The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) on Sunday said the Acting Director-General of Federal Institute for Industrial Research (FIIRO) Oshodi in Lagos State, Mr. Chima Igwe, has not completed his Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) programme.

It said although Igwe did the required three years for the programme – from 1999 to 2002 – and wrote a thesis, he is yet to defend it in the last 18 years.

ICPC noted that “Igwe cannot be said to have been awarded a Doctor of Philosophy since he is yet to complete the process of defence of his thesis”.

The anti-graft agency said it had submitted its findings to relevant authorities for necessary action.

ICPC made the clarifications in a statement by its spokesperson Mrs. Rasheedat A. Okoduwa against the backdrop of the alleged certificate scandal on Igwe’s PhD.

Igwe had been embroiled in a certificate scandal since May 2019 when he was appointed the Acting DG of FIIRO.

Some workers had alleged that he did not have a PhD certificate, which entitled him to lead such a sensitive research centre.

The acting DG had maintained that he completed his PhD course.

But ICPC insisted that he does not have a PhD certificate because he has not completed his course.

The anti-graft agency said its findings revealed that Igwe had just applied to “re-register and update his research results in the current 2019-2020 academic year”.

The statement said: “In the past few weeks, the alleged certificate scandal involving the Acting Director-General of the Federal Institute for Industrial Research (FIIRO), Oshodi, Mr. Chima Igwe, has been entangled in a lot of controversy.

“To clear the air and fulfil its pledge to make public its findings on the matter, the ICPC hereby places on public record the outcome of its further investigations. (The Nation)

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