Concerns over Isa Yuguda’s Move to Block Enquiry Into Academic Record of Prof. Godwin Akper, a Controversial Contestant for VC Office at NOUN
In the count-down to the appointment of a new Vice chancellor for the National Open University of Nigeria, (NOUN), the process has kicked off with a formal advertisement of vacancy in three national newspapers, recently. Interested applicants have started indicating interest, among them, Professor Godwin Iornenge Akper, a Professor of Religious Studies, whose promotion as Professor has been a subject of Controversy.
Giving issues emanating from his promotion, which has been heightened by his application to be VC, Verbatim 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 offices he intends to occupy. This became necessary to confront him with allegations and issues raised against Prof Akper, in academic and social circles in Nigeria.
In a manner that is clearly an official refusal to open inquiry on the academic record of an academic staff at NOUN, Professor Akper; who has joined the contest for office of VC, Isa Yuguda, Chairman of the University’s Governing Council made a shocking revelation on September 19, 2025.
In a letter to Verbatim News Magazine, Yuguda bluntly refused a request for interview, which Verbatim Magazine , a renowned investigative news magazine had presented in writing. 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. Yuguda gave a reason for his refusal to grant the press interview. He said: “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”. The view, clearly, is a false and flagrant contravention of the Freedom of Information law in Nigeria.
Issues which Yuguda is blocking enquiry on are serious, and has been pleaded by academics in the University as necessary, in determining if Prof Akper is fit and proper to earn a promotion to Professor, and in furtherance, participate in the upcoming contest for the office of VC. Incidentally, Professor Akper has applied, in furtherance to the advertisement by NOUN in three national newspapers.
The issues are to be examined here. Available records exist in the public domain presently, that the University teacher under our searchlight, Godwin Iornenge Akper, has to his credit, the following academic achievements:
- Diploma in Theology 1992
- Master of Arts (Religion) 1999
*Master of Theology (MTh) in Church History and Polity, 2002. - Doctor of Theology (DTh) 2004
- Postgraduate Diploma in Distance Education(PGDDE) 2010
It is known that 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 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,BSc or like degrees as may be the case in varying subjects). This is the non-negotiable foundation upon which postgraduate study rests.
But 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.
There is also another issue: the vocational, not academic: nature of his postgraduate studies. There is a tempting argument here to favour Akper: 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. It is remarkable to note here that Godwin Akper did not participate in the National Youth Service Corps before proceeding for his “Masters”, 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/BSc, nor can they serve as a bridge into the academic hierarchy. Their character is vocational, not academic.
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 recognized internationally as a substitute for the PhD, which remains the gold standard for professorial promotion in academia. To accept that D.Th as equivalent to the PhD without documented equivalency assessment is to collapse the distinction between professional ministerial training and academic research.
Its important to also look at the issue of Violation of Statutes and International Norms involved in the case here.
The National Universities Commission (NUC) Harmonised Guidelines on Appointments and Promotions explicitly 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 ignores these standards and thereby undermines 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 collapses. 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.
The 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 rigour.
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.
