X-raying Jimoh Ibrahim's academic qualifications and its usefulness.

The Phenomenon: An analysis of Jimoh Ibrahim's academic qualifications.

Alfred Olatunji 

Yoruba adage:_Bi ilu ba ti oju agba baje, aiko mo iwa wu won ni. "if society turns upside down and the elders watch on, blame this on their moral deficit".

Senator Jimoh Ibrahim has an extensive academic background. That is the end of the seeming good news: how can someone be educated weirdly, and be illiterate at the same time? What makes someone earn incongruous degrees, paint a picture of _world's best_ of themself, but in reality an absolute emptiness? What do you need a whooping _nine_ degrees for, knowing your academic life amounts to nothing?

Senator Jimoh Ibrahim has earned degrees from prestigious institutions, all in big title courses. For greater clarity Senator Jimoh Ibrahim studied law at Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile Ife, Osun State, Nigeria. This was his longest academic journey. But he only earned the degree; he is one of the very few lawyers I know who are only half-educated. Senator Jimoh Ibrahim failed to complete his legal education. There is no record of his success in the Nigerian Law School. He was never called to the bar nor the bench. He studied law but refused to become a lawyer. Nevertheless, he professes law more than the law itself. His body of work in terms of legal education is empty, null and of no effect. When someone like this counsels you on how to become a lawyer, run! It's like a devil teaching you how to be the good God he never was.

From Law, he took the easy way out. He settled for a Master of Public Administration (MPA), also from Obafemi Awolowo University, instead of deepening himself by finishing his legal education. He despised the law school in his mind. His new found interest is to lead the public. The danger he realized later is that you need to understand the dynamics of public service to be able to administer it. An undergrad degree in public admin could have opened his eyes. But he didn't want that too. There is no history of him working in the public service. Beyond hobnobbing with the powers that be, there is no history of a straight path between this legend and the public hifalutin he admires. It's like being under the knife of an uneducated _doctor_ . They can cut your eyes thinking it's a liver or your legs thinking that is where your brain is. 

From Senator Jimoh Ibrahim's public speeches, you would understand his kind of policies about education - go to school, earn multiple degrees, that is enough; arrogate in degrees but be empty on true knowledge; or get to power, borrow money soooo big that your economy will crumble under the burden of gbese. We can see them and their situation with AMCON. An _odolugbese_ in business should never be trusted with public funds; there is no way of helping them. 

Is Senator Jimoh Ibrahim a public administrator? No. Is Senator Jimoh Ibrahim a lawyer? Hell, no! Who is he then?

He didn't want to practice law or public admin. He went for a combined Master of Laws (LLM) and Master's in International Taxation, this time from Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. Does this substitute or replace attending the Nigeria Law School? No. Was he called to the bar in the US? No! He wanted to be a lawyer but not to practice it. Does that make sense? He went for this degree to widen his business horizon and know how to take advantage of public fault lines in an amoral business world. Was he altruistic about his understanding of taxation? No. He didn't even study taxation in Nigeria! He studied US's and international taxation laws where Nigeria is simply non-existent.

From Law to public administration, and from public administration to taxation, Senator Jimoh Ibrahim's next foray is a Professional Doctorate in Business Administration (BusD), awarded by the University of Cambridge. Not in Law, Public Administration or Taxation, but in Business. Also when a holder of several Master degrees cannot qualify for higher degree research (HDR), but a professional doctorate, then you should know they are grossly incompetent. And this is consistent with their record - studied law but not a lawyer, studied public admin but never in public service and a tax consultant who is head-deep in obnoxious debts.

There are two errors in his claims around this. One is that he is the first person to earn a BusD degree since the university's founding in 1209. This is unbelievable. Unless he was the only person who graduated in his set or the first person who was admitted to that degree by the University Senate. Even if he was the first and only person to have earned the degree throughout history, what difference does it make? Does that make him the best of all mankind or the very best of Cambridge University?

The second misrepresentation is the equity created by narrators of Jimoh Ibrahim's academic prowess that his Professional Doctorate in Business (BusD) is a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree. That is madness. It is a mistake he can not make. A professional doctorate is a taught program. It's a higher form of Masters, very much less than a PhD. Or how can a PhD have objectives such as develop a strong awareness of the current academic debates related to their chosen research programme; gain in-depth knowledge of the relevant underlying theories of management; gain practical knowledge of management research through close supervision of their thesis project; and develop strong methodological expertise across a spectrum of research methods and will have applied these methodologies as part of the thesis research project.

Nothing on novelty, additionality, contributions to knowledge, scientific rigor or placement of evidence. I am happy Senator Jimoh Ibrahim cannot claim he can supervise a PhD. He didn't even want a career in academic practice. Being a vice chancellor is too small for this first graduate of BusD of Cambridge. He'd rather be the Visitor!!

One bachelor, almost half a dozen graduate degrees, all incongruous; jack of all, Master of none. But trust Nigerian universities, they have showered him with all sorts of honorary doctorate degrees - Doctor of Letters from Covenant University, Doctor of Science from Ladoke Akintola University, Doctor of Letters from Ondo State University (whatever this means). These are very high qualifications that they didn't award to those who have merited it by the rigour of their academic work. When donations speak louder than meritorious work, you cannot but feel sorry for our state. 

It feels admirable that one person, Senator Jimoh Ibrahim holds multiple degrees across law, public administration, taxation, and business management, complemented by several honorary doctorates and certificates from executive education programs at renowned institutions such as the University of Oxford and Harvard Business School. But, this cannot be a standard to measure academic or professional success. Ondo South needs real people to represent it. Jimoh Ibrahim is an outlier. Outliers are isolated. Otherwise, they'd corrupt the rest of your dataset.