Jonathan’s PhD certificate authentic — UNIPORT

Following speculations in some quarters that President Goodluck Jonathan did not complete his doctorate degree programme at the University of Port Harcourt, the institution has come out in his defence.

But the Uniport Deputy Registrar (Information), Dr. William Wodi, explained that apart from acquiring his first degree in the institution, Jonathan also got his Masters and Ph.D in the same institution.

Wodi, in a statement sent to SUNDAY PUNCH via electronic mail, described the rumour about the President’s educational qualification as baseless.

The deputy registrar of the university specifically stated that Jonathan was among 422 students that matriculated in the school in 1977 and was admitted in the Department of Zoology, which had been renamed Animal and Environmental Science.

“The authorities of the University of Port Harcourt are aware of rumours that are now spreading like harmattan fire over the doctoral degree status of President Goodluck Jonathan. The allegations have neither legs nor grounds to stand on and we hope that its purveyors will now rest in silence.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the authorities of the University wish to state without equivocation that Mr. Goodluck Jonathan, as he then was, was among 422 students, who matriculated in 1977. He was admitted into the then Department of Zoology, now Animal and Environmental Biology in the then School of Biological Sciences, now a Faculty in the new College of Natural and Applied Sciences.

“At the end of a successful residency period, Jonathan was awarded the Bachelor of Science (Upper Division) in 1981. It was rumoured among students that the young university was reluctant to award the First Class to its pioneer class in an effort to consolidate its academic profile,” Wodi said.

He said the President later enrolled into the postgraduate programme and obtained the Master of Science degree in Hydrobiology and Fisheries in 1985 and crowned his academic pursuit in the University with the Doctor of Philosophy degree in Zoology in 1995.

He said, “From the above account, it has become obvious that Dr. Jonathan successfully completed the prescribed courses and programmes as specified by the Senate of the University of Port Harcourt to earn his degrees from the university.”

Stressing that the university remains proud of Jonathan, Wodi advised any person or organisations in need of further information on the educational qualification of the President or any other student of the institution to contact authorities of the university.

“We have absolutely nothing to hide as an institution that has a statutory mandate to advance the frontiers of knowledge,” Wodi added.