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Fresh evidence has emerged confirming that the academic credentials with which the Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Uche Nnaji, secured his appointment in 2023 could not have been genuine.
A PREMIUM TIMES investigative report published on Saturday revealed that while Mr Nnaji gained admission into UNN in 1981 to study microbiology/biochemistry, he dropped out without completing his studies.
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Despite this, Mr Nnaji emerged on the political scene in the past years claiming to have graduated from the institution with a second-class honour, lower division, in July 1985.
Documents seen by PREMIUM TIMES now show that at the time Mr Nnaji claimed to have graduated from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) and purportedly proceeded to participate in the mandatory national youth service, he was still exchanging correspondences with the institution on how he could re-sit a failed terminal course examination.
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The records show that Mr Nnaji failed a virology course — MCB 431AB — and subsequently made two unsuccessful attempts to re-sit the examination.
The university’s registrar, through a letter dated 8 November 1985, informed him that he failed the course in the round of September 1985 supplementary examinations, and advised him on the steps he needed to take to have a re-sit. This letter was sent to him about four months after he claimed to have completed his studies and graduated from the university.
“I regret to inform you that the result of the 1984/85 September Supplementary examination results show that you have not made the required grade in the 1985 September supplementary examination in the following course — MCB 431 A -Virology,” the registrar’s letter read.
“If you wish to take the June 1986 examination as is provided by the university of Nigeria academic regulations, you are required to notify the registrar through your head of department with a proof of payment of examination fee of N4 (four naira).”
Responding through a 3 January 1986 letter, Mr Nnaji formally notified the registrar of his intention to retake the course, stating that he had paid the required N4 fee. Yet, he failed to appear for the rescheduled exam.
So, in another letter dated 19 May 1986 and addressed to the registrar, he attributed his absence from the examination to ill health and requested another re-sit opportunity during the September 1986 supplementary examinations. A copy of the letter seen by PREMIUM TIMES indicated that his medical report was attached to support his claim.
“Due to ill health, I was unable to take the outstanding terminal course MCB 431 AB-virology which took place on the 21st of April 1986,” he wrote at the time. “I, therefore, pray that you grant me, Sir, the opportunity to do so during the supplementary examinations.”
These correspondences punctured Mr Nnaji’s claim that he graduated from UNN in July 1985.
More than 10 months after he claimed to have graduated, as of May 1986, he was still scrambling to re-sit an outstanding crucial course examination.
A 2 October 2025 letter from the university’s vice-chancellor, Simon Ortuanya, in response to PREMIUM TIMES’ freedom of information request, showed that Mr Nnaji did not return to complete the outstanding course.
Other discrepancies
PREMIUM TIMES’ two-year investigation, published Saturday, already raised fundamental inconsistencies in Mr Nnaji’s academic and service records.
For example, the notification of result he tendered claims he graduated in July 1985 with a second class (lower division), while his purported National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) discharge certificate indicates he commenced service in April 1985 — months before he purportedly completed his studies.
Both documents stand in stark contrast to the correspondences he exchanged with UNN’s registrar between 1985 and 1986, showing he had yet to pass the outstanding terminal virology course crucial to his graduation from the university.
The contradictions indicate that Mr Nnaji could not have received his bachelor’s degree from the UNN or got mobilised for the NYSC scheme at the time he claimed.
The revelations raise questions over how he secured clearance from the State Security Service (SSS) and the Senate to be appointed minister in 2023 in the face of glaring discrepancies in his credentials.
The investigation
Allegations of certificate forgery have dogged Mr Nnaji since July 2023, when President Bola Tinubu named him among the first batch of 28 ministerial nominees from 25 states forwarded to the Senate as part of the president’s initial cabinet list, two months after taking office on 29 May 2023.
Critics have long insisted that Mr Nnaji did not complete his university education and that both the bachelor’s degree and National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) certificate he presented to President Tinubu, as well as to the offices of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the State Security Service, and the Senate, were forged.
A painstaking two-year investigation published by PREMIUM TIMES on Saturday indeed showed that Mr Nnaji forged the credentials.
This newspaper reported on Sunday that the minister has admitted that the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) never issued him a degree certificate.
Many Nigerians have expressed outrage over the minister’s forged certificate scandal.
On Monday, Mr Nnaji was absent from a press conference his office called to address the matter.
