Nigerian Senator Caught In Certificate Scandal
INVESTIGATION:
A Nigerian lawmaker, Foster Ogola, has taken his spot on the infamous list of prominent Nigerians with certificate scandals attached to their names.
A few weeks ago, a confidential report was made using the Leaks.NG platform hinting that the senator, currently representing Bayelsa West senatorial district, has fake credentials from an unaccredited university in Nigeria.
“Sen. Foster Ogola has a fake PhD. His official profile on the NASS Website says he has a PhD from GMF Christian University. There is no official site for the university and it is not accredited by the NUC. There is also no research paper or thesis to his name online. Although he got the degree in 2012,” the report alerted.
On his official National Assembly profile, the senator is credited with having a PhD in Christian Leadership from the GMF Christian University Lagos, the same course he reportedly has an MSc. in from the Imo State University, Owerri.
Upon enquiry by the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR), it was revealed that the federal government has not licenced the GMF Christian University, Lagos, where Mr Ogola claims to have earned his PhD from in 2012.
NUC reacts
The Director of Corporate Communications of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Ibrahim Yakasai, was contacted on the validity of the institution.
“We have never heard of that name,” he said.
A copy of the commission’s weekly bulletin provided by Mr Yakasai showed a list of 57 illegal universities operating in the country; GMF Christian University was not among, buttressing the fact that the commission is even not aware of its existence.
The director also said that since 1999, the NUC has approved 74 private universities in the country and ‘’any certificate obtained from the GMF Christian University or any other degree mill will not be recognised by their authority.”
Other discoveries made by Leaks.NG coalition informed that the GMF Christian University still has no website offering information on the institution or its courses and there is no information on the Christian Leadership course the embattled senator purports to have a PhD in.
PREMIUM TIMES reached out to Mr Ogola, who is the Vice Chairman of the Senate Committee on Information Communication Technology and Cybercrime, to speak on the allegations levelled against him including attending an illegal university and obtaining a fake certificate.
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Source: Premium Times
