Fake Professor Exposed at Nigerian University

Anthony Kila is the pro-chancellor of Michael and Cecilia Ibru University (MCIU). He has always presented himself as a professor and a “Jean Monnet Professor of Strategy and Development”. But PREMIUM TIMES found that he has never been awarded this academic title.

Mr Kila became pro-chancellor of MCIU in August 2025. He lists himself as a well-educated and experienced jurist, professor, scholar, author, and public commentator. He chairs the governing council of every Nigerian university, which oversees the university’s administration, policies, finances, and assets.

In interviews with Nigerian newspapers and TV stations, Mr Kila is often called ‘professor’. Some sources call him a professor of political science, while others refer to him as the Jean Monnet Professor of Strategy and Development. But these titles are not real.

This investigation found that no recognized academic institution has ever given Mr Kila a professorship. His profiles on the MCIU and CIAPS websites contain questionable academic qualifications, raising doubts about his other claims.

When our reporter asked Mr Kila about this, he said the European Centre for Advanced and Professional Studies (ECAPS) awarded him the professorship. But our investigation found that this institution does not exist and is only mentioned in his profile.

After we presented our findings, a spokesperson for Michael and Cecilia Ibru University said they have no proof that Mr Kila is not a professor as he claims. PREMIUM TIMES reached out to Thomas Kolo, a former Registrar at MCIU. He connected us with a spokesperson, but they did not give their name.

“We don’t debate issues. You can go up with whatever you are going up with. If there’s a need to respond, we will respond when we see the article,” the spokesperson said.

On the MCIU and CIAPS websites, he is listed as ‘Prof. Anthony Kila’. In various TV and newspaper interviews, he is often referred to as a professor. The title of professor is the highest academic rank given to top researchers and educators in Nigeria and around the world.

There is no evidence that Mr Kila has ever taught at any university in Nigeria or abroad or that he has ever held a professorial title. Mr Kila told PREMIUM TIMES that ECAPS in Cambridge, UK, gave him the professorship in 2016.

But this newspaper found that the institution does not exist anywhere, except in Mr Kila’s profiles. We checked the UK Companies House and Nigeria’s Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), but found no information. There was no website, social media pages, address, or any alumni from this supposed institution.

Mr Kila also claimed that ECAPS made him a ‘Jean Monnet professor of Strategy and Development’. The title “Jean Monnet Professor” is linked to the European Union’s Jean Monnet Actions, which promote teaching and research on EU integration.

We contacted the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA), which runs the programme, to check Mr Kila’s status. They said he does not appear as a Jean Monnet project coordinator, based on their directory.

“In other words, since 2015, Mr Kila has not been listed as a Jean Monnet project coordinator,” the agency said. We also reached out to Jean-Marc Trouille, a professor involved in the Jean Monnet Network. He said it is ‘highly unlikely’ that Mr Kila holds a Jean Monnet Chair award.

“First, I think it is highly unlikely that Prof. Kila would hold a Jean Monnet Chair award,” he wrote in an email.

Mr Trouille searched for Jean Monnet activities involving Mr Kila and found no evidence of him being part of the only Jean Monnet module in Nigeria at the University of Lagos. Mr Kila confirmed to us he had no association with the Jean Monnet actions but could not explain why he refers to himself as a “Jean Monnet professor.”

A professor is the highest academic rank and is earned through promotion within a university. The National Universities Commission (NUC) sets the minimum standards for this rank in Nigeria. They require a doctorate in the area of specialization.

The NUC also states that a candidate must have at least three years of teaching, research, and community service experience at each rank of Lecturer II, Lecturer I, Senior Lecturer, and Associate Professor. This means a candidate would typically need about 12 years of university teaching and research experience before becoming a professor.

Ahmad Galadima, a professor and former Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the Federal University Gusau (FUGUS), explained that candidates’ achievements are first evaluated at the departmental level. Then, they go through the faculty and the university promotion committee.

These evaluations consider publications, teaching loads, and relationships with colleagues. Once the requirements are met, their CVs go for external assessment. “When the requirements are fully satisfied, their CVs are sent for external assessment,” Mr Galadima told PREMIUM TIMES.

In some other countries, like the UK, the process is stricter. “Additional requirements like research grants and quality of journal papers are important,” he added.

But there is no evidence that Mr Kila has taught at any university or published any peer-reviewed articles. His Google Scholar page lists 22 works, but PREMIUM TIMES found that nine of those were not written by him.

Of the works attributed to Mr Kila, none were confirmed as peer-reviewed articles in reputable journals. Three entries on his Google Scholar profile are linked to the Commonwealth Institute of Advanced and Professional Studies (CIAPS) Journal, which is associated with an organization he created.

In his ResearchGate profile, where he calls himself a ‘full professor’, he listed no publications. Mr Kila’s biographies repeatedly say he is an international Director of Studies at the non-existent ECAPS.

The European Centre for Advanced Studies (ECAS), which shares a similar name to Mr Kila’s ECAPS, was established by the University of Glasgow and Leuphana University. They said they have no link to Mr Kila.

“The European Centre for Advanced Studies has no knowledge of this person (Mr Kila),” its Academic Director, James Conroy, told PREMIUM TIMES in an email.

While Mr Kila’s profiles do not specify which schools he attended, they list qualifications like LLM, MBA, MSc, PhD, and PGCE. “Anthony studied in Cambridge, London, Perugia, and Suffolk. He graduated with a first-class degree in political economy and later specialized in political anthropology,” his profile states.

This newspaper asked Mr Kila for his detailed Curriculum Vitae, which would show the institutions he attended and his academic career. He initially said he did not have a CV because he was no longer a young professional needing one regularly.

“I don’t really have a CV handy,” he told our reporter. “I will find time to send you something.” He later provided a list of his academic qualifications.

He claimed to have a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Classic Studies from Università per Stranieri, Italy, in 1989, followed by a Master of Arts in European Studies from the same school in 1991. He also listed a Postgraduate Diploma in Media and Communication from the University of Essex in 1992 and a Master of Science in International Banking and Finance from City University London in 1994.

According to his list, he got a Doctor of Philosophy in Political Economy from the University of Perugia in 1997, followed by an MBA from Aston University, Birmingham, in 2002. He also claimed to have a Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education from Cambridge in 2006 and a Master of Laws from Cambridge in 2009.

But these claims contradict his profiles on the CIAPS website, where he described himself as having graduated with a first-class degree in political economy and later specializing in political anthropology. This claim was also repeated on the MCIU website.

In a brief resume he shared with our reporter, he said his first degree was in Classical Studies from Università per Stranieri, Perugia, Italy. We are still looking into this claim.

The CIAPS website, where Mr Kila made several questionable claims, has been unreachable in the past few days. This followed our reporter’s confrontation with him about our findings. The website was edited, and his misleading profile was removed before it was taken offline.

This newspaper is continuing its investigation into Mr Kila’s academic qualifications. The verification process is slow as we are still waiting for responses from some institutions he claimed to have attended. However, we have clearly established that his professorship is fake, while we continue to look into his educational claims.