UNIZIK Suspends Lecturer Who Allegedly Forged B.Sc Certificate

Following allegations of certificate forgery and plagiarism against a senior lecturer of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, (UNIZIK), Dr Peter Ekemezie, the varsity’s governing council has suspended him over the crime.

Ekemezie is a senior lecturer at the Department of Pure and Industrial Chemistry, Faculty of Physical Sciences of UNIZIK. 

According to news reports, the decision was taken at the end of the 117th general meeting of the varsity’s governing council.

Meanwhile, the council has ordered Ekemezie to hand over all the school property in his possession to his head of department and banned him from visiting the campus.

The council ordered that the certificates of all workers of the institution are to be verified, starting with the academic staff.

Ekemezie was employed by UNIZIK in July 2010, but his employment immediately raised a great controversy because he was allegedly employed as Lecturer 1 Level 11, instead of Lecturer 2, Level 9.

In 2013, one Mrs. Egolum claimed that the 46-year-old collected money from her to help her process a special degree programme at the University of Port Harcourt.

Investigation were carried out by a senior staff committee set up by the management of UNIZIK that led to the discovery that Ekemezie himself was allegedly parading a forged BSc certificate.

The committee’s recommendation to the management was reportedly swept under the carpet.

Ekemezie wrote a petition to the Commissioner of Police, in Anambra State, accusing some lecturers of fighting against his promotion and planting incriminating documents in his curriculum vitae to implicate him.

The police investigated and discovered that he lied. He was subsequently charged with giving false information and certificate forgery.

The Chairman of the Governing Council, UNIZIK, Azeez Bello, while promising that the council would act on the matter, said some members of the institution’s senate might have been compromised.

Further investigation into the academic records of the lecturer showed that he allegedly did not also meet the minimum number of years for his postgraduate diploma, master’s degree and Doctor of Philosophy.