Jonathan appoints “Fake” Professor as DG Research and Development Agency – Report

Dr. Seidu Onailo Mohammed is the DG of National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA). He was recently reappointed as Director General of the Agency by President Goodluck Jonathan. that is however not the news.


The news is that recently, Dr. S.O. Mohammed was “appointed” as a PROFESSOR of Remote Sensing and Geo-Spatial Science by KADUNA STATE UNIVERSITY at its 45th Governing Council Meeting held on 3rd July 2013. The governing council cited Dr. Mohammed’s “exceptional and scholarly merit and distinguished service to Nigeria” as his qualification for the appointment as a professor. Now, One expects that to be appointed professor, a scholar must have a series of international and local publications to his credit. But that is in normal climes.

I know Dr. Mohammed, so when he was appointed professor, I was alarmed because I know he has no requisite verifiable publications to his credit to qualify him as a professor. So I searched Google Scholar to see if I had lost tab on him. Lo and behold, I could not find a mention of him nor any of his publications in any local or international journals.

It seems to me that the Nigerian academia which has graduated from indiscriminate dishing out of honorary doctorate degrees to quota professorship is now extending the impunity to “honorary professorship” as indicated by the action of Kaduna State University. It is instructive to note that Kaduna State University has no fully developed Department of Geography, so it beats me how they can appoint a “Professor in Remote Sensing and Geo-Spatial Science”.

Yet ASUU is on strike demanding for improvement in academic standards while some of their members are bastardizing the academia.

I do not have issues with Dr Mohammed being appointed DG NASDRA, but why must we reduce the next level of academia to such ridicule as “official honorary professors”?

See the PUNCH report of June 26 2013 below:

Jonathan reappoints Mohammed as NARSDA DG

President Goodluck Jonathan has re-appointed the Director General of the National Space Research and Development Agency, Dr. Seidu Onailo Mohammed as the DG of the space agency for the next five years.

A statement signed by the Head, Media and Corporate Affairs, NASRDA, Mr. Felix Ale, said a letter signed by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Anyim Pius Anyim, showed that the appointment was for a second tenure of five years and took effect from July 2, 2013 in accordance with section 14(4) of the NASRDA act of 2010.

Mohammed, according to the statement, is a scientist. He was also said to be in charge of the agency when it launched three satellites in 2011, namely Nigeria-Sat X, an indigenous satellite, Nigeria-Sat 2 and NigComSat IR.