of Aviation who is embroiled in a
scandal of towering proportions
in the ministry, faces new
integrity questions as her
Masters’ degree has been
challenged by the United States
school which supposedly awarded
it.
Her resume, which she presented
to the Senate as a ministerial
nominee in 2011, indicated she
obtained a Master's degree in
Business Administration (MBA)
from St. Paul’s College
Lawrenceville, Virginia, United
States.
But SaharaReporters has learned
from the President of the
college that it has never in its
125-year history had a graduate
school or graduate program.
The Provost Vice President of
Academic Affairs, and the Vice
President of Institutional
Development said in response to
our inquiries, “We don’t offer
any graduate programs here.”
Similarly, the school’s website
states: “Saint Paul's College is
accredited by the Commission of
Colleges of the Southern
Association of Colleges and
Schools to award baccalaureate
[bachelor’s] degrees.” There is
no mention of graduate degrees.
The Minister’s documentation
shows she received an
undergraduate degree in
accounting from the college in
1982, but Dr. Claud Flythe, St.
Paul’s current president, could
neither confirm nor deny this
during a phone conversation with
SaharaReporters. Further
verification with the Office of
Alumni Affairs is also currently
impossible, the school said,
because the college has been
closed since June 2013 to loss of
its accreditation.
“[Oduah] realized very early in
life the indispensability of a
sound education in her growth
plans in life and therefore
pursued her education with all
diligence and sense of purpose,”
her documents claimed, adding
that a determination “to have
the best education at the
highest level” prompted her stay
at the Virginia college in 1983
for the MBA programme.
As her public relations machinery
marched on, in December 2012
The Sun newspaper published an
article headlined “Stella Oduah:
An Amazon of transformation,”
which lauded her “MBA from St
Paul’s College, Lawrenceville
Virginia USA.” The story also
praised her for being an official
who brought her “rich
educational background to bear
on the aviation sector by
automating revenue centers in
all the agencies and parastatals
to boost their revenue profile
and enhance transparency and
accountability in the system.”
In October, SaharaReporters
broke the story that Mrs. Oduah,
a former campaign manager for
President Goodluck Jonathan,
purchased two bulletproof BMW
cars worth $ 1.6 Million (N255m)
through the Nigerian Civil
Aviation Authority, for her own
use.
Following an investigation, the
House of Representatives
Committee on Aviation dismissed
the Minister’s pleas of innocence
and all her rebuttals during her
testimony. The committee’s
report, which was subsequently
adopted by the House, declared
that no budgetary appropriation
had been made for the purchase
of the cars, and that the NCAA
proposal for their purchase was
rejected.
President Jonathan also set up a
three-member administrative
panel to investigate the matter,
but he immediately travelled out
of the country with Mrs. Oduah
and Colonel Dasuki, the National
Security Adviser who was to
serve as a member of the panel.
Not only did the panel submit
its report much later than the
two weeks it was given for the
assignment, Mr. Jonathan has
refused to release its report.
Mrs. Oduah’s new certificate
questions are certain to feed
into national concern about her
credibility as an elected official,
but also about Mr. Jonathan’s
credibility, and about the
nation’s security apparatus which
verifies official documents
offered to the Senate for
official nominations.
If Mrs. Oduah deliberately
deceived the Senate, it remains
to be seen if the Upper House
will be sufficiently motivated to
take up the matter with the
Executive.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s aviation
industry continues to face a
massive challenge, with
struggling airports and airlines,
as well as financial and
administrative pitfalls that
hinder expansion and
development.
Source:Saharareporters
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