FOLLY OF NIGERIAN'S DESPERATION FOR INCONSEQUENTIAL TITLES, PAPER QUALIFICATIONS
-Zik Gbemre
The emphasis on paper qualifications has made Nigeria a title crazy nation. Certificates without merit and performance.
The SGF should focus on root cause of certificate forgery rather than establishing another corrupt gov't agency to give clearance to incompetent degrees/diplomas holders without merit.
Emphasis on certification has pushed people to obtain degrees and diplomas at all cost. The Emphasis should be on impact on society and performance. To obtain certificates in Nigeria is do or die to boast ego.
Nigeria is the only country in the world where people obtain tittles to add to prefix to their names as Chief, Alhaji, Barr, Arch, Surv, Pharm, CSP, ACP, DCP, CP, AIG, DIG, Engr, Mallam, Bishop, Rev, Apostle, Hon,etc all to swell egos. name it. It is now a status to add PhD behind their names to brag about.
The craze for paper qualification has eliminated performance. Mark Elliott Zuckerberg founder of Facebook has no college degree, Bill Gates founder of Microsoft has no college degree, Steve jobs founder of Apple Computer Company & phones had no college degree and many other geniuses have no college degrees and they don't want to change their status as degree holders.
What good has the emphasis on paper qualification bought to Nigeria? Laziness and appetite to obtain degrees and diplomas at all cost. As far as one can pay degrees can be obtained in higher institutions in Nigeria.
University of Ibadan(UI) and very few others are the only institutions you can't buy degrees and diplomas in Nigeria. Degrees and diplomas have become cash and carry. As far as you can pay, private universities are always available to award any degree of your choice.
I think emphasis should be on performance and impact on society rather than emphasis on paper qualifications. I am not against paper qualification obtained on merit but here in Nigeria paper qualifications has rendered our education system useless.
The out of main campus courses and part time degrees programmes in Nigeria are nothing but useless. University of Ibadan is the only university in Nigeria without external campuses and part time degree courses.
The federal government should redirect our education system and emphasis should be on performance and impact on society rather than emphasis on paper qualification without merit.
It is time for Nigeria to discourage titles being attached as prefix before names. Titles without merit are useless.
Femi Otedola believes that success is not solely dependent on university education but can be achieved through determination, business acumen and innovation.
Femi Otedola didn't complete secondary education and didn't attend university as he dropped out of secondary school to focus on business after struggling with education.
Femi Otedola disclosed this in his released 286-page memoir titled MAKING IT BIG: LESSONS FROM A LIFE IN BUSINESS. A first class degree certificate holder is not first class in business management, research, innovation, wisdom, knowledge.
The idea of posing PhD behind every name is a sign of inferiority complex and it is useless if the holder is copy and paste. Chinua Achebe and Woles Soyinka didn't graduate in University of Ibadan as first class degree holders but they are great genuises acknowledged globally and their works are used globally to teach English literature.
Oil companies in Nigeria asking for high grades of degrees are deceiving and misleading their companies. A university PASS degree holder may be more intelligent and talented than first class degree holder in every aspect of life.
Zik Gbemre
January 16,2026
We Mobilize Others To Fight For Individual Causes As If Those Were Our Causes
