremony of the university on Tuesday, April 18, 2023 at the main auditorium of the centre in Port Harcourt.
The centre director cited instances in which hapless students were lied to by operators of the numerous business support centres around the study centre vicinity, that the centre director has been on leave, and has given those imposters the permission to resolve sundry issues for the inquirers, when actually she has been available in the office.
Such encounters, she said, has always ended with the inquirers licking their wounds of regrets after they have been either swindled or plunged into irresolvable complications.
Chukwuma also admonished the students, especially the freshmen, to endeavour to attempt their Tutor-Marked Asignments (TMAs) themselves instead of contracting the exercise out to vendors. “The reason some of you, especially the freshmen among you, find your first exams (the e-Exams) difficult, is because you don’t do your TMAs yourselves. If you do your TMAs yourselves, you will gain experience and find the e-Exams easy when the time for such comes,” she said.
She also counseled the students to familiarise themselves with their virtual learning environments (VLEs) to enable them resolve simple academic issues through online fora and facilitation platforms.
Various unit heads and desk officers also took turns to make presentations to the students at the event.
Questions were also answered during the questions and answers session.