Nigeria’s Minister of Science and Technology, Uche Nnaji has confessed that the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, UNN, never issued him a degree certificate — an admission that validates reports of forgery in his academic records.
This confession, contained in court documents filed by the minister himself, confirms earlier findings by Premium Times that Nnaji forged both his university and National Youth Service Corps certificates before his ministerial appointment in 2023.
According to filings before Justice Hauwa Yilwa of the Federal High Court, Abuja, Nnaji admitted that though he completed his studies at UNN in 1985, the university had not given him a degree certificate.
The minister claimed the institution’s management had “refused to cooperate” with him, but his own statements effectively confirmed that UNN never officially awarded him any qualification.
Court records show that Nnaji approached the court seeking an injunction to restrain the University of Nigeria from tampering with his academic record.
However, his affidavit included admissions that undermined his case. Paragraphs 12 and 13 of the affidavit revealed that while he may have attended the university, he was never issued a certificate of graduation.
The controversy deepened when the university’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Simon Ortuanya, issued a formal letter to Premium Times in October 2025, confirming that Nnaji did not graduate.
“Our records show that Mr. Uche Nnaji did not complete the requirements for a degree and, therefore, was not awarded any certificate,” the letter stated.
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The revelation followed an internal investigation by UNN, which found that a letter earlier issued to Nnaji in 2020 confirming his graduation had been unauthorized.
A senior university official, who spoke anonymously, described the letter as “a manipulated document that should never have existed,” emphasizing that the minister’s name was missing from the 1985 graduation list.
The forgery scandal first came to public attention in 2023 when Premium Times published a detailed investigation into the minister’s credentials.
The report alleged that Nnaji presented a counterfeit degree and NYSC certificate to both the Presidency and the Nigerian Senate during his ministerial screening. Despite mounting evidence, he neither addressed the allegations publicly nor provided verifiable proof of his qualifications.
Nnaji’s 10-page ministerial profile, presented at the Senate screening, described him as a “visionary industrialist” and “pro-democracy activist.”
However, the documents attached to the profile — particularly his degree and NYSC certificate — have now been confirmed as fake.
This admission places Nnaji among a growing list of Nigerian public officials caught in certificate scandals, reigniting calls for stricter vetting procedures in government appointments.
Despite multiple attempts by journalists to obtain his comment, the minister has remained silent, deepening public suspicion about the authenticity of his past records.
The confession, now part of official court filings, stands as one of the most direct acknowledgements of certificate forgery by a serving cabinet member in Nigeria’s recent history — a development likely to test the government’s resolve on accountability and integrity among its top officials.
