The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has described the honorary doctorate degree conferred on President Muhammadu Buhari by the Kaduna State University (KASU) on December 12, 2015 as fraudulent and disgraceful.
In a statement signed by the student body president, Comrade Tijani Usman, on Tuesday, December 15, 2015, NANS calls on President Buhari to desist from procuring fraudulent degrees and focus on governance because, our country is faced with terrorism, economic hardship, religious crises and political tension.
Read the full statement below:
It is quite unfortunate that at a time we are clamoring for a overhaul and repositioning of our educational sector, our leaders are doing the opposite by their actions and inactions.
The show of shame that took place in Kaduna State University (KASU) on 12 December, 2015, is capable of making foreign Universities and corporate organizations to further undermine and disregard degrees obtained from Nigerian schools.
We expect our leaders to be our role models by living exemplary life. How can one explain that, President Muhammadu Buhari who has not even cleared the air on his certificate saga, still went ahead to accept a fraudulent honorary degree from a university that is not authorized by National Universities Commission (NUC) to do so.
We make bold to state that, the honorary doctorate degree conferred on President Buhari is illegal and non sequitur because..
1) KASU is not among the 22 universities
accredited by NUC to award honorary degree.
2) KASU was established 10 years ago, and has never graduated a PhD student.
3) Section 2.0 subsection (a) of the Council of VCs Keffi declaration 2012, prohibits the award of honorary degrees to persons holding political offices.
We therefore demand the following:
1) That President Muhammadu Buhari should honorably relinquish the fraudulent degree.
2) That NUC should with immediate effect sanction KASU for contravening its rules and regulations.
3) That Academic Staff Of Universities (ASUU) and Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) should sanction the entire management team of KASU for making a mockery of Nigerian
universities.
4) That President Buhari should desist from procuring fraudulent degrees and focus on governance because, our country is faced with terrorism, economic hardship, religious crises and political tension.
