Chima Igwe, director-general, Federal Institute of Industrial Research (FIIRO), Oshodi, has come under intense fire after failing to present his PhD certificate more than 18 years after claiming to have bagged the degree, according to the Punch.
Igwe, who claimed to have bagged the degree from the Universite Nationale du Benin (now Universite d’Abomey- Calavi) in Benin Republic, received several promotions based on the purported degree.
He was said to have been promoted at least three times based on the degree.
However, the only evidence of the purported PhD is an attestation letter.
Despite Igwe’s inability to provide the certificate, it was learnt that he scaled through several verification exercises at FIIRO, an institute under the Ministry of Science and Technology.
Some officials of the institute later petitioned the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) on the matter.
The issue became contentious when the tenure of Prof. Gloria Elemo, immediate past director-general of FIIRO,, ended and there was the need for a new head for the institute.
The Punch gathered that the governing board of the institute, while shopping for Elemo’s replacement, called for the files of senior officers of the agency.
Igwe, being the most senior, was the apparent successor to the office until the controversy resurfaced: a PhD certificate could not be found in his file to support his claim.
Alhaji Ibrahim Gwarzo, chairman of the Governing Board, in a letter to Ogbonnaya Onu, minister of Science and Technology, said Igwe was not fit to occupy the position.
He explained that the officer had refused to submit his PhD certificate “17 years after submitting a letter of attestation.”
The board, he said in the letter, had given him ultimatums, which he failed to meet.
Gwarzo noted that the case was already before the ICPC, adding that the next most senior official in the institute should be appointed in acting capacity pending when a substantive DG would be selected.
The letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Punch, was acknowledged by the office of the minister at 10.08am on April 23, 2019.
The chairman also attached to the letter findings of the establishment committee of the board on the matter.
However, the recommendation of the board was rejected by the ministry.
A directive from a top official of the ministry asked the outgoing DG to hand over to the most senior director (Igwe) in line with circulars of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.
Information on the LinkedIn account of Igwe showed that he joined FIIRO in June 1991 and has worked in the institute for 28 years.
From information on the official website of FIIRO, the 57-year-old joined as a Research Officer 1 and rose through the ranks to become the Director, Chemical Fibre and Environmental Technology Department in June 2010.
He was appointed the acting DG on May 13, 2019.
Workers at the institute, who spoke to our correspondent on condition of anonymity, said very few people knew that Igwe did not have a certificate to back his PhD claim until some months to the retirement of the former DG.
One of them said members of the board who looked into Igwe’s file were surprised there was no PhD certificate there.