Dr. Garba Isa Muhammed, Contributing Editor of Verbatim News Magazine, writes on growing concern over plot by Malam Isa Yuguda, the Chairman, Governing Council of the National Open University of Nigeria, NOUN, to block public enquiry into academic record of Prof. Godwin Akper, a contestant for the institution’s office of Vice-Chancellor.
The above titled is a preliminary report on the concerns of a diligent investigative reporter, over moves by the Chairman of the Governing Council of the National Open University (NOUN) His Excellency, Isa Yuguda, to block enquiry into academic record of Prof. Godwin Akper, a contestant for the position of Vice-Chancellor, at the university.
In the countdown to the appointment of a new VC for NOUN, interesting political intrigues are emerging. The process has already kicked off with a formal advertisement of the vacancy in three national newspapers. Interested applicants across the country have started indicating interest in the position. Among them is Professor Godwin Iornenge Akper, a Professor of Religious Studies, whose promotion as Professor has been a subject of controversy for a while.
Issues trailing his promotion as a professor has heightened by his application to become the VC of NOUN. As this is threatening to mar the entire process, Verbatim News Magazine, Nigeria’s leading investigative magazine applied to interview NOUN’s Chairman of Governing Council, Mallam Isa Yuguda, on matters relating to Professor Akper’s academic record, and their relevance to the office he intends to occupy. The purpose was to verify information which the magazine obtained, to the effect that the promotion of Akper to Professorship rank, ahead of the contest for VC, was faulty on many grounds. This became necessary to confront him with these allegations and issues raised against Prof Akper, in academic and social circles in Nigeria.
In a manner that smacks of an official refusal to allow inquiry on the academic record of Professor Akper, Yuguda made a shocking revelation to on September 19, 2025. In a letter to Verbatim News Magazine, Yuguda bluntly refused, saying: “Reference to your request for an interview, please be advised that government regulations prohibit granting interviews on such matters, in order to protect tertiary institutions from being subjected to trial on social media, newspaper, or public opinion”.
This view apparently, is a false and flagrant a contravention of the Freedom of Information (FOI) law in Nigeria.
These issues, for which Yuguda is blocking enquiry on, are pertinent and has been pleaded by academics in the University as necessary, in determining if Prof Akper is fit and proper, to earn the promotion to a Professorial chair, and in furtherance, or participate in the upcoming contest for the office of VC.
Determined to get to the bottom of the story, Verbatim has found out, among others: that Akper, has to his credit the following academic achievements:
• Diploma in Theology 1992; Master of Arts (Religion) 1999; Master of Theology (M.Th) in Church History and Polity, 2002
• Doctor of Theology (D.Th) 2004
• Postgraduate Diploma in Distance Education (PGDDE) 2010
Akper’s qualifications as stated are not deep rooted in academics. Principally, they are vocational and ministerial, and cannot legally, technically, or morally sustain a professorial elevation in any credible university. To allow this to stand will erode the very foundation of academic credibility in Nigeria.
Absence of a Recognized First Degree
Academic progression in all universities, globally, without exception, begins with the first degree (BA, B.Sc or like degrees, as may be the case in varying subjects). This is the non-negotiable foundation upon which postgraduate studies rest. However, Akper is alleged not to have earned such a degree. This alone, if ascertained to be true, should disqualify him from any legitimate academic trajectory, no matter what later qualifications he may have acquired.
Vocational not academic qualifications
This is yet another issue. The nature of his postgraduate studies is vocational and not academic. He pursued an MA at Westminster Theological Seminary and later a Master of Theology (M.Th.). The reality, in contrast, is that both higher degrees are rooted in pastoral education designed for ministerial formation. They are not conventional academic degrees, but professional training awards intended to prepare clergy for service. No records have also been sighted by this writer to show that Godwin Akper participated in the National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) before proceeding for his Masters degrees, even though he was still within the age range. Undoubtedly, this is because his career is pastoral in nature. More so, his qualification is not equivalent to a first degree.
Critically, however, no credible university anywhere in the world would have admitted a diploma-holder into an MA programme. The fact that Akper obtained an MA and an M.Th. at all, is only because these awards are structured as proficiency training for theologians, not as standard academic research or advanced study. They cannot retroactively substitute for a missing BA/B.Sc., nor can they serve as a bridge into the academic hierarchy. Their character is vocational, not academic.
Doctor of Theology not a PhD
Another point to be made is that a Doctor of Theology (D.Th) is not a PhD Equivalent. Prof. Akper’s terminal qualification is a Doctor of Theology. The D.Th is historically, a professional ecclesiastical degree, not a research PhD. While it may have internal value within seminaries and church institutions, it is not recognised internationally as a substitute for the PhD, which remains the gold standard for professorial promotion in the academia. To accept D.Th. as equivalent to PhD, without documented equivalency assessment, is to collapse the distinction between professional ministerial training and academic research.
It is very important to take a critical look at the issues of violation of statutes and international norms involved in this case at hand. This is urgent.
Explicitly, the National Universities Commission (NUC) Harmonized Guidelines on Appointments and Promotions require the possession of a recognized first degree and a PhD (or equivalent research doctorate) for promotion to professorial rank. International benchmarks – from the Association of African Universities (AAU), the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA, UK), and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA, US) – demand rigorous research credentials, demonstrated supervision of postgraduate work, and internationally peer-reviewed scholarship as the sine qua non of professorship. Interestingly, the NOUN advertisement for VC clearly states that what is required is a GOOD ACADEMIC PHD with no proviso for any equivalent degree.
NOUN’s promotion of Prof. Akper ignored these standards, thereby undermining Nigeria’s credibility in global academia.
A Threat to the Integrity of Nigerian Universities
If vocational and ministerial qualifications – never intended to be academic – can now be transmuted into a professorship, then the distinction between seminary training and university education is collapsed. This, not only mocks the sacrifices of Nigerian academics, who painstakingly followed the legitimate path of BA/BSc → MA/MSc → PhD, but also broadcasts to the world that Nigerian universities are unable to defend their own standards.
This precedent is absurd and dangerous. By the same logic, a medical doctor could claim professorship on the strength of a pastoral diploma; an engineer could be made professor based on a trade certificate; or a lawyer could be elevated without ever passing through a law degree. To promote Akper on the basis of vocational awards is to signal that Nigerian professorships are no longer academic, but arbitrary titles bestowed without rigor.
Indeed, by conferring a professorship without the foundational BA/BSc, NOUN has performed the academic equivalent of ordaining an altar boy as bishop – a grotesque inversion of order that ridicules every genuine scholar and spits on the hierarchy of knowledge itself. To progress in that error is to compound NOUN’s credibility problems. The NOUN Governing Council under the leadership of His Excellency, Malam Isa Yuguda should be properly guided.
Verbatim