Three “graduates” of Enugu State
University of Science and
Technology mobilised to
participate in the National Youth
Service Corps scheme have shown
lack of competence and
intelligence level expected of
genuine degree holders, Blueprint
learnt last night.
In education circles, questions are
being asked over the competence
of the university and indeed other
institutions of learning.
The three corps members are:
Nwankwo Elias Chukwuebuka, a
graduate of BSc Electrical/
Electronics, with code number
NG/11B/1660 and a NYSC call-up
number NYSC/EST/2011/ 1777093;
Mbah Linda Akunna, a graduate of
BSc Electricals/ Electronics with
code number LA/11B/5245, a call-
up number EST/2011/ 178882 and
matriculation number ESUT/2005/
96998, and Okochi Adaeze Kate, a
graduate of Geography/
Meteorology, with code number
AD/12B/0389, call-up number
EST/2012/ 148292 and
matriculation number ESUT/2006/
10400.
According to documents obtained
by Blueprint, the three
“graduates,” who are serving in
Niger, Lagos and Adamawa states
respectively, were rejected, with
formal letters sent to the state
coordinators by their areas of
primary assignment and
forwarded to the NYSC
headquarters in Abuja.
The national headquarters, in a
August 29, 2012 letter signed by
the Director General of NYSC, N.T.
Okore-Affia, had informed the NUC
of the presence of corps members
who displayed “glaring lack of
academic ability and intelligence
level expected of genuine Nigerian
graduates, which were
consistently exhibited by the three
students from the Enugu State
University of Science and
Technology.”
Attaching copies of letters from
NYSC secretariats in Niger,
Adamawa and Lagos, Okore-Affia
noted: “As contained in the
reports, the corps members
exhibited signs of incompetence
and low intelligence level which
range from inability to complete
registration formats correctly to
not being able to teach pupils at
nursery school level. These
inadequacies led to their rejections
by their employers in their various
states of deployment.”
The case, according to an insider’s
account, has baffled the National
Universities Commission (NUC) and
prompted the setting up of a
committee to “verify the integrity
of the degrees,” and find out if
there was collaboration by the
university.
Federal education authorities are
suspecting a wide-ranging scam
that might have been going on for
years.
To unravel how the three corps
members were mobilised, the NUC
has already set up a panel,
comprising officials of NYSC, Joint
Admissions and Matriculation
Board (JAMB) and the State Security
Service (SSS).
The mandate of the panel,
according to a letter dated
September 24, 2012 signed by NUC
Director of Quality Assurance,
Professor C.F. Mafiana, “is to fully
investigate the report with a view
to identifying the culprits,
including others similarly mobilised
and their collaborators, and
ensuring sanctions accordingly.
The team would be chaired by a
visiting professor in the NUC.”
Out of the three corps members,
Okochi could hardly write the
Roman figures from one to 10 in
words, just as she could not write
three states and their capitals. She
could not provide the names of
two major rivers in Nigeria, just as
she failed to name three countries
that share border with Nigeria.
Akunna, according to the
documents, was rejected by Kings
College, Lagos, after it was
discovered that she was grossly
incompetent to perform her duties.
A further test on her by the Lagos
state NYSC secretariat revealed that
though a graduate of Electricals/
Electronics, she never passed any
of the science subjects at the
secondary school level.
The third fellow, Chukwuebuka,
who was posted to Niger state,
was rejected by a nursery/ primary
school known as FEMA Schools
because of his inability to read and
write.
Having been rejected by two
employers, he had to be reposted
by Niger state NYSC to a bakery,
pending the final determination of
his case by the NYSC national
headquarters.
When queried on his
incompetence, Chukwuebuka
proved his incompetence when he
responded in writing: “I awarded
a degree in Enugu State University
of Science and Technology I have a
probeam in my university am
manegn my siefe to funsh my
school.”
A source disclosed last night that
members of the panel would soon
commence probing the
circumstances under which the
“graduates” were released by the
university to participate in the NYSC
scheme.