Several Nigerians blame Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala for Nigeria’s economic woes. A lot of them therefore detest her and believe she does not deserve an honourary doctorate confered on her by an American university earlier this week.
Okonjo-Iweala was awarded an honourary Doctor of Humane Letters from Yale University, one of the United State of America’s most prestigious institutions of higher learning. The award made her the second Nigerian in the university’s 314-year history to receive its highest honour after Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka who received an honorary Doctor of Letters in 1980.
More than 2,000 persons had already signed a petition asking Yale University to withdraw the honorary doctorate degree.
The petition, which is being hosted on Change.org, the world’s largest petition platform, was started by a Nigerian resident in the United States, one Sunday Iwalaiye, Thisday reports.
The petition was tagged “Yale University gave its prestigious honorary doctorate degree to an undeserving Nigerian,”
“There is no tangible evidence of any economic development in Nigeria under the leadership of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (sic) in all reality.
“Nigeria’s economy is still an oil-dependent economy that is debt and borrowing ridden as well as 100% consuming and importing in nature.”