UI Unveils New Certificate Collection Rules, Warns of Shredding After 10 Years

The University of Ibadan (UI) has introduced new guidelines governing the collection of Statements of Result and certificates by its graduates, including a structured penalty system for delayed collection and a provision for shredding certificates left unclaimed for more than a decade.

The guidelines were contained in a special bulletin dated September 15, 2026, signed by the university's Registrar, Mr Ganiyu Saliu, setting out clear timelines and financial penalties governing how and when graduates must retrieve their academic documents from the institution.

Under the new rules, graduates are required to collect their Statements of Result within six months of being formally notified that the documents are ready for collection. According to the university, graduates who fail to do so within that stipulated period will be required to pay a ₦2,500 non-collection penalty before the document can be released to them.

The institution explained that Statements of Result will remain valid for two years from their respective dates of issuance, during which time they will serve as interim evidence of graduation pending the eventual collection of the graduate's full certificate. Graduates are expected to collect their certificates within this validity window covered by their Statements of Result.

On certificates specifically, UI clarified that these documents will be made available for collection starting from the date of convocation and running for one year afterward. During this initial one-year period, graduates will be required to pay a ₦7,500 statutory fee covering the issuance and collection of their certificates, a standard charge applicable regardless of how promptly the graduate collects the document within that window.

However, the university warned that certificates collected after the initial one-year period will attract additional non-collection penalties, on top of the standard statutory fee. According to the new guidelines, graduates collecting their certificates after one year but within five years of convocation will be required to pay a ₦25,000 penalty. Those who delay further, collecting their certificates after five years but within 10 years, will face a steeper ₦50,000 penalty. The university stressed that these escalating penalties are entirely separate from, and in addition to, the standard ₦7,500 statutory certificate issuance and collection fee.

In perhaps the most consequential aspect of the new policy, the university warned that certificates remaining uncollected for more than 10 years will be liable to shredding, effectively destroying the physical document altogether. UI advised graduates and other relevant stakeholders to take careful note of the new guidelines and ensure compliance with the stipulated timelines and requirements to avoid losing access to their certificates entirely.

The university also used the bulletin to reiterate the distinct legal and practical status of the two documents involved in this process. While Statements of Result serve only as interim records of a graduate's academic standing, certificates remain the institution's official and permanent evidence of graduation and qualification, the document typically required for employment verification, further academic admission, and other formal purposes throughout a graduate's career.

The new certificate collection framework adds to a series of recent administrative and academic developments at the University of Ibadan, one of Nigeria's oldest and most prestigious tertiary institutions, which has separately been recognised as the country's highest-ranked university in recent global rankings. For thousands of UI graduates across multiple cohorts, some of whom may have certificates sitting uncollected from years or even decades past, the new penalty structure and shredding provision introduce a fresh urgency to retrieving these documents before they become permanently inaccessible, or considerably more expensive to reclaim the longer they remain uncollected.