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A federal government investigative panel has confirmed that former Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology Uche Nnaji forged both his University of Nigeria Nsukka degree certificate and his National Youth Service Corps discharge certificate, the most authoritative institutional finding yet in a scandal that began with a two-year newspaper investigation, forced his resignation from the cabinet in October 2025.
The seven-member panel, constituted on November 23, 2025 by Minister of Education Tunji Alausa in response to a petition filed by Nnaji himself, submitted its report to the minister in December 2025. The report was made public on Thursday.
The panel conducted a physical visit to UNN in Nsukka, examined Nnaji’s academic files and internal correspondence, reviewed UNN’s historical academic records, registry movement logs, Senate lists, convocation archives, and electronic access logs, and interviewed the university’s Vice-Chancellor Professor Simon Ortuanya, former Acting Vice-Chancellor Professor Oguejiofor Ujam, Registrar Celine Nnebedum, Records Unit officials, and other staff involved in handling academic records. The conclusion was unambiguous and consistent with every earlier finding: Nnaji did not graduate from UNN and no degree was issued to him.
The panel’s findings complete a chain of institutional confirmation that began in October 2023, when Premium Times sent a Freedom of Information letter to UNN as part of what became a two-year investigation into Nnaji’s academic records. The UNN Vice-Chancellor confirmed in his October 2, 2025 response that although Nnaji, with Matriculation Number 1981/30725, was admitted to the university in 1981, he did not complete his studies and was never awarded a degree.
“From every available records and information from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, we are unable to confirm that Mr Geoffrey Uchechukwu Nnaji graduated from the University of Nigeria in July 1985, as there are no records of his completion of study,” Ortuanya wrote.
The UNN Registrar subsequently corroborated that position. NYSC authorities, in a separate FOI response, disowned the discharge certificate in Nnaji’s possession, stating they could not authenticate it. Premium Times’ investigation found additional irregularities in the NYSC certificate: Nnaji’s discharge certificate indicated he served in Plateau State between April 16, 1985, and May 15, 1986 — a 13-month period. The statutory NYSC service duration is 12 months, and of approximately 50 NYSC certificates reviewed by the newspaper, only Nnaji’s showed a 13-month service period.
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Nnaji filed his petition to the Ministry of Education on October 14, 2025 — days after the Premium Times investigation was published — alleging that UNN officials had engaged in unethical disclosure, document tampering, and political manipulation of his academic records.
He accused UNN Vice-Chancellor Ortuanya and former Acting Vice-Chancellor Ujam of issuing forged or unauthorised correspondence and impersonating him. The panel’s report rejected those counter-allegations entirely and instead confirmed that the forgery lay with Nnaji, not the university. Nnaji had previously taken the same argument to the Federal High Court in Abuja, filing a suit intended to block UNN from releasing his academic records. In the affidavit he filed in that suit, Nnaji admitted that UNN never issued him a degree certificate — an admission that effectively constituted a judicial confession to the core allegation against him.
Nnaji resigned as minister on October 8, 2025, three days after the investigation was published, describing himself in a statement as “a target of blackmail by political opponents.” Under Section 1(2)(c) of Nigeria’s Miscellaneous Offences Act, any person who makes or utters a forged document knowing it to be false or with intent that it may be used as genuine, whether in Nigeria or elsewhere, is liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 21 years without the option of a fine. He could also face prosecution under the Criminal Code Act and the Penal Code applicable in Abuja, where the certificates were submitted.
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission has initiated a formal investigation into the matter, writing to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation George Akume and the Nigerian Senate demanding copies of the documents Nnaji submitted in support of his ministerial appointment in 2023.
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UNN Registrar Celine Nnebedum appeared before ICPC investigators to explain the university’s position. Legal practitioners have publicly criticised the government’s failure to prosecute Nnaji despite his resignation, with lawyer Liborous Oshoma saying people in his position “should be prosecuted and banned from holding public office to serve as a deterrent.”
Nnaji had submitted at least 109 copies of his profile document to the Senate Clerk’s office ahead of his August 1, 2023 ministerial screening, describing himself to all senators as a visionary industrialist, oil and gas expert, construction giant, healthcare practitioner, and pro-democracy activist. He was subsequently confirmed and inaugurated by President Tinubu on August 22, 2023.
The certificates he submitted — a Bachelor of Science degree in Microbiology/Biochemistry purportedly awarded by UNN in July 1985, and an NYSC discharge certificate purportedly covering service in Plateau State — were the foundational credentials underpinning his eligibility for public office. Both have now been confirmed as forgeries by UNN’s Vice-Chancellor, the UNN Registrar, NYSC authorities, and an independent government investigative panel.
UNN separately announced that it was preparing disciplinary action against Registrar Nnebedum for initially providing conflicting statements about Nnaji’s academic history to investigators. No date was given for the disciplinary proceedings. The ICPC’s investigation remains ongoing, and no charges had been filed against Nnaji as of Thursday.
