Editorial note: This article reflects the questions raised about President Goodluck Jonathan’s doctoral thesis during the 2015 election campaign. Later evidence identified the title and supervisor of the thesis and supported the University of Port Harcourt’s confirmation that he obtained the degree.
Among President Goodluck Jonathan’s stated academic qualifications was a PhD in Zoology from the University of Port Harcourt. According to his profile, he also obtained a BSc in Zoology and an MSc in Hydrobiology and Fisheries Biology from the same university.
Questions were, however, raised about his doctoral qualification because critics said they could not locate a copy of his thesis or easily trace academic publications connected to it.
A doctoral thesis is normally required before the award of a PhD. However, the inability to locate an old thesis online or on a departmental shelf does not necessarily prove that it was never written. Many Nigerian universities had poor record-keeping systems, and a large number of older academic works were never digitised.
So, did President Jonathan possess a doctoral degree?
The Freedom of Information Request
The Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law attempted to answer the question by writing to the University of Port Harcourt under the Freedom of Information Act.
The organisation requested information and documents concerning:
the title of the President’s doctoral thesis;
the year he registered as a doctoral candidate;
the name of his supervisor or supervisors;
the names of his external examiners;
the reports of the external examiners;
a copy of the thesis; and
the date he graduated from the university.
The organisation also stated that it was willing to pay the cost of photocopying and posting the requested documents.
The request was made during the controversy surrounding the educational qualification of the All Progressives Congress presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari.
However, the two cases were not exactly the same. Jonathan’s PhD was not the minimum qualification required to contest for president. The Nigerian Constitution requires a presidential candidate to have been educated to at least School Certificate level or its equivalent.
A false declaration of qualification could raise a separate legal issue, but the mere inability of members of the public to locate a thesis would not, by itself, establish perjury.
Under the Freedom of Information Act, the university was expected to respond to the request.
So, the wait began.
What Happened Afterwards?
The University of Port Harcourt later declined to release the detailed records requested by the organisation. The university had, however, publicly maintained that Jonathan completed the academic requirements for his BSc, MSc and PhD degrees.
Later in 2015, further evidence emerged from a University of Port Harcourt School of Postgraduate Studies publication titled PhD Theses Abstracts 1983–2008.
The publication reportedly listed Jonathan’s thesis as:
“Ecology of Parhyale hawaiensis Dana 1853 and Other Intertidal Talitroids (Crustacean Amphipoda) in the Bonny and New Calabar Rivers Estuary.”
The thesis was reported to have been supervised by Dr I. P. Aleleye-Wokoma and to be 215 pages long.
The University of Port Harcourt’s postgraduate records also identify Goodluck Jonathan as one of its graduates and state that he obtained an MSc in 1985 and a PhD in 1995.
The later evidence therefore substantially answered the original question. Although a publicly accessible full copy of the thesis was not produced during the controversy, records of its title, abstract, supervisor and length supported the university’s confirmation that Jonathan completed the doctoral programme.
Search Description
The 2015 search for Goodluck Jonathan’s University of Port Harcourt PhD thesis, the Freedom of Information request and the evidence that later emerged.
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| FOI request |
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