By Idris Akinbajo
August 6, 2011 09:26PM
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She really was not required to enroll for national service. As Diezani Alison-Madueke settles into her second tour of duty as Nigeria’s petroleum minister, she wouldn’t have been burdened by the raging controversy that she skipped national service had she not needlessly lied about her exact year of graduation from the university, a NEXT investigation has shown.

[size=15pt]Our months-long investigations in Nigeria and the United States, where Mrs Alison-Madueke attended university, showed that the minister actually graduated from Howard University in 1992 when she was already 32 years old[/size].

Under the National Youth Service Corps Act, the one-year compulsory national service is only mandatory for Nigerians who graduate before the age of 30. Given the age at which she graduated, Mrs Alison-Madueke did not need to serve and is eligible for exemption from the programme. She cannot, therefore really be held liable for ducking it.

But it was the minister herself who created the confusion about her NYSC status by lying about when she graduated. [size=15pt]In the resumes she personally circulated for several years, in search of jobs and appointments to public offices, Mrs Alison-Madueke claimed she obtained her Bachelor’s in Architecture from Howard in 1987 when she was 27. She also created the impression that she had more post-graduation experience than she actually had.[/size]

Based on that claim by the minister, this newspaper had conducted a comprehensive investigation into her national youth service status, which led us to report that she skipped the one-year programme.

Howard faults Mrs Madueke’s claim

[size=15pt]But our investigations in the past months have revealed that Mrs Alison-Madueke actually backdated her graduation date by five years. Responding to a May 24 enquiry from NEXT, Howard, though its official, Kerry-Ann Hamilton said the minister graduated from the university and was awarded a Bachelor of Architecture degree under her maiden name, Diezani K. Agama, on December 8, 1992[/size].

To be sure that the Diezani of Ms. Hamilton’s record is actually the oil minister, our reporter wrote the university again on June 3, providing her maiden as well as her married name. The Howard spokesperson responded same day indicating that Diezani K. Agama and Diezani Alison-Madueke were one and the same person.

She added, “Our alumni database shows an update to married and female in 2010. This database is different from the records database. It is most current. The records database showed what applicants indicate prior to enrolling.” In a telephone interview with our reporter two weeks ago, Ms Hamilton dismissed the suggestion that Mrs Alison-Madueke graduated in 1987 but that the university held on to her certificate till 1992. [size=15pt]She said Howard was not in the habit of withholding the certificates of its students who had fulfilled all requirements for graduation. She further explained that the university authorities could not have withheld Mrs Alison-Madueke’s certificate if she had completed her course work for a degree five years earlier, saying the Minister could only have finished her programme and graduated in 1992.[/size]

“In the back and forth that we’ve had, I kept checking her records. I did not come across any evidence that her certificate was withheld,” she said.

A narrative of lies

[size=15pt]It is not clear what Mrs Alison-Madueke’s motivations were for backdating her year of graduation in her personal records.[/size] Mrs Alison-Madueke and her spokespersons would not comment for this story. The minister refused to respond to telephone calls and text messages seeking her comments. When NEXT contacted Malachy Agbo, her spokesperson, he listened patiently to our enquiry and promised to get back with his response. He did not as at the time this newspaper went to press. He also did not answer subsequent calls made to his mobile telephone.

[size=18pt]But sources suggested that she could have used it to curry favours in the early years of her life.[/size]

“You know when applying for jobs, some employers demand for some years of post-graduation experience. She probably did that to prove she had some years of experience in her early post-graduation life,” a source close to the minister told NEXT.

“By claiming that she graduated earlier than she actually did, the minister has fooled her previous employers, and enjoyed an unfair advantage over those who competed for positions with her,” said an official at the Ministry of Petroleum, who did not want to be named for fear he might be victimised. “What she has done is perjury. It is criminal and such a person is not fit to hold public office.” In her most widely circulated curriculum vitae, which she also provided to senators for her confirmation hearings, Mrs Alison-Madueke claimed she attended Howard University between 1983 and 1987 for a five-year professional degree in architecture, a statement her publicist repeated in a press release after she was reappointed minister early this month.

Post graduation, Mr Agbo claims in the release (find it here http://www.randburg.com/nigeria/diezani-alison-madueke.asp), Mrs Alison-Madueke worked at American Interior Builders Inc. as Project Engineer before joining Furman Construction Management Inc. Rockville, Maryland, as Design Coordinator in 1988. Her CV claims she returned to Howard University as an in-house Project Manager and a member of the Planning and Development team in 1990 and then joined Shell Petroleum as Head, Projects Unit, Estates, Lagos.

Mrs Alison-Madueke’s critics say this career narratives are now in doubt.

“You can’t build something on nothing,” said an official of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, who is peeved that President Goodluck Jonathan proceeded to reappoint the minister despite the weighty allegations of corruption hanging on her neck. “Since she lied about her graduation date, she must have lied about her work history as well.” Going by this new revelation that she only made it out of the university in 1992, Mrs Alison-Madueke has barely one-year post-graduation work experience before she was hired as a unit head in Shell.

“This is unbelievable,” a former lawmaker exclaimed in an interview with our reporter. “I am suspicious that her claim that she graduated five years earlier than she actually did, must have misled Shell into giving her that position.” But by the time she became petroleum minister in 2010, Mrs Alison-Madueke momentarily appeared to have grown weary of lying about her graduation date. In the version of her CV she provided to the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, the minister was silent on when she passed out of Howard, although she stated clearly in the same document that she obtained an MBA from the University of Cambridge in 2003. But the falsehood appears to have continued, as shown by her resume recently circulated by her aides.

A curious sex record

[size=15pt]Another bizarre aspect of Mrs. Alison-Madueke’s record with Howard was that the university believed she was male until she applied for a change of status sometime in 2010.[/size]

When we first contacted her in May, Ms Hamilton explained that Mrs Alison-Madueke enrolled into the University as a male, saying the minister “is a male according to our records.”

In a subsequent correspondence, the Howard University spokesperson further explained, “our alumni database shows an update to married and female in 2010.” “This database,” Ms Hamilton stated, “is different from the records database. It is most current. The records database showed what applicants indicate prior to enrolling.” It is not clear whether Mrs Alison-Madueke deliberately applied to Howard as a male or whether it was the university that jumbled her records. The minister rebuffed an opportunity to state her own side of the story.

Her conduct is criminal

Some critics say the jumbled dates do not detract from her need to answer questions about her past.

“That is false and fraudulent representation and it is a criminal offence,” said Jiti Ogunye, a Lagos based lawyer.

Mr Ogunye explained that if the minister secured the public offices she has held based on the fraudulent information she provided, she could be prosecuted.

Bamidele Aturu, another lawyer and human rights activist, was unequivocal in condemning Mrs Alison-Madueke’s conduct.

“It is immoral. The person has misled the Senate, has misled the nation. It does not show that the person is a good example to our young people,” Mr Aturu said, while explaining, “Since the information was not made on oath, it cannot be considered an offence before the law.” A series of investigations by NEXT has shown that Mrs Alison-Madueke’s leadership of the petroleum ministry has been characterised by monumental corruption. This involves arbitrary awards of crude lifting contracts to obscure companies, fraudulent assignment of prospective rights in five lucrative oil blocks to two barely established companies and extortion of bribes from marketers.

I hate Nigerian journalists, they never do their job well.


What a shabby report, very incompetent reporting.

I like your username,its very creative.

antitpiah:

I hate Nigerian journalists, they never do their job well.


What a shabby report, very incompetent reporting.

Incompetent and incoherent

na wa ooo

first tinubu, second emeaguali, third madueke

reall na wa oo

alj_harem:

na wa ooo

first tinubu, second emeaguali, third madueke

reall na wa oo

Walahi,Nigerians have endured all sorts of criminals as leaders.

Check my certificate: Born 1980. Born 1985. Born 1988.
This one na rubbish jo. For Naija, we all have official age and real DOB.
My Naija people be ninja when it comes to money and appointment. We could do anything!

lari03:

Walahi,Nigerians have endured all sorts of criminals as leaders.

abi watin man go do

when they know they are not qualified but use connection and other means to get to power and steal our money

SMH

This is a serious allegation,lets wait and see what happens.

Interesting. Very interesting.

Nothing surprises me anymore about 9ja.

On a more serious note, alleluia that she even attended and graduated from the Uni despite the backdating (which is still wrong though). This same Nigeria that someone became a national assembly house speaker with fraudulent credentials? Anything is possible!

dem_people:

Interesting. Very interesting.

Nothing surprises me anymore about 9ja.

On a more serious note, alleluia that she even attended and graduated from the Uni despite the backdating (which is still wrong though). This same Nigeria that someone became a national assembly house speaker with fraudulent credentials? Anything is possible!

u can say that again

same Nigeria that our leaders cannot sing our national anthem, or some even speak good english so as to communicate to others

This is Shell fighting a war with Nigeria, because of the PIB and Deziani's unstoppable efforts to bring sanity and accountabilty to the petroleum sector. Its a losing battle.

dem_people:

Interesting. Very interesting.

Nothing surprises me anymore about 9ja.

On a more serious note, alleluia that she even attended and graduated from the Uni despite the backdating (which is still wrong though). This same Nigeria that someone became a national assembly house speaker with fraudulent credentials? Anything is possible!

The journalists did not do their job well unfortunately.

They are heating up the polity unnecessarily.

Though I am anti-Ibo on NL , i still want the truth

If you have ever dealt with Howard, you'd know that Howard is very unorganized, and dysfunctional.

The people at Howard from the janitor to the CEO are all incompetent goons

We dont know why her degree was not released in 1987. it seems that  234Next is insinuating that it took her 9 years to complete her degree, which is impossible in most American colleges. You get 6 yrs max to finish, after that and you are not done, you are kicked out. Why did Howard not kick her out?


I assume the delay has to do with money issues. Maybe she had outstanding bills that made Howard hold on to her degree, and it was only released after she was cleared by the accounting department.


Irrespective, the report was inconclusive and shabby. I am really ashamed of 234next. This is not one of their best exposés, if you can call it that.

antitpiah:

The journalists did not do their job well unfortunately.

They are heating up the polity unnecessarily.

Though I am anti-Ibo on NL , i still want the truth

If you have ever dealt with Howard, you'd know that Howard is very unorganized, and dysfunctional.

The people at Howard from the janitor to the CEO are all incompetent goons

We dont know why her degree was not released in 1987. it seems that 234Next is insinuating that it took her 9 years to complete her degree, which is impossible in most American colleges. You get 6 yrs max to finish, after that and you are not done, you are kicked out. Why did Howard not kick her out?


I assume the delay has to do with money issues. Maybe she had outstanding bills that made Howard hold on to her degree, and it was only released after she was cleared by the accounting department.


Irrespective, the report was inconclusive and shabby. I am really ashamed of 234next. This is not one of their best exposés, if you can call it that.

See what bigotry can do? Allison Madueke is not Igbo.

Beaf:

See what bigotry can do? Allison Madueke is not Igbo.

Who cares. I am a lagosian. if you are not hausa and your name is not Yoruba sounding, then you are IBO. I make no effort to distinguish Ibos from other people in that part of Nigeria.

None of my business, really. As far as i am concerned, she is Ibo or well, Ibo-like/Ibo-made.

that's usually the ignorant lagosian and you don't sound like one.(at least your signature seems so)

antitpiah:


Who cares. I am a lagosian. if you are not hausa and your name is not Yoruba sounding, then you are IBO. I make no effort to distinguish Ibos from other people in that part of Nigeria.

None of my business, really. As far as i am concerned, she is Ibo or well, Ibo-like/Ibo-made.

she is ijaw

why talk of ethnic group in this

now i think the topic is going to be filled with bigots

am out

Barely a year working after graduation she gets picked by Shell as a unit head and eventually rose to the position of ED? Clap! Clap!!

Too many things about this woman are shady

Regardless of whether some people are fighting her back or NEXT didn't do a thorough job, she must clearly address these issues. There's a moral baggage on her neck. Depending on the way this goes, it is enough reason for her to leave the government either through resignation or sack.

^
The woman is going nowhere. Shell needs to try new tricks, the ones before the ministerial appointments failed and these ones will fail as well.

^^^

the usual desperate spin and spell

anyone who believes that our dear minister is not in bed with shell (where she rose to director) must be on some serious crack

mole numero uno

i'm sure it is the same shell that will scuttle the 3 new refineries scheduled for 2014

Pukkah:

Regardless of whether some people are fighting her back or NEXT didn't do a thorough job, she must clearly address these issues. There's a moral baggage on her neck. Depending on the way this goes, it is enough reason for her to leave the government either through resignation or sack.

for naija? small wonder she was elevated to minister after her unmitigated failure as works minister.and with the whispering that she is the first chickito. . .

ekt_bear:

Too many things about this woman are shady

She's just an average Nigerian. I can confidently estimate that 60% to 70% doctor their dates of births, first school leaving certificates or year of graduation from college.
Even where i work right now, can you believe up to 80% of us during pre- employment interview presented Declaration of Age certificates rather than Birth Certificates ? This is for people who were born in the late 70s and early 80s.
It's something very common here, not shady, not devious, but common practise.

edoyad:

She's just an average Nigerian. I can confidently estimate that 60% to 70% doctor their dates of births, first school leaving certificates or year of graduation from college.
Even where i work right now, can you believe up to 80% of us during pre- employment interview presented Declaration of Age certificates rather than Birth Certificates ? This is for people who were born in the late 70s and early 80s.
It's something very common here, not shady, not devious, but common practise.

What is the point of it, though? Is there age discrimination in Nigeria or something? If so, unfortunate.

Mrs Alison-Madueke worked at American Interior Builders Inc. as Project Engineer before joining Furman Construction Management Inc. Rockville, Maryland, as Design Coordinator in 1988. Her CV claims she returned to Howard University as an in-house Project Manager and a member of the Planning and Development team in 1990 and then joined Shell Petroleum as Head, Projects Unit, Estates, Lagos.

either these companies have folded, or they don't exist . nothing came up in the internet searches

edoyad:

She's just an average Nigerian. I can confidently estimate that 60% to 70% doctor their dates of births, first school leaving certificates or year of graduation from college.
Even where i work right now, can you believe up to 80% of us during pre- employment interview presented Declaration of Age certificates rather than Birth Certificates ? This is for people who were born in the late 70s and early 80s.
It's something very common here, not shady, not devious, but common practise.

theres really nothing i can say to this - a false declaraion of age - lying in court is not shady or devious?

this from the fellow who is always bitching about abokis?

ekt_bear:

What is the point of it, though? Is there age discrimination in Nigeria or something? If so, unfortunate.

it has to do with the requirements the employers ask for.
For instance, You call for applicants who have atleast a B Sc, 3 years working experience and not to be more than 27 years in age. The problem is someone who was originally supposed to spend 4 years in school ends up spending 6 to 7 due to strikes and what not. You then have to spend one year in youth service before getting employed. Now how do you fit 3 years working experience into that resume without shooting past 27 years ?

edoyad:

it has to do with the requirements the employers ask for.
For instance, You call for applicants who have atleast a B Sc, 3 years working experience and not to be more than 27 years in age. The problem is someone who was originally supposed to spend 4 years in school ends up spending 6 to 7 due to strikes and what not. You then have to spend one year in youth service before getting employed. Now how do you fit 3 years working experience into that resume without shooting past 27 years ?

Got it. Makes sense. So high supply and low demand => age discrimination.

Understandable why people misrepresent things then, I guess.

ekt_bear:

Got it. Makes sense. So high supply and low demand => age discrimination.

Understandable why people misrepresent things then, I guess.

many of the fricking hypocrites criticizing her have done exactly the same thing in one form or the other . I couldn't believe my eyes, declarations of age right, left and center , i felt like a dinosaur

ekt_bear:

Got it. Makes sense. So high supply and low demand => age discrimination.

Understandable why people misrepresent things then, I guess.

don't get it twisted - most people with false age declarations have plenty of other misrepresentations too

fake certificates, for instance

plus, back in 92, nigeria was just entering the era of long academic strikes and extended academic years

the woman studied abroad

http://www.randburg.com/nigeria/diezani-alison-madueke.asp

SCHOOLS:
· 2002 – 2003, University of Cambridge, Hughes Hall, UK, The Judge Institute of Management (MBA)
· 1983 – 1987, Howard University, Washington DC, USA, (B. Arch)
· 1982 – Architectural Association School of Architecture, Royal Institute of British Architects, UK (Professional Course Credits)

her case for me is much simpler - in corporate nigeria, there are often two kinds of recruited employees - those who enter through merit - test interview marathon, etc, and those who enter through man know man ( favor for a biz partner, son of so and so etc) . in the case of man know man, there is sometimes a need to present something for official records. the woman was hired by shell as "Head of the Project Unit of the Estate Development Division in Lagos" . clearly, her CV needed doctoring before she could be hired in this position>

anyway edoyad probably works in the public sector _ these days declaration of age are non grata in the private sector

Even in the West, 99% of CV's are "hyped." Everyone does it.