Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike has honoured a student living with disability, James E. Daniel, with N50million and automatic job at the Rivers State University for bagging a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree.
The Governor, however, warned all Rivers State-owned universities to stop indiscriminate conferment of doctoral degrees on all manner of questionable candidates and people of material influence.
Wike announced Daniel’s N50m reward and automatic appointment as a lecturer of the university during the 33rd convocation of the Rivers State University, Port Harcourt on Saturday.
The Governor said the honour bestowed on Dr. Daniel was in recognition of his academic excellence and for being a source of inspiration to persons living with disabilities.
The governor directed the Governing Council and managements of state universities to sanitise their internal academic systems.
He said they should stop every inappropriate policy, practice or procedure that compromised the high quality academic standards required of tertiary institutions.
He observed that like the mustard seed, the university had grown from the little beginnings to become one of the largest and leading state government-owned institutions in the country.
The Governor stressed that serious universities jealously guarded their reputation and award doctoral degrees only to students who had gone through years of rigorous intellectual research and interrogation with dissertation independently adjudged to be sound and contributory to new learning.
Wike, however, described as unfortunate, the current trend and practice in universities of awarding doctoral degrees indiscriminately, like chieftaincy titles, to all manner of questionable candidates.
According to him, this practice must stop in all Rivers State Government-owned tertiary institutions as they demand greater character, commitment and responsibility from staff and management to the vision and fundamental objectives of university education.
The governor explained programmes that the university offer must equip the students with relevant skills, entrepreneurial or otherwise so that on graduation they can start their own businesses and professional practice and become creators of jobs.
