Tinuade Sanda, the former managing director and chief executive officer of Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC), has been in the news for controversial reasons over the past few weeks. She was sacked by Eko Disco and West Power and Gas (WPG) Limited in one month.In March 2022, Sanda was appointed the managing director of Eko Disco, becoming the third woman to lead in this capacity in the industry — after Funke Osibodu of Benin Disco (2013) and Folake Soetan of Ikeja Electric (2020).
TheCable obtained a list of all accredited universities by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research in Benin Republic, and the ICON University was not listed. The ministry also published a list of approved private universities in the country in December 2020, about the time of Sanda’s graduation, and the university was missing.
There is also no evidence that ICON University is accredited in Nigeria and the Benin Republic.
We also extracted the names of the management team at the university and found that many of them could not be found. According to the now-deleted website, the management team comprises Maria D. Smith, Simon Duval, James Hogan and Claudia Williams.
There is no digital footprint of any of these purported professors and no academic records to support their existence as the management team at the said university.
SANDA MISLEADS ABOUT DEGREE FROM HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL
To verify her degree from Harvard Business School, we reached out to the institution.
Responding to our queries, the office of the registrar at Harvard Business School said Sanda did not bag a degree from the highly-rated institution. However, HBS confirmed that she attended a three-day executive course nine years ago.
A screenshot of the response from Harvard Business School
“Tinuade Sanda participated in an Executive Education course,” HBS said via email.
The business school added that she undertook the three-day programme in “Strategic Financial Analysis for Business Evaluation” from March 29 to April 1, 2015, receiving a “Certificate of Attendance”.
“Please note that HBS Executive Education only offers non-degree programs. Certificates of attendance are awarded to participants upon completion of the program and do not grant degrees or alumni status for the program mentioned above,” HBS added.
Since the sack by Eko Disco, Sanda’s LinkedIn page has been edited, removing some of the previously listed educational qualifications.
For instance, Harvard Business School has been changed to Harvard Business School Executive Education and University of Edinburgh has been changed to Heriot-Watt University as seen below.
NO RECORD OF STUDENTSHIP AT UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH
Following our findings with ICON University and HBS, TheCable contacted the University of Edinburgh Business School, which Sanda’s LinkedIn page initially claimed she attended.
David McGregor, a digital communication officer at the University of Edinburgh, said Sanda did not attend the institution, suggesting that we contact Heriot-Watt University.
Heriot-Watt, which offers a 100% online MBA, did not confirm nor deny Sanda’s attendance but simply said: “To comply with GDPR legislation, we are not able to release personal information.”
Sanda also claimed to be a certified member of the Institute of Management Consultants in the United States and an associate of the Institute of Professional Financial Managers in the UK. We checked the published directories of both institutes and found no record of such membership.
TheCable mailed both institutes to confirm what we had found from their published directories, but no response has been received more than a week after the emails were sent.
SOURCE: THE CABLE NG
