Nigeria’s Newly Appointed Head Of FIRS Has Fake Doctorate Degrees

“Dr” Williams Babatunde Fowler, who was on Thursday appointed to head Nigeria’s
Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) by President Muhammad Buhari, holds a dubious
honorary doctorate degree in England from an institution known as the “Irish
International University.”
The fake institution was exposed as a degree mill by the BBC in 2008 as offering
bogus and useless honorary degrees.

In announcing Mr. Fowler’s appointment, presidential spokesman Femi Adesina claimed
that Mr. Folwer “had his higher education in the United States where he obtained a
Bachelor's degree in Economics from the University of Wisconsin and a Master of
Business Administration degree from the California State University.”
He also stated that Fowler holds an “Honorary Doctorate Degree of the Irish International
University”.
That listing of Mr. Fowler’s academic degrees immediately began to provoke close
enquiry.
A United States-based university professor, Farooq Kperogi, writing on Facebook, said,
“After months of delays, ostensibly to properly vet his appointees, President Buhari just
appointed somebody that may turn out to be a total fraud. He appointed a certain "Dr."
William Babatunde Fowler as the Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue
Service (FIRS). In a news release signed by Femi Adesina, this red flag appears on the
man's qualifications: "Fowler, who holds an Honorary Doctorate Degree [sic] of the Irish
International University, is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria and
the Business Management Association of the United Kingdom." Well, Irish International
University is a fraudulent, non-existent university (see http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/
uk_news/education/7175730.stm).
“Second, the Committee of Vice Chancellors in Nigeria has ruled that people with even
legitimate honorary doctorates cannot prefix "Dr." to their names, as is the practice
globally (see http://www.farooqkperogi.com/.../finally-some-good-news...). I fear that if
this Fowler's other qualifications are looked into, a big scandal may break out. His
bachelor's degree, for instance, is said to be from the "University of Wisconsin" and his
master's degree from "California State University."
According to Kperogi, “The trouble is, University of Wisconsin and California State
University are multiple-campus universities; you can't just say you attended the
University of Wisconsin without mentioning the location. The University of Wisconsin has
26 campuses, and California State University has 23 campuses. Something is fishy
here!”
However, Wikipedia has a more detailed listing of Mr. Fowler’s lower degrees which
appears to grant credibility to them, stating that he “obtained his first bachelors’ degree
with a Bachelor of Science in Economics and a minor in Political Science in 1978.”
It adds that he completed a second bachelors’ degree program at California State
University, Los Angeles and also a Master of Business Administration degree program
at California State University, Dominguez Hills in 1981.”
Despite all that, Wikipedia does not list Fowler’s “Honorary Doctorate Degree” from the
Irish International University in its citation.
A cursory look at the Irish International University shows that it is a fake “university”
operated by a United Kingdom aristocrat, Professor Baron Knowth, who serves as the
Honorary Chancellor of the Irish International University. Despite being exposed by the
BBC as a fake university offering bogus and useless honorary degrees, Irish International
University has continued to do business. Several Nigerian politicians, led by former
Lagos state governor and now National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC),
Bola Tinubu, received honorary degrees from it early in 2008. In addition to Tinubu,
broadcaster Bisi Olatilo, BEN TV UK owner, Alistair Soyode, Timi Alaibe, now Oba of
Ugbo, Fredrick Akinrutan, Senator Grace Bent and a scion of the Ooni of Ife, all received
a fake honorary degree in an event orchestrated by the fake university in London.
It is not clear when Mr. Fowler received his so-called honorary degree from the fake
institution, but it is generally believed that his appointment may have been facilitated by
Mr. Tinubu, with whom he previously worked at Alpha-Beta, a shadowy and
controversial tax revenue company.














































Source : Sahara reporters