UNIPORT Confirms: Mr Jonathan A Fake Doc! Has No PhD

UNIPORT Hides Details Of
President Jonathan’s ‘Doctorate
Degree’
by Ben Ezemalu
In a response to the Institute of Human
Rights and Humanitarian Law, a Rivers
State-based civil society organization,
the university said a request for
President Jonathan’s academic records
did not fall within the provisions of the
FOI law. “The Management of the
University has carefully considered
your request vis-a-vis the FOI Act,” the
university stated in their letter dated
26th February, 2015, and signed by
Eric Loveday Osuo Abonemi, the
institution’s Legal Officer.
“It is my instructions to inform you
that your request does not come within
the relevant provisions of the FOI Act
for its practicability or for the
University to provide such details as
requested.
“Details of the Ph.D Degree of President
Goodluck Jonathan in the University of
Port Harcourt cannot therefore be
made available to you.”

The Institute of Human Rights and
Humanitarian Law had filed an FOI
request, three weeks ago, to the
university seeking relevant details of
Mr. Jonathan’s doctorate
qualifications.
The letter requested the following
information relating to the president’s
doctorate qualification, citing the
provisions of Sections 2 and 4 of the
FOI Act, 2011:
1. The title of the president’s doctorate
dissertation
2. Year of registration as a doctorate
candidate
3. Name of his doctorate supervisor(s)
4. Name of his external examiner(s)
5. Comments/reports of the external
examiner of the dissertation/thesis
6. Photocopy of the dissertation/thesis
7. Date of graduation from the
university
The organization said it was willing to
bear any cost the university might
incur in making photocopies of the
requested documents and for posting
them.
President Jonathan was admitted into
the Department of Zoology (now
renamed Animal and Environmental
Biology), University of Port Harcourt,
in 1977, where he graduated with
Second Class Honours (Upper Division).

In 1985, Mr. Jonathan obtained a
Master of Science degree in
Hydrobiology and Fisheries, and a
Doctor of Philosophy degree in Zoology
10 years later.
Both degrees were also from the
University of Port Harcourt.
Lately, Mr. Jonathan’s academic
qualifications have come under
increased scrutiny ahead of the
forthcoming general elections. Critics
have accused the president of failing to
complete his doctorate programme. In
a response to an enquiry by Punch
Newspaper in January, the university
dismissed such claims as having
“neither legs nor grounds to stand on”.
The university had also told any person
or organization seeking additional
information on Mr. Jonathan’s
qualifications to contact the school
authorities.
“We have absolutely nothing to hide as
an institution that has a statutory
mandate to advance the frontiers of
knowledge,” William Wodi, the
university’s Deputy Registrar
(Information), had told the newspaper.
It is unclear why the university
declined to release Mr. Jonathan’s
academic qualifications to the civil
society organization after giving that
commitment.
Jiti Ogunye, a Lagos-based lawyer, said
the president’s academic records ought
to be freely available in the university
and not be “opaque or hidden”.
“The FOI is applicable to the academic
records of a public officer whose
academic records are being requested
by a Nigerian citizen or a
nongovernmental organization duly
registered in Nigeria with a view to
promoting accountability and
transparency in government,” Mr.
Ogunye said.
“The academic records of the president
are not the medical records of the
president in which case a medical
officer can say the FOI is exempted, or
the records between a lawyer and his
client which are covered by the
confidentiality rule.”
WHAT THE FOI ACT SAYS
According to Section 14(1) of the FOI
ACT, subject to subsection (2), a public
institution must deny an application
for information that contains personal
information and information exempted
under this subsection includes:
(a) files and personal information
maintained with respect to clients,
patients, residents, students, or other
individuals receiving social, medical,
educational, vocation, financial,
supervisory or custodial care or
services directly or indirectly from
public institutions;…
(2) A public institution shall disclose
any information that contains personal
information if –
(a) the individual to whom it relates
consents to the disclosure; or
(b) the information is publicly
available
(3) Where disclosure of any
information referred to in this section
would be in the public interest, and if
the public interest in the disclosure of
such information clearly outweighs the
protection of the privacy of the
individual to whom such information
relates, the public institution to whom
request for disclosure is made shall
disclose such information subject to
Section 14(2) of this Act.
Mr. Ogunye said that an institution
might attempt to hide under Section
14(1)(a) to decline disclosure of
information.
“My argument is, this information is
publicly available and ought to be
disclosed. The president has said he
obtained his Ph.D in that institution, so
it’s publicly available,” Mr. Ogunye
said.
“So why will an institution refuse to
disclose an information that is publicly
available? The university has acted
wrongly and can be compelled by the
suit of the non-governmental
organization concerned to disclose the
information.”

Source :- NewsRescue