* Question Mark Over His UNN, NYSC Certificates Tendered For Ministerial Job
By Our Reporters (NewsLeader Public Interest Journalism Desk)
Nigeria's Science and Technology Minister, Chief Uche Geoffrey Nnaji, is in the news for seemingly wrong reasons!
The minister is alleged to be currently parading a degree certificate with which he became a minister of the federal republic of Nigeria, and which is believed to be a forged document probably procured from questionable sources.
Nnaji appeared to have lied to his country in his citation preceding his formal inauguration as minister, that he truly acquired the academic and youth service records which he presented to the Senate for his clearance as minister, last year.
Nnaji, an All Progressive Congress (APC) Chieftain in Enugu state and the governorship candidate of Nigeria's ruling party in the state in the 2023 general elections, tendered, during the last year's ministerial screening, a 1985 University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) academic certificate and a National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) discharge certificate dated May 15, 1986, which a painstaking investigation by this newspaper (NIGERIAN NEWSLEADER) revealed that those certificates may not have been issued to him by the authorities of the UNN and the NYSC.
In the course of establishing the authenticity of the minister's NYSC Certificate, this news medium, on Tuesday, October 24, 2023, wrote to the Director General of the National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) under the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act, seeking official verification and confirmation of the said NYSC record of the minister.
Copy of the Minister's alleged NYSC Certificate
But the Director General, in his response through a letter dated November 3, 2023 with reference number NYSC/CCD/VER/10/S.1/VOL.1/01 and signed on his behalf by the NYSC's Director of Certification, Mrs B.A Fasakin, replied that a relevant agency of government had "...earlier requested the NYSC to authenticate the Certificate of National Service belonging to Nnaji Geoffrey Uchechukwu. In response to that, the NYSC requested the above name to report to the Deputy Director Verification with his original Certificate of National Service for further verification".
NIGERIAN NEWSLEADER Newspaper also sought clarification from the authorities of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) on the authenticity of the alleged degree certificate belonging to the Science and Technology Minister, Chief Uche Geoffrey Nnaji.
In a courier letter to that effect to the UNN's Vice Chancellor dated Friday, October 27, 2023 and which was officially acknowledged on November 16, 2023 by one Mr B.O. Ugwu of the Vice Chancellor's Office, this newspaper specifically requested the UNN management to confirm that the said minister's degree certificate was actually issued in 1985 by the University, and that the minister, indeed, graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree from the Microbiology/Biochemistry Department of the institution. But three months after the letter was dispatched, the University was yet to respond to our request.
However, another official letter from this newspaper dated December 18, 2023 was addressed directly to the minister, Chief Uche Geoffrey Nnaji, asking him to clear the air on the "seeming contradictions" so far observed in both degree and NYSC Certificates which he presented to the Nigerian Senate during his ministerial screening exercise.
The NEWSLEADER letter which was despatched by DHL courier on December 20, 2023, was acknowledged on his behalf on December 21, 2023 at 5:27pm by one Amaka Chukwuka. The letter urged the minister, to, in the public interest and as a high ranking public officer, "avail us (newspaper) with the right information to establish the validity of the Certificates in question". But five weeks after, the minister has kept mute over the request letter.
Our investigation, however, proved that Chief Uche Nnaji may also, in the public interest, need to provide additional information on his primary school First School Leaving Certificate (FSLC) and West African Examination Certificate (WAEC) Certificates from both the Santa Maria Primary School, Enugu and St. Patricks College, Emene, Enugu, where he claimed to have passed out from. These basic school Certificates are apparently missing in the information details he filed with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as Enugu State APC governorship candidate while vying in the last general election.
In the list of governorship candidates for Enugu state for the 2023 national election which is in the INEC records as at the time of our investigation weeks ago and which was obtained in the course of this investigation, it was discovered that the Minister only filed the names of the above primary and secondary institutions which he claimed to have attended without stating clearly, like most other party candidates, as required by INEC in the academic "QUALIFICATIONS" section, that he was indeed issued with a FSLC and WAEC O'Level Certificates from those schools upon graduation.
He also did not state to INEC whether he obtained a General Certificate of Education (GCE) Ordinary or Advanced Levels. According to the INEC records, Uche Nnaji, who is 59 years-old, is number '277' in the list of the 2023 governorship candidates.
However, in the course of enquiry into the academic claims by the Science and Technology Minister, Chief Uche Geoffrey Nnaji at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) from where he claimed to have graduated, it was discovered that Nnaji's names were not in the record list of graduated students of year 1985, both in the Faculty of Bio-Medical Sciences and the Department of Microbiology and Biochemistry.
We could not successfully verify whether he was originally admitted in the above Medical Science department or in the Geography department of the Faculty of Physical Sciences as we had gathered because his names could not be found among the list of early entrants into the Geography department. This newspaper could also not establish any related surname to his name (Nnaji) during our period of enquiry. At the UNN, Nsukka Campus, the Microbiology department in question is directly opposite the institution's Engineering Faculty.
Further investigative checks at the University's Central Records Department, revealed that Chief Geoffrey Uchechukwu Nnaji, as his name was clearly stated in the academic graduating document which he tendered for the ministerial job, was conspicuously missing from the list of graduated students for the year 1985 which was approved by the Senate Committee of the UNN for convocation that period.
Copy of the Minister's 1985 degree Certificate allegedly issued by UNN.
The only related names to that of the minister found in the institution's convocation list that officially graduated, were names like: "Nnaji John Uchechukwu, 2002/118329", " Nnaji Victor Uchechukwu, 2012/182767" and "Nnajiofor Juliana Uchechukwu, 1999/96713", etc. Even among the official list of the alumni students of the UNN, Chief Geoffrey Uchechukwu Nnaji, Nigeria's Minister of Science and Technology, appears to have developed wings.
On further investigation, it was discovered that Nnaji's degree certificate allegedly obtained from the prestigious University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) located in the northern senatorial district of Enugu State, South East, Nigeria, was riddled with technical irregularities.
For instance, Nnaji's UNN graduating document which he tendered to the apex lawmakers did not state whether it was an official certificate or a statement of result. Also, the certificate number 004501 is curiously a six (6) digit number whereas another Certificate bearing 1984 academic year sighted by NIGERIAN NEWSLEADER Newspaper, contains a (7) digit number. The document states that Geoffrey Uchechukwu Nnaji satisfactorily completed his four year academic programme in "July 1985" and met the requirements as prescribed by the University but that the certificate was issued to him at "Nsukka, Nigeria this 14th day of December Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five".
The document bore signatures that were presented as the authentic autographs of those of the University's Vice Chancellor (Professor Chimere Ikoku) and the Registrar at the time. But from existing samples of degree certificates issued by the UNN authorities to other students within the period, there seem to be some slight variations or irregularities in the signatures of the then Vice Chancellor, particularly in that of the Registrar. But only a forensic analysis of the two signatures would confirm their veracity.
For the records, it is, perhaps, important to note, that Professor Chimere Ikoku of blessed memory succeeded Professor Frank Nwachukwu Ndili as UNN's Vice Chancellor in late October 1985. His tenure expired in 1992.
In the Minister's NYSC Certificate, there was a total inversion of his names and a spelling mix-up in his name "Geoffery" as contained in his UNN degree Certificate to the "Geoffrey" written in the NYSC Certificate. Also, while his UNN degree document bore 'Geoffery Uchechukwu Nnaji', his names in the NYSC Certificate were inscribed in the following order: "Nnaji Geoffrey Uchechukwu". Thus, raising the pertinent question whether it was not the same University that forwarded his names as contained in their records to the NYSC for the mandatory national youth service.
Another curious irregularity in the Minister's NYSC discharge Certificate tendered for ministerial screening which bears Certificate number: A231309 and NYSC candidate number: PL/UNN/85/0137 and dated May 15th, 1986, stated that Uche Geoffrey Nnaji satisfactorily completed his one year national service from 16th April, 1985 to May 15th, 1986. The NYSC's mobilization of Youth Corpers is usually for one year exact. This however raises the question as to whether Nnaji was mobilized for the youth service exercise before he actually graduated, that is in April 1985 before he graduated in July 1985. NNL.
