Professor of Controversies

Is Edwin Onyeneje, Rector of Institute of Management and Technology (IMT), an academic professor or is he an impostor assuming what he is not?

Is Edwin Onyeneje, Rector of Institute of Management and Technology (IMT), Enugu, an academic Professor? Does Rector Onyeneje, also, hold a Doctoral degree from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka?

These posers have continued to punctuate the administration of Onyeneje since he got appointed Rector of the Institute by the government of Barrister Sullivan Chime last year, November. (Picture left shows Onyeneje)

Onyeneje has, particularly, since his assumption of office, taken up the designation of ‘Professor’. He claims to have secured his Professorship from Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT). His claimed core area of study is Social Psychology. Onyeneje, equally, claimed to have earned his Doctoral degree from the famous University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN). In fact, he said he was the best Ph.D student of the university in the 2001/2002 academic year.
But Onyeneje’s traducers tag him a fake professor, saying he just assumed the designation, and began to prefix it to his name without duly earning it from any institution.

Onyeneje’s accusers, also, insist that he never taught in Enugu State University of Science and Technology, arguing that it is, therefore, incongruous for an academic to earn the title of a Professor in an institution he never taught.

Another point of controversy is Onyeneje’s suitability for the rectory of IMT. His critics keep on remonstrating that he is ill-qualified to have been appointed Rector of IMT. Apart from his being a mere administrative staff of the Institute of Ecumenical Studies, Emene near Enugu, the Rector is said not to be an academic lecturer in the first instance. What this means is that Onyeneje was not, in the main, a lecturer even in the Ecumenical Studies Institute from where he was appointed Rector.

Part of Onyeneje’s accusers’ contention regarding his lack of qualification for the position is that his academic discipline, Psychology, is not offered as a separate course of study in IMT. That is, there is no ‘Department of Psychology’ in the school. This situation, it is argued, runs foul of the rules guiding appointment of rectors and heads of similar institutions. Not a few of Onyeneje’s critics maintain that this situation disqualified him from holding the rectory position.

But the embattled Rector insists on his qualification for the rectory of IMT.

“You can go to Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT). You can go to Institute of Ecumenical Education, Thinkers Corner, Emene, and make your inquiries. Meet the authority; they can give you their assessment report. That’s how those things are done. It is a document. They can give you their assessment report. In the university, you have to give your papers to external people. That’s just it.”

Interestingly, Onyeneje admitted that he really never lectured at ESUT, as to qualify him for a professorial appointment by the citadel-of-learning. He explained that he, as a matter of fact, was planning to transfer his service from UNN where, he hitherto lectured, to ESUT. He, therefore, sent his papers to the institution for assessment. It was at the end of the assessment that, according to him, ESUT made him a professor.

But Onyeneje quips that he is still qualified to head IMT whether he is a professor or not, contending that not all the past Rectors of the institution were Professors.

Onyeneje, also, battled to carpet the argument that his appointment is faulty because there is no Department for his course of study, Psychology, in the school, maintaining that some elements of Psychology is involved in every activity in the school, including management.

Onyeneje, equally, debunked the notion that he was a mere administrative worker in his former place of work, saying that, all his life, he had been teaching.

Retorted the Rector: “All my life, it has been teaching. From auxiliary in the secondary school, I went through the university, came out, taught at Institute of Ecumenical Studies, taught at Federal Polytechnic, Okoh, Anambra state when they were having their study center here in Enugu.” He added that he did not only teach at UNN, but headed its Psychology Department.

However, findings by THEWEEK showed that Onyeneje, prior to his appointment as Rector, did submit his papers to ESUT for assessment, but the university’s senate, then under the headship of .., threw out the papers on the grounds of non-qualification. The senate unanimously resolved that he would not be a candidate for assessment in the first place since he was never a lecturer in the institution.

While the controversy trailing Onyeneje’s professorship rages, the onus is on appropriate authorities launch an inquiry into the issue, with a view to deciphering the veracity of his academic claims or otherwise.

Culled from: THEWEEK