Petition to revoke minister’s doctorate gains 5000 signatures

The petition to withdraw an honorary doctorate granted to Nigeria’s Finance Minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has now gained 5,090 signatures.

The petition was started by Sunday Iwalaiye, a Nigerian resident in the US, who believes that Okonjo-Iweala is undeserving of the award.


Yale said on its website that the minister “had tackled corruption, created a vision and path to long-term economic stability, and worked to build a culture of transparency” during her tenure.
Iwalaiye however said that this description of the minister’s achievements does not reflect the truth about what happened “under the watch and the supervision of the Nigerian economy by Ngozi Iweala as the nation's finance minister.”

A spokesperson for Yale responded via email that the university has no intention of revoking the award because it has never revoked an honorary degree since its inception.

Another petition has also been started to urge Yale to ignore revocation calls and it has so far gotten 1,731 signatures.

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