From Okey Sampson, Umuahia

The ad-hoc committee of Abia State House of Assembly probing the alleged certificate racketeering at the State Polytechnic, Aba, has directed the authorities of the institution to produce evidences of the statement of result it awarded to a businessman, Okafor Gregory Okwuchukwu, in the Department of Business Administration and Management, in August 2020.

A civil society organization, Coalition of Civil Society Groups (CCSG) in Abia State, had petitioned the Assembly over the national diploma statement of result awarded to Okafor.

The CSO urged the Assembly to investigate if the businessman, who gained admission in 2018/2019 session, could have completed the duration, including the compulsory 4 months industrial training for the Business Administration and Management course when the COVID-19 pandemic halted academic activities worldwide in 2020.

Chairman of the ad-hoc committee, Chief Chikwendu Kalu, flanked by Chief Emeka Okoroafor ,(Isuikwuato constituency) and Hon. Aaron Uzodike (Aba North constituency), assured that the committee would be fair to all parties and urged the Registrar of the polytechnic to submit all documents relevant to the statement of result to the committee before the next sitting.

The committee insisted that the polytechnic must produce the staff that examined Okafor’s file and reconciled the results of the examinations he took in the course, including the approval of the academic board.

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“You are to submit the file of the student, produce the staff who reconciled his examination results and the approval of the academic board.  We will be fair to all parties. The Polytechnic and the Coalition of Civil society groups have nothing to fear,” the Committee assured.

Earlier, representative of the coalition of civil society groups, Mr. Eze Onuoha, had asked the ad-hoc committee to look into the contradictions on the diploma statement of result and attestation letter which were both issued on November 30, 2021, with the letter headed papers of the retired Registrar of the polytechnic, Mrs Comfort Nwabughiogu and her successor, Mr. Chinyere Oriaku, when the former retired from the polytechnic on October 15, 2021.

The Chairman of the Governing council, Rector and Registrar of the polytechnic; Chief John Nwangborogwu, Prof. Okorie Osonwa and Mr. Chinyere Oriaku, respectively, explained that the polytechnic followed due processes in the award of the national diploma.

Former Registrar of the Polytechnic, Mrs Comfort Nwabughiogu, denied that she signed the diploma statement of result on November 30, 2021, when she had retired from the institution on 15th October, 2021.

An appeal from Nwangborogwu urging the Committee to bar media reports on the matter was rejected by the chairman of the Committee, Chief Kalu, who is a former speaker of the state Assembly.