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The screening of Prof Joseph Utsev, a ministerial nominee, will go down as one of the controversial moments in the 10th Senate as his appearance before the lawmakers sparked a prolonged drama in the Senate.
While presenting his credential to the lawmakers on Monday July 31, 2023, Joseph who is the pioneer Rector of Federal Polytechnic Wannune, Benue State said he was born in 1980 and finished his primary school education in 1989.
This indicated that Utsev started his primary education at the age of four.
Pointing out a perceived discrepancy in his credential, Senator Tokunbo Abiru asked the ministerial nominee to clarify the age he started primary education since his resume showed that he completed his primary school at the age of nine.
Reacting to the question, Prof Utsev said he started his primary education in 1984, but some of the lawmakers disagreed with him.
While Utsev failed to convince some of the lawmakers, the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio asked his colleague, Senator Abba Moro to react to the issue.
In his submission, Moro said the alleged discrepancy in Utsev’s profile might be a typo. He, therefore urged the Senate to confirm his nomination.
Corroborating Utsev's claim, Senator Elisha Abbo said it's possible for the ministerial nominee to have started his formal education at the age of four because he (Abbo) wrote the common entrance exam when he was in primary three and he passed the exam.
Akpabio thereafter asked the nominees to leave and recheck his credentials, saying the error may be a typo as suggested by Senator Moro.