A wave of pain, frustration and quiet desperation is sweeping through Enugu State Polytechnic, Iwollo (ESPOLY), as concerned ESPOLY Students cry out over the prolonged failure of the institution’s management to secure accreditation for most of its academic programmes, an omission that has trapped thousands of graduates in uncertainty and stalled their mobilisation for the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).
For many students, graduation has become a hollow victory. Certificates are issued, celebrations fade, yet the next defining chapter of their lives remains cruelly out of reach. Year after year, graduates of ESPOLY except those from the Department of Agricultural Extension and Management have been denied NYSC mobilisation because their programmes are yet to be accredited. Out of more than twelve academic programmes offered by the institution, only one currently enjoys clearance, leaving the majority stranded.
Late last year, students formally raised alarm over the growing backlog of graduates unable to proceed for NYSC. Management, according to students, attributed the delay to unresolved accreditation processes. Since then, hope has steadily turned into anguish as no visible progress has been made, and promises have dissolved into silence.
Behind every affected graduate is a story of sacrifice: parents who sold property, traders who saved for years, farmers who toiled through harsh seasons, all believing education would open doors for their children. Instead, families now watch helplessly as their wards remain stuck at home, certificates in hand, futures on hold, dignity eroding by the day.
Education without accreditation is exploitation. Graduation without NYSC mobilisation is an unfinished journey.
These are not mere slogans; they are the lived reality of young people whose dreams are being deferred by administrative failure.
Repeated appeals by students and the Student Union Government have yielded no concrete results. The absence of transparency and the lack of urgency from the institution’s leadership have deepened mistrust and despair. Many students now question how long they are expected to wait, and whether their years of study will ever translate into opportunity.
Concerned ESPOLY Students insist that the issue has gone beyond internal excuses and requires urgent external intervention. They are calling on the Enugu State Government to step in decisively, investigate the persistent accreditation failures, and rescue the future of students whose lives are being quietly derailed.
Students say they are exhausted emotionally and mentally by delays, shifting explanations and unfulfilled assurances. They warn that leadership which cannot protect the academic and professional future of its students has failed its core mandate.
Their demands are simple and heartfelt: urgent completion of all accreditation processes, equal treatment of all departments, immediate mobilisation of eligible graduates for NYSC, and full accountability from the management of the institution.
Above all, the cry from ESPOLY is a human one not political, not confrontational, but desperate: “We want to serve our country. We want to move forward with our lives. We want our future back.”
Concerned ESPOLY Students, Enugu State Polytechnic, Iwollo.
