Revocation of Orji Kalu’s degree


COMING amidst lingering tension between Governor Theodore Orji of Abia State and his predecessor, Chief Orji Uzor Kalu, the recent revocation of Kalu’s Bachelor’s degree in Government and Public Administration, by the Senate of the state-owned Abia State University (ABSU), which awarded the degree 12 years ago, is an institutional tragedy of great magnitude. Not only has academic tradition been brought low, both the state government and the university in question are now objects of ridicule.

The state government has sought, without conviction, to exculpate itself of any complicity in the matter. A statement signed by ABSU registrar and secretary to Senate said the Senate of the university cancelled and subsequently withdrew the degree result and certificate awarded “on the strength of the findings and recommendations of an investigative panel into allegations of breach of the extant Academic Regulations of Abia State University, in the admission process and graduation of Kalu Orji Uzor in the discipline of Government and Public Administration…”

Kalu’s university admission had been embroiled in questionable circumstances. It was claimed that he had been a student of the University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID), where 18 years earlier he was a Political Science major. Kalu was said to have left school in protest against alleged persecution of student union leaders, but the claims were apparently not verified. Thereafter, he ventured into business, where he was successful. He later delved into politics, contested and won the gubernatorial seat of Abia State on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 1999. By November 2001 he gained admission into the Department of Government and Public Administration of Abia State University, Uturu, and before long he had earned a Bachelor’s degree while in office as governor and Visitor to the university.

Even though the university senate, in a recent advertorial, provided some backing to justify its actions, it is worth recalling that it was before the sycophantic glare of university administrators and the then Chief of Staff, Mr. Theodore Orji (who providentially is the incumbent governor), that Kalu’s first day as an ABSU freshman was publicly celebrated, while his retinue of aides and guards flocked about him.

Did the former governor transfer his academic credits from the University of Maiduguri to Abia State University? If so, was this done with or without the instrumentation of the university system? How was he able to do this if indeed his studentship had lapsed as being alleged? It is a standing rule in the management of students that should a student be absent from school for a period of time without Senate approval, he is automatically withdrawn for lapsed studentship. In the case of Mr. Kalu, the period between his studentship at University of Maiduguri and his transfer to ABSU was nearly two decades. The question begging for answer is: Had Kalu been deferring his studentship all those years so that he could transfer his credits from one university to another, to make up the minimum credit units for graduation?

Unless credible answers are provided for these posers, it would appear that UNIMAID, its authority at the time, Mr. Orji Uzor Kalu, Governor Theodore Orji and the Abia State University are complicit in this show of shame. Going by the barrage of accusation and counter-accusation oscillating between the state government, the university and supporters of the embattled Kalu, it is glaring, among other things, that the present Visitor has visited opprobrium on the state; that academics and university administrators have compromised their hallowed positions by availing themselves as instrument to desecrate the Ivory Tower; that the purity and sanctity of the processes in the academia are being brought to ridicule.

Apart from cultivating some minimum level of public decency, it is high time governors and political officer holders understood that the job of a state governor is not a part-time one. In this regard, there is need for a code of conduct to address the degree-crazy adventurism of political office holders. This is to enable them pursue the business of governance with the dedication, diligence, service and sense of responsibility it deserves. If a governor is so desirous of acquiring academic degrees and licentiates, he should do so either before or after his gubernatorial engagement. Committing taxpayers’ resources to unnecessary adventurism is unacceptable, contemptible and a disservice to the people

Although ABSU’s belated courage to come out clean may be commended in some quarters, its action is tantamount to a regime of despicable selective justice, whereby people create or invoke a particular law to suit their interest. How come there is an overturn of a decision witnessed by these parties just when their political interests parted ways? Didn’t the university know what it was doing at the time it admitted Kalu as a student of the institution? Why did it take the university 12 years to realize that Orji Uzor Kalu did not satisfy the condition for graduation and award of degree? Is this scandal a fall-out from the tension between the two Orjis?

Notwithstanding the systemic decadence occasioned by increasing mediocrity in the nation’s tertiary institutions, it must be recognized that the university, being a citadel of learning and a bastion of civility and culture, ought not to be turned into an arena of invidious political ping-pong as witnessed in Abia State.

Moreover, being at the forefront of university leadership, academics should eschew the desecration of noble academic traditions in consonance with their adulatory certification of ‘worthy in character and learning’. They should continually withstand the subterranean influences of dirty politicking by insisting that only men and women of proven integrity are elected to leadership position in the university system.

Beyond this, the people, to whom the government belongs, should exercise their moral obligation to demand quality service from those who serve them. The country will be well served and saved from the foible and folly of charlatans, if the people persistently demand quality service from public officers.source :http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=117451:revocation-of-orji-kalus-degree&catid=37:editorial&Itemid=612

Interesting. The powers that be @work.