Tinuade Sanda, the former Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC), has been sacked following investigation that revealed she didn’t attend the educational institutions in her certificates.
The controversy regardung her certificates and the educational institutions led to her dismissal from both Eko Disco and its parent company, West Power and Gas (WPG) Limited, within the span of one month.
Sanda, who made history as the third woman to lead a major electricity distribution company in Nigeria, faced an internal investigation two years into her tenure, leading to her recall by the Nigerian Electricity Distribution Commission (NERC) and subsequent termination of her employment by WPG Ltd.
The decision to dismiss Sanda was based on concerns raised about her educational qualifications, particularly her claim of holding a PhD from the “University Management Science and Technology, Benin Republic,” a university whose existence has been called into question.
Investigations by TheCable revealed that “the university’s website had expired, with no evidence of accreditation from relevant authorities in Nigeria or Benin Republic.”
Additionally, Sanda’s purported degrees from Harvard Business School and the University of Edinburgh have been debunked, with Harvard confirming her attendance at a three-day executive course but not awarding her a degree.
Further inquiries into Sanda’s claimed memberships with professional institutes in the United States and the UK yielded no results, as there was no record of her membership in their published directories.
In response to these revelations, Sanda’s LinkedIn profile has been edited to reflect changes in her educational qualifications, raising questions about the veracity of her claims and the implications for her leadership roles in the energy sector.
The controversy surrounding Sanda’s credentials emphasizes the importance of transparency and due diligence in verifying the qualifications of executives, particularly in critical sectors such as power distribution. As the investigation unfolds, stakeholders await further developments regarding Sanda’s tenure and the future leadership of Eko Disco.
Investigations into Sanda’s educational qualifications further confirms the authenticity of a recent revelation of how many Nigerians enroll into non-existence or fake universities to obtain degree certificates.