USA Africa Dialogue Series - Two Promiment Nigerian News Blogs Fight For Credibility Over The Stella Oduah Certificate Report

US College Says It Did Not Award MBA To Stella Oduah As It Has No Masters Programme

By Saharareporters, New York

Stella Oduah, Nigeria's Minister of Aviation who is embroiled in a scandal of towering proportions in the ministry, faces new integrity questions as her Masters' degree has been challenged by the United States school which supposedly awarded it.

Her resume, which she presented to the Senate as a ministerial nominee in 2011, indicated she obtained a Master's degree in Business Administration (MBA) from St. Paul's College Lawrenceville, Virginia, United States.

But SaharaReporters has learned from the President of the college that it has never in its 125-year history had a graduate school or graduate program.

The Provost Vice President of Academic Affairs, and the Vice President of Institutional Development said in response to our inquiries, "We don't offer any graduate programs here."

Similarly, the school's website states: "Saint Paul's College is accredited by the Commission of Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award baccalaureate [bachelor's] degrees." There is no mention of graduate degrees.
 
The Minister's documentation shows she received an undergraduate degree in accounting from the college in 1982, but Dr. Claud Flythe, St. Paul's current president, could neither confirm nor deny this during a phone conversation with SaharaReporters.  Further verification with the Office of Alumni Affairs is also currently impossible, the school said, because the college has been closed since June 2013 to loss of its accreditation.

"[Oduah] realized very early in life the indispensability of a sound education in her growth plans in life and therefore pursued her education with all diligence and sense of purpose," her documents claimed, adding that a determination "to have the best education at the highest level" prompted her stay at the Virginia college in 1983 for the MBA programme.

As her public relations machinery marched on, in December 2012 The Sun newspaper published an article headlined "Stella Oduah: An Amazon of transformation," which lauded her "MBA from St Paul's College, Lawrenceville Virginia USA." The story also praised her for being an official who brought her "rich educational background to bear on the aviation sector by automating revenue centers in all the agencies and parastatals to boost their revenue profile and enhance transparency and accountability in the system."

In October, SaharaReporters broke the story that Mrs. Oduah, a former campaign manager for President Goodluck Jonathan, purchased two bulletproof BMW cars worth $ 1.6 Million (N255m) through the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, for her own use.  

Following an investigation, the House of Representatives Committee on Aviation dismissed the Minister's pleas of innocence and all her rebuttals during her testimony.  The committee's report, which was subsequently adopted by the House, declared that no budgetary appropriation had been made for the purchase of the cars, and that the NCAA proposal for their purchase was rejected.

President Jonathan also set up a three-member administrative panel to investigate the matter, but he immediately travelled out of the country with Mrs. Oduah and Colonel Dasuki, the National Security Adviser who was to serve as a member of the panel.  Not only did the panel submit its report much later than the two weeks it was given for the assignment, Mr. Jonathan has refused to release its report.  

Mrs. Oduah's new certificate questions are certain to feed into national concern about her credibility as an elected official, but also about Mr. Jonathan's credibility, and about the nation's security apparatus which verifies official documents offered to the Senate for official nominations.  

If Mrs. Oduah deliberately deceived the Senate, it remains to be seen if the Upper House will be sufficiently motivated to take up the matter with the Executive.  

Meanwhile, Nigeria's aviation industry continues to face a massive challenge, with struggling airports and airlines, as well as financial and administrative pitfalls that hinder expansion and development.

Oduah: Sahara Story Doubtful as St Paul's College has since shut down

By Elombah.com, London

The college that saharareporters claimed told them that Minister of Aviation, Stella oduah did not attend their school has since folded up about a year ago, in 2013. Here is the report; After 125 Years of Service, St. Paul's College Shut Down. The report was written on June 30 2013 by Denise B. Hawkins. It is therefore doubtful that Sahara would have gotten any response from a college that folded up around June 2013.

The Board of Trustees of St.Paul's College in Virginia decided to close down the school formally on June 30 2013 until another financial resource can be discovered to run the campus.

Below is the full report: 

After 125 Years of Service, St. Paul's College Shut Down June 30 2013 by Denise B. Hawkins

"In the coming weeks, the focus at Saint Paul's will be the business of shuttering the rural 184-acre campus. In the coming weeks, the focus at Saint Paul's will be the business of shuttering the rural 184-acre campus.

 Saint Paul's College, the beleaguered HBCU in Lawrenceville, Va., will cease operation on June 30, according to its board of trustees.

A spokesperson for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) confirmed that Belle S. Wheelan, president of the regional accrediting body, had received a May 28, letter from the chairman of the board of trustees at Saint Paul's College notifying her of the decision to close the 125-year-old institution. Efforts to reach Board Chairman Oliver W. Spencer Jr., were unsuccessful.

In recent years, SACS cited Saint Paul's for a series of deficiencies and violations, among them the lack of financial stability and too many faculty without terminal degrees. The college was eventually stripped of its accreditation.  A federal judge later issued a preliminary injunction, allowing the college to keep its accreditation on a probationary basis so that Saint Paul's could continue to enroll students and hold classes. It opened last fall with about 111 students.

During a two-year probation, the private college struggled, but couldn't fix what accreditors found lacking at the institution that largely serves low-income, first-generation students. Saint Paul's struggled to rebound. Student enrollment continued to tumble, slipping below 100 and the money it raised from gifts, alumni donations, and desperate appeals, never seemed to be enough for the fledgling college to thrive.

Late last year, a merger-acquisition plan with Saint Augustine's University in Raleigh, N.C., seemed to be the lifeline Saint Paul's College needed. But in May, Saint Augustine's dashed those plans, saying that acquiring the college was "not a fiscally responsible option." The proposal, which some in the Black college community called innovative and historic, would have created "the Saint Paul's College campus of Saint Augustine's University on the Saint Paul's College," said Millard "Pete" Stith, Saint Paul's vice president for Institutional Advancement. Stith said the two institutions had also discussed making Saint Paul's "an extension of Saint Augustine's University, with academic programs accredited as Saint Augustine's University programs and operations.

The acquisition would have also meant assuming Saint Paul's debts which were estimated at between $4 million-$5 million dollars, Stith told Diverse.  Although the St. Augustine's decided not to pursue the acquisition, it did agree to hear an appeal on May 31, from Saint Paul's trustees hoping to reverse the decision. Saint Paul's College and Saint Augustine's are two of three Historically Black Colleges and Universities founded by the Episcopal Church. The other is Voorhees College in Denmark, S.C.

Until now, with each setback or bad turn, Saint Paul's College seemed to dodge demise. A recent message and urgent appeal on the college's website from national alumni President Hardi Jones was hopeful, but late: "The administration and staff press forward with an operating plan to increase enrollment, serve our beloved students, reduce debt, and raise gifts and grants that will contribute to the successful outcome of a balanced budget, extended accreditation and a continuum of mission.  These outcomes, while challenging, have been accomplished before, but only with your help did we succeed."

In the coming weeks, the focus at Saint Paul's will be the business of shuttering the rural 184-acre campus. According to documents obtained by Diverse, those efforts will include notifying teen parents enrolled in the College's Single Parent Support System Program that they will no longer be able live on campus or pursue a degree there. Close-out plans will also mean satisfying faculty and staff contracts, and transferring students to neighboring Virginia institutions, such as Norfolk State University and Virginia Union, selling off more than $30 million in property and buildings, and settling debts.

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