Following the strike embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in February, various dramatic events and conversations have taken place between government representatives and that of the union.

On some occasions, the Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke-led union and Dr. Chris Ngige, the country’s Minister of Labour and Productivity, have ended up trading words during meetings designed to bring an end to the strike. At the end of the face-offs that happened more than twice, the meetings did not yield positive results.

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While featuring as a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today on April 21 Ngige told ASUU to “come down from their high horse”.

He also warned the union to desist from the ‘threat’ it made when it said it would withdraw the degree certificates issued to certain government functionaries, including Kashifu Inuwa, the Director-General of the National Institute of Technology Development Agency (NITDA).

“You go to ABU (Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria) and say you are going to withdraw the certificate of the Director of NITDA. That’s bullying. It’s not allowed in labour negotiations,” Ngige said during the interview.

Subsequently, the NITDA announced in September that the University Tertiary and Accountability Solution (UTAS), a solution suggested by the union for the payment of salaries of its members, had failed integrity tests three times.

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CLAIM: ASUU asked Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna State, to revoke the certificate of the Director of NITDA, its alumnus.

“You go to ABU (Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria) and say you are going to withdraw the certificate of the Director of NITDA. That’s bullying. It’s not allowed in labour negotiations,” Ngige said during the interview.

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VERIFICATION: To know where the truth lies in this controversy, FIJ reviewed Inuwa’s educational qualification as provided on the NITDA website.

It turned out that the agency head graduated from Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, where be obtained his first degree in Computer Science.

At various times, he attended Harvard University in the United States, University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom and Institute for Management Development Business School in Switzerland where he was trained in Leadership and Management programmes.

He also cut his teeth in IT at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Massachusetts, United States of America.

On October 8, the management of Ahmadu Bello University released a press statement saying Inuwa never had any study history at the institution and “at no time did ABU issue such any threat to the director”.

CONCLUSION: Inuwa did not graduate from ABU as insinuated by the minister.

VERDICT: The claim made by Ngige that Inuwa graduated from ABU is false.