By Shereefdeen Sawe
The PEN PRESS outfit published a report on Friday evening that the management of Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto has started distributing matriculation gowns to freshers for ‘free’.
The report was titled ‘ Excitement as UDUS Management Distributes ‘ Free’ Matriculation Gowns to New Students.’
The Claim
The report claimed that the management of Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto has commenced the distribution of matriculation gowns to new students at the office of the Dean Students’ Affairs on Friday,17th December 2021 ahead of their scheduled matriculation ceremony on Monday, 20th December 2021.
The report also claimed that the Caretaker Committee for Students’ Union has released a circular on 16th November 2021, that each student is to visit the Dean Students’ Affairs to collect the matriculation gowns for free.
Part of the statement of the circular as quoted by the PEN PRESS goes thus: “All students are asked to submit a copy of their original confirmation letter to have access to the free matriculation gown”.
Verification
The News Digest Press has gathered that in UDUS tuition fees scheduled for the 2020/2021 academic session for new students, there is a fee item named ‘Rent of Academic Gown’ with a price of N1,000 ( One Thousand Naira).
Matriculation gown could also be called ‘Academic Gown’, in other words, the N1,000 is for the matriculation gown.
In a telephone interview with the chairman of the Students’ Union Caretaker Committee, Mohammed Shamsudden Umar, denied any circular released from his office on ’16 November 2021′ as claimed by the report.
However, he said the circular was released on ’16th December’ not November.
And what the circular meant was that the students ‘should not pay’ while collecting the gown. Not that it’s for ‘ free’.
Verdict
The claim of the report by the PEN PRESS outfit that the management of Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto has started distributing matriculation gowns to the new students for ‘free’ is false and misleading as it was already included in their registration fee.