Rivers University expels student over viral claim that her lecturer handled her project for ₦150,000

Ignatius Ajuru University of Education in Rivers State has expelled a final-year student, Nora Onyewuenyi, over a viral video in which she said a lecturer in her department was handling her final-year project for ₦150,000. The university has described her conduct as "damaging content creation."

The Senate took the decision at a meeting on Wednesday at the Postgraduate Hall, after reviewing the video and the student's claims. The decision was announced in a statement by the university's Public Relations Officer, Dr Ngozi Okiridu. The student studies English and Literary Studies at the university's Rumuolumeni campus in Port Harcourt.

The video was an interview with a content creator that circulated widely online. In it, she described her research project and said a lecturer was handling the work for ₦150,000. The statement says she also called her project topic "Citizenship," which it says does not exist in the department, and claimed her supervisor wrote the project for her.

According to the university, she later admitted her claims were untrue and said she made them to create social media content. The university said the post damaged its image, that such behaviour would not be tolerated, and that the expulsion is meant to deter other students from doing the same. The claims in the video have not been independently verified.

The part of the statement carried in reports does not say whether the university investigated the allegation against the lecturer or whether any action has been taken against him. None of the reports names him or carries his response. The student's own response has also not been reported, and the statement as quoted does not mention whether she can appeal.

Ignatius Ajuru University of Education is a state-owned institution. It was established as a university in 2009 and was previously the Rivers State College of Education, which operated from 1971 to 2009.