Nigeria’s Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Uche Geoffrey Nnaji, has resigned from office following allegations that he presented a forged academic certificate.
Nnaji was embroiled in a major certificate forgery scandal after the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, UNN, and the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, disowned the academic and service certificates he claimed to possess.
The development marks the first major exit from President Bola Tinubu’s cabinet linked to certificate fraud.
Nnaji’s was publicly scrutinized in multiple media reports after his certificate scandal erupted, following an investigation by Premium Times, which obtained documents indicating that the minister commenced his NYSC service three months before his alleged graduation date, a clear violation of standard procedure.
The UNN, in a Freedom of Information, FOI, response signed by its Vice Chancellor, Prof. Simon Ortuanya, categorically stated that Nnaji never graduated from the university.
According to the letter dated October 2, 2025, Nnaji, who enrolled in 1981, failed to complete his studies in Biochemistry and Microbiology and was therefore never issued any certificate.
The institution further referenced earlier correspondence to the Public Complaints Commission reaffirming that his name was missing from the 1985 graduation records.
Records revealed that Nnaji had written to the university in May 1986, pleading for another chance to retake a failed terminal course, Virology, MCB 431AB, but the university rejected his request.
The UNN’s findings were reinforced by its convocation list for 1985, which did not include his name.
Compounding the controversy, the NYSC also disowned the discharge certificate marked A231309, dated 1986, which Nnaji submitted to the Senate during his ministerial screening.
Investigators found inconsistencies in the document’s details: it bore the signature of Col. Animashaun Braimoh, who did not head the NYSC until 1988, and carried the title “National Director,” a designation introduced years after Nnaji’s supposed service period.
Further scrutiny revealed that while Nnaji’s alleged degree was dated July 1986, his NYSC certificate claimed he served from April 1985 to May 1986 — meaning he began service before graduation. Experts described this as a procedural impossibility.
Two senior NYSC officials reportedly confirmed that no record of Nnaji’s service existed in the agency’s archives.
In an attempt to halt further exposure, the minister filed a suit at the Federal High Court in Abuja seeking to restrain the Education Ministry, NUC, and UNN from releasing his academic records, but Justice Hausa Yilwa dismissed the key injunction requests.
