Tinuade Sanda. |
The immediate sacked former MD/CEO of the Eko Electricity Distribution Company, EKDC, Tinuade Sanda is embroiled in another form of controversy as though she was born to be controversial or get involved in one controversy or the other, as the controversy about her being sacked was clearing out, she has just entered another as she has been in the news for controversial reasons over the past few weeks.
First,
she was sacked by both Eko Disco as MD and CEO, then, by her parent company,
West Power and Gas (WPG) Limited in one month.
In
March 2022, Sanda was appointed the Managing Director of Eko Disco, becoming
the third woman to lead in that capacity in the industry, after Funke Osibodu
of Benin Disco (2013) and Folake Soetan of Ikeja Electric (2020).
Two
years into her appointment, Sanda, who claims to have been educated across the
world, became the subject of an internal investigation at the company.
On
the 25th of March Dere Otubu, Chairman of the Board of Directors at
Eko Disco, announced the recall of Sanda based on a directive from the Nigerian
Electricity Distribution Commission (NERC). She was recalled to the parent
company alongside other WPG staff.
Backing
the decision of the Board of Directors at EKEDC, West Power and Gas (WPG), the
parent company of Eko Disco, announced that it had also fired Sanda with the
statement below.
“We hereby advise you that your services are no longer required and
accordingly your employment with WPG Ltd is hereby terminated effective April
17, 2024, in accordance with clause 10.2 of the Contract,” the company said in
a letter to Sanda.
“WPG Ltd
is obligated to pay you three months salary in lieu of notice and hereby advise
you that the due amounts have been credited to your account.”
ALLEGED EDUCATION FRAUD BY SANDA
Concerns
have been raised in recent media publications about Sanda’s widely touted
educational qualifications and potential deceit while at the company.
According
to her LinkedIn page, the embattled MD had initially claimed that she holds a
Bachelor’s degree in applied science (BASc) from Harvard Business School and an
MBA in Strategic Planning from the University of Edinburgh.
She
also claims to have earned a PhD in Benin Republic.
PHD
FROM ‘NON-EXISTENT’ UNIVERSITY
Her
public profile claims she holds PhD in financial management and
entrepreneurship from “University Management Science and Technology, Benin
Republic”. In an interview with Punch Newspaper, she said she “bagged a Doctor
of Philosophy (PhD) in Financial Management and Entrepreneurship from the Icon
University of Management Science and Technology, Benin Republic, in December
2020”, therefore presenting herself as Dr. Tinuade Sanda.
To
verify this, TheCable contacted the university to check the authenticity of the
PhD and found that the institution’s website domain had expired and the
university had been taken offline.
What
is left online of the said university is an Instagram account where it markets
itself to potential students, especially Nigerians. The university offers a
B.Sc in three years, as against the standard four years in Nigeria, and
interestingly, does not require UTME results for admissions.
To
further verify the state of the university’s website before it was taken down,
we used Wayback Machine, an internet archive tool, to extract information.
According
to this archived webpage, the university claims it has the “Authorization No:
2014-049 MESRS/CAB/DC/SCM/DPP/DGES/DEPES/SA” in the Republic of Benin and is
“recognized by Ministry of higher Education of Nigeria (sic)”.
We
found no record of Nigeria’s Ministry of Education approving such a university.
We have since contacted the National Universities Commission, but there was no
response as of press time. However, the list of accredited universities on the
NUC website does not include ICON University.
TheCable
obtained a list of all accredited universities by the Ministry of Higher
Education and Scientific Research in Benin Republic, and the ICON University
was not listed. The ministry also published a list of approved private
universities in the country in December 2020, about the time of Sanda’s
graduation, and the university was missing.
There
is also no evidence that ICON University is accredited in Nigeria and the Benin
Republic.
We
also extracted the names of the management team at the university and found
that many of them could not be found. According to the now-deleted website, the
management team comprises Maria D. Smith, Simon Duval, James Hogan and Claudia
Williams.
There
is no digital footprint of any of these purported professors and no academic
records to support their existence as the management team at the said
university.
SANDA
MISLEADS ABOUT DEGREE FROM HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL
To
verify her degree from Harvard Business School, we reached out to the
institution.
Responding
to our queries, the office of the registrar at Harvard Business School said
Sanda did not bag a degree from the highly-rated institution. However, HBS
confirmed that she attended a three-day executive course nine years ago.
A
screenshot of the response from Harvard Business School
“Tinuade
Sanda participated in an Executive Education course,” HBS said via email.
The
business school added that she undertook the three-day programme in “Strategic
Financial Analysis for Business Evaluation” from March 29 to April 1, 2015,
receiving a “Certificate of Attendance”.
“Please
note that HBS Executive Education only offers non-degree programs. Certificates
of attendance are awarded to participants upon completion of the program and do
not grant degrees or alumni status for the program mentioned above,” HBS added.
Since
the sack by Eko Disco, Sanda’s LinkedIn page has been edited, removing some of
the previously listed educational qualifications.
For
instance, Harvard Business School has been changed to Harvard Business School
Executive Education and University of Edinburgh has been changed to Heriot-Watt
University as seen below.
NO
RECORD OF STUDENTSHIP AT UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH
Following
our findings with ICON University and HBS, TheCable contacted the University of
Edinburgh Business School, which Sanda’s LinkedIn page initially claimed she
attended.
David
McGregor, a digital communication officer at the University of Edinburgh, said
Sanda did not attend the institution, suggesting that we contact Heriot-Watt
University.
Heriot-Watt,
which offers a 100% online MBA, did not confirm nor deny Sanda’s attendance but
simply said: “To comply with GDPR legislation, we are not able to release
personal information.”
Sanda
also claimed to be a certified member of the Institute of Management
Consultants in the United States and an associate of the Institute of
Professional Financial Managers in the UK. We checked the published directories
of both institutes and found no record of such membership.
TheCable
mailed both institutes to confirm what we had found from their published
directories, but no response has been received more than a week after the
emails were sent.
SOURCE:
THE CABLE NG
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