Authorities of the University of Cross River State, UNICROSS, have confirmed the unavailability of the university’s academic records in digital format for students who attended the institution before 2017.
The officials confirmed that a significant portion of the institution’s academic history was in limbo, following challenges arising from a failed migration between result management systems which have left thousands of alumni records inaccessible.
Speaking at a press conference held on Tuesday at the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, Press Centre in Calabar, the Director of Exams and Results, Dr. Anderson Etika, explained that the transition from the university’s former portal to a new digital platform resulted in a large-scale data migration breakdown.
According to him, while results from the 2017/2018 academic session through the 2022/2023 session have now been successfully uploaded to the new system, records dating back to the institution’s early years up to 2016 remain unavailable in digital format.
“We have been able to migrate results from the 2017 academic session to the 2023 session. But we are dealing with data running into over five million entries. Our immediate priority was to ensure that students who needed to graduate were not held back,” he said.
When asked by journalists to provide a timeline for restoring the missing pre-2017 records, Etika offered no specific deadline, stating that the recovery effort would resume once current operational challenges had been resolved.
“Once we are settled with the pressing issues before us, we will have the time and capacity to bring back the entire result archive,” he said.
The data gap affects all students who studied at the institution before 2017, covering more than 15 years of academic activity since its establishment as the Cross River State Polytechnic in 2002, prior to its elevation to university status.
The disclosure has raised concerns about systemic weaknesses in digital record management at the institution.
During the briefing, journalists questioned how an institution expected to drive academic excellence could struggle to safeguard its own academic data.
Responding, Etika noted that the decision to change the software system predated the current university leadership, adding that UNICROSS, as a state-owned institution, operates within directives issued by government authorities.
According to reports, the situation has had tangible consequences for alumni seeking transcripts for employment, professional certification, or further studies, as well as for former students with unresolved academic records.
While students from 2017 onward now enjoy real-time access to their results under the new system, earlier cohorts remain uncertain about when their records will be restored.
Also speaking, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Academic, Prof. Stella Maris-Okey, who represented the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Francisca Bassey, appealed for patience and understanding from the public.
She noted that the current management team has been in office for only six months and is working to stabilize the system.
“We are here to clear the air and address the concerns being raised. The university leadership is fully on top of the matter,” she said.
Maris-Okey acknowledged the volume of complaints circulating on social media over delayed results and graduations, describing the ongoing efforts as part of a broader institutional cleanup aimed at restoring confidence in UNICROSS’s academic processes.
