UI Sets Fresh Rules, Penalties For Uncollected Certificates
The University of Ibadan has announced that certificates left uncollected for more than 10 years will be shredded, part of a set of new rules that also introduce graduated penalties for graduates who delay picking up their academic documents.
The guidelines were contained in a special bulletin dated 15 September 2026 and signed by the university’s Registrar, Ganiyu Saliu. The document sets out timelines and fees for collecting both Statements of Result and certificates.
Under the new arrangement, the university said graduates must collect their Statements of Result within six months of being notified that the documents are ready. Those who fail to do so within that window will pay a non collection penalty of N2,500, which must be settled before the document is released.
The university explained that a Statement of Result would remain valid for two years from its date of issuance and would serve as an interim record pending collection of the certificate. It described the certificate itself as the institution’s official and permanent evidence of graduation and qualification.
According to the guidelines, graduates are expected to collect their certificates within the two year validity period of their Statements of Result. The university said certificates would be available from the date of convocation until one year afterwards, with a statutory fee of N7,500 for issuance and collection during that first year.
Beyond that initial period, the penalties rise in bands. The university said certificates collected after one year but within five years would attract a N25,000 penalty. Those collected after five years but within 10 years would attract N50,000.
The university warned that certificates remaining uncollected beyond 10 years would be liable to shredding. It clarified that the non collection penalties were separate from the N7,500 statutory issuance and collection fee.
The institution advised graduates and other stakeholders to take note of the guidelines and comply with the requirements.
The policy speaks to a long standing administrative problem in Nigerian universities, where large numbers of graduates never return to collect their certificates. Institutions have periodically complained about the cost and space taken up by storing unclaimed documents for years, sometimes decades, after convocation.
For graduates, the practical effect of the new rules is that the cost of delay now climbs steadily the longer a certificate sits uncollected, from N7,500 within the first year to N50,000 in the five to ten year band, before the risk of losing the document entirely. The university has not stated whether a shredded certificate can be reissued, or under what conditions, and that point is not addressed in the bulletin as published.
It is also not clear from the bulletin whether the rules apply retroactively to certificates already sitting uncollected, or only to graduates from the point the guidelines take effect. The university did not specify a commencement date beyond the bulletin’s issuance on 15 September.
The University of Ibadan is Nigeria’s oldest university, established in 1948, and remains one of the country’s most prominent institutions. Changes to its administrative procedures often draw attention because other universities tend to watch how the older institutions handle such matters.
For now, the confirmed position is straightforward. The university has set collection windows, attached rising fees to late collection, and reserved the right to destroy certificates left unclaimed beyond a decade. What remains unstated is how the shredding provision will be enforced in practice, and whether affected graduates will have any route to recover a destroyed document.