FOLLOWING speculations in some quarters
that President Goodluck Jonathan did not complete his doctorate degree
programme at the University of Port Harcourt, the institution has come
out in his defence.
But the Uniport Deputy Registrar
(Information), Dr. William Wodi, explained that apart from acquiring his
first degree in the institution, Jonathan also got his Masters and Ph.D
in the same institution.
The deputy registrar of the university
specifically stated that Jonathan was among 422 students that
matriculated in the school in 1977 and was admitted in the Department of
Zoology, which had been renamed Animal and Environmental Science.
“The authorities of the University of
Port Harcourt are aware of rumours that are now spreading like harmattan
fire over the doctoral degree status of President Goodluck Jonathan.
The allegations have neither legs nor grounds to stand on and we hope
that its purveyors will now rest in silence.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the
authorities of the University wish to state without equivocation that
Mr. Goodluck Jonathan, as he then was, was among 422 students, who
matriculated in 1977. He was admitted into the then Department of
Zoology, now Animal and Environmental Biology in the then School of
Biological Sciences, now a Faculty in the new College of Natural and
Applied Sciences.
“At the end of a successful residency
period, Jonathan was awarded the Bachelor of Science (Upper Division) in
1981. It was rumoured among students that the young university was
reluctant to award the First Class to its pioneer class in an effort to
consolidate its academic profile,” Wodi said.
He said the President later enrolled into
the postgraduate programme and obtained the Master of Science degree in
Hydrobiology and Fisheries in 1985 and crowned his academic pursuit in
the University with the Doctor of Philosophy degree in Zoology in 1995.
He said, “From the above account, it has
become obvious that Dr. Jonathan successfully completed the prescribed
courses and programmes as specified by the Senate of the University of
Port Harcourt to earn his degrees from the university.”
Stressing that the university remains
proud of Jonathan, Wodi advised any person or organisations in need of
further information on the educational qualification of the President or
any other student of the institution to contact authorities of the
university.
“We have absolutely nothing to hide as an
institution that has a statutory mandate to advance the frontiers of
knowledge,” Wodi added.
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