Kila: Before The Stone Is Cast

I can’t recall ever having shared the same physical space with the embattled public commentator, Anthony Kila, but my heart goes out to him in his hour of tribulation. Before now, I’ve only spoken to him over the phone. I thought he was a respectful and brilliant person. I found him personable, engaging and worldly-wise.

Say what you will, in the garb of a public intellectual, Kila was often perspicacious and insightful. He spoke like a man who professed something (Okot p’ Bitek taught me that every professor must profess something!). But for the thorough job done on the investigation by Premium Times, it would have been difficult to wrestle him down from his alleged bogus academic pedestal.

Kila’s spurious claims, as catalogued by Premium Times, are typically human, not exclusively Nigerian, even if universally condemnable. I urge you not to join those who see this as a great opportunity to engage in their favourite pastime of casting stones at a fallen man or woman. I don’t believe in hitting a fallen man. Rather, I think this is a moment to teach and learn.

Titlemania

First, considering the society’s glorification of all manner of titles, be they real, fake, conjured, invented or otherwise manufactured, it was a matter of time before an Anthony Kila was invented. If he had not happened along, society would have created him. He is in the eye of the storm now because his number has been called.

Do you know how many other fake professors are out there milking whatever they can from their assumed status until fate comes knocking in the form of another hard-nosed journalist?

Kila thrived as a ‘professor’ in the public eye for over a decade because he relied on a combination of self-created entities and unverified institutional credentials. His claim that his professorship (“Jean Monnet Professor of Strategy and Development”) was awarded in 2016 by the European Centre for Advanced and Professional Studies (ECAPS) was debunked when investigations found no record of ECAPS existing as a recognised higher-education institution.

Also, the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA), which administers official Jean Monnet actions, confirmed he was never awarded a Jean Monnet Chair or Professorship.

The rudest bombshell of the revelations was the disclosure that Kila fabricated an extensive collection of advanced degrees (BA, MA, MSc, MBA, LLM, PGCE, and PhD) from prominent international universities. Aston University had no record of him in their registry for an MBA. The University of Essex stated that his postgraduate diploma in media and communication was non-existent in their records. City University London reported that he did not complete his degree programme. The University of Cambridge disproved his claims regarding a PGCE and LLM.

The genius of Kila’s alleged deception scheme was in his establishment and running of the Centre for International Advanced and Professional Studies (CIAPS), through which he controlled his own bio listings, journal publications, and intellectual output, projecting an image of an established academic and thought leader without undergoing traditional university peer review or tenure processes. He was his own university.

Institutions and media platforms routinely accepted his self-reported titles at face value. He looked truly believable. His public acceptability and media exposure catapulted him to being appointed as pro-chancellor of Michael and Cecilia Ibru University (MCIU). That appointment has now been withdrawn.

Jason Arday

But wait a minute. The world witnessed the widely reported case involving a former University of Cambridge sociology professor, Jason Arday, who was found dead in London in August 2026 at the age of 41 following serious allegations regarding his academic credentials, his backstory, and significant parts of his published work.

Jason Arday was appointed Professor of Sociology of Education at the University of Cambridge at age 37, making him one of the youngest Black professors ever appointed at Cambridge. His inspirational backstory—claiming he was unable to speak until age 11 and unable to read or write until age 18—was the stuff of which enduring fables were made.

However, it all ended tragically. Following the exposure and scrutiny surrounding his qualifications, Arday resigned from his chair at Cambridge. Several days later, he was found dead.

No man should be pushed to the precipice where suicide looks more attractive than repentance.

Worldwide

Academic fraud is a global phenomenon. Across Europe and North America there have been many cases involving individuals who claimed fake professorships, fabricated academic titles, or built major careers on completely fraudulent credentials.

Ward Churchill (United States / University of Colorado Boulder) rose to the rank of full tenured professor of Ethnic Studies despite having neither a PhD nor the standard academic credentials required for tenure at a research university. He had also claimed American Indian ancestry and an extensive research record. He was fired in 2007.

There was the case of Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, Germany’s Defence Minister, in 2011, who claimed an elite doctorate from the University of Bayreuth. Investigations revealed that major portions of his thesis were plagiarised word-for-word, leading to the revocation of his PhD and his resignation.

Two years after Guttenberg’s disgrace, Annette Schavan, Germany’s Federal Minister of Education, had her doctoral title revoked by the Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf due to systematic plagiarism. She had to resign.

There was the Axact Degree Mill Network (International / US & UK Operations). The Scheme: Axact operated hundreds of fake online universities (such as “Nixon University” and “Brumford University”), issuing fraudulent PhDs and professorship certificates to thousands of individuals worldwide. Numerous media commentators, policy experts, and private college lecturers in the US and Europe were exposed for having purchased fake professorships and PhD credentials to bolster their public credibility.

One of the really sad cases of academic fraud in Europe involved Prof. Jan Hendrik Schön (Germany / Bell Labs, US). Considered a physics prodigy tipped for a Nobel Prize, Schön claimed groundbreaking advancements in nanotechnology and molecular electronics while working at Bell Labs. But independent researchers discovered that he had used identical noise graphics and data plots across multiple unrelated experiments. Bell Labs fired him, and the University of Konstanz revoked his doctoral degree due to dishonourable scientific conduct.

There are hundreds and hundreds more. I have mentioned these cases, not to glamourise fraud but to show that we are dealing with a worldwide phenomenon. Society should never condone academic fraud. It is all well and proper that credible platforms associated with Anthony Kila have dropped him.

Men and women of goodwill should now offer him a sobbing shoulder and encourage him to retrace his steps in humility like a repentant prodigal son.

However, so that the day may not come when we shall have to make the same pleadings on your own behalf, please remember the wisdom of the ancestors: “Before you clean someone else’s yard, sweep your own doorstep.”

Jason Arday was pushed by a horde of sanctimonious judgementalists into depression and death. I plead that we treat Anthony Kila with consideration and empathy. That is what our humanity demands.