An investigative report by Premium Times has punctured claims by the Minister of State for Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu about his university degree awarded by the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN).
The minister has made several public claims that he graduated from the institution with a first class honours, a claim that’s repeated on his official biography page on the website of the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources and his Wikipedia page.
“Dr. Ibe Kachikwu is a distinction graduate of Law from the University of Nigeria Nsukka and Nigerian Law School. He bagged First Class degree in Law and was best graduand and multiple awards winner from both Institutions,” his profile read.
According to the report, during the 17th anniversary celebrations of the Commonwealth Of Zion Assembly (COZA) held at the church headquarters in Abuja two years ago, Kachikwu, was among dignitaries who addressed the congregation.
In a seven minutes 24 seconds video published on YouTube on February 17, 2016 by COZA GLOBAL, Kachikwu, dressed, in a navy blue ‘senator attire’, said: “The heat in this place can either make you or burn you, this is a hot zone. Congrats COZA!”
“It is amazing the sort of revolution that takes place outside the civil service; public service; and the outer space.
“A lot of revolution goes on in houses like this and sometimes all of us who are in government need to find time to come out and spend time with you and get encouraged by the burst of energy that you see…”
While speaking on fate and destiny, Kachikwu took the congregation on a journey of his life, highlighting his educational achievements.
“…I went to Ife (Obafemi Awolowo University) to try and read medicine and I was there for two weeks and then I got admission to read law. My Father drove all the way to Ife to meet me and he asked, why do you want to go to the University?
“And I said, my ambition is to be a doctor and he said, why are you taking the line of what he called least resistance? And I said, what do you mean by that and he said, well, if you want to be a doctor why don’t you just go and read PHD, get to the very top…
“My dad was talking to a little boy and that got me. So, I packed my bag, left the school of medicine and went to read law.
“And, I got in there, got a scholarship and became the best student, I had a first class in that institution (UNN).
“And then, I left from there to the law school and in the law school, I think just like the pastor said: people encourage you. All my colleagues came and said, we are all here representing our institutions, if you brought a first class from Nsukka you better make it work here where everybody is gathered…”
The minister went ahead to list other institutions he attended and the honours he bagged.
However, details in his CV show the contrary. In his CV, the minister said he enrolled into the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, in 1974.
He later received a bachelor of law after a four-year sojourn.
A copy of the his result signed by the university’s vice-chancellor and registrar at the time, showed that Kachikwu left UNN in June 1978 with a second class upper degree.
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