Former President Olusegun Obasanjo is now a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), and it is official.

He was pronounced worthy and competent for the award on Friday after a 163-minute defence of his thesis before a six-man panel.

The degree was awarded to the 80-year-old former president by the Department of Religious Studies, Faculty of Arts of the National Open University of Nigeria(NOUN), Abeokuta Study Centre, Ogun State.

On the panel were Prof. Deji Ayegboyin(major supervisor), Dr. Mustapha Raheem Adejoro,( Head ,Department, Religious Studies,NOUN), Prof. Nebath Tanglang(School of Postgraduate Studies, NOUN), Dr. Samaila Mande(Dean, Postgraduate School,NOUN), Prof. Godwin Akper (internal supervisor and Dean, Faculty of Arts,NOUN) and Prof. Cletus Gotan(External Supervisor).

Asked by Dr Samaila Mande, who chaired the panel, to justify in a nutshell why he should be awarded a PhD degree of the institution, Obasanjo said he had put in “enough study” and “intellectual rigours” to produce his work based on diligent guide and supervision from his teachers and supervisors.

Speaking on behalf of the panel at the end of the final defence, Dr Mande said the Obasanjo had satisfied the requirements and thus qualified for the award of Doctor of Philosophy degree in Christian Theology of NOUN.

Mande said it was a thing of joy to him that the ex-President was one of the pioneer students to bag PhD in Christian Theology under his supervision.

He said this would be well celebrated during the NOUN convocation.

Obasanjo’s PhD Thesis is entitled: “Resolving the Unfinished Agenda in Liberation Theology: Leadership, Poverty and Underdevelopment in North Eastern Nigeria.”

The ex-President submitted the thesis to his department as part of the requirements for the award of a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Christian Theology.