Enyi Paul Onyebuchi has long aspired to possess the highest academic qualification in both his village of Ikelegu and the wider Ndiebor community in the Ebonyi Local Government Area of Ebonyi State. This dream has now become a reality, as he has successfully obtained a PhD in Mathematics.
However, despite his academic achievements, Enyi’s hopes of securing a more substantial position within the civil service have proven elusive. He remains in the same role he held 18 years ago when he was employed as a cleaner at Ebonyi State University (EBSU).
Enyi began his journey at the university in 2007 with only an O’level qualification. He subsequently returned to education, achieving a first degree, a Master’s, and ultimately a PhD in Mathematics. He earned his BSc in 2013, his MSc in 2017, and his PhD in 2022. Yet, the 45-year-old has not seen any advancement in his position, prompting concern from friends, well-wishers, and admirers who are advocating for his elevation within the university.
In an interview with Saturday Sun, Enyi revealed that he was earning a meagre N32,000 per month when he was first hired. Despite his efforts to secure a promotion to a better position, he has faced numerous obstacles. He recounted the challenges he overcame while managing on his N32,000 salary as he pursued his degrees, expressing disappointment that he remains in the same role he held nearly two decades ago.
He stated: “The current administration in the university just assumed office a few months ago, and the past administration couldn’t do anything after many write-ups and submissions that I made. I have not written to the current administration since they assumed office.”
He continued, “There were so many obstacles I passed through before getting to this my present academic position. One of them is financial challenges. Looking at the meagre salary I was receiving and the huge amount of money I was paying as school fees.”
Many of his friends and family supported him financially during this time, and the university also provided assistance by granting him a waiver that reduced his school fees. He said, “I was not paying the full school fees; they gave a 25 per cent waiver. Other ones, I managed and paid through my friends and brothers, because I couldn’t pay the fees from my salary.”
Enyi explained that his starting salary was N32,000, but he was motivated to pursue higher education for several reasons, including his desire to break new ground academically in his family. “Today, I am the first PhD holder in my village. So, these are the things that made me to go into the programmes so that I could change the narratives. I was not doing the programmes to be a lecturer or anything. I wanted to get a better job and set the pace in my community and my village.”
Although he had hoped to become an engineer or a medical doctor, he found himself in Mathematics instead but remains determined to fulfil his original dreams. Enyi, who is also a father of two, mentioned that he engages in agriculture to support his family financially and advised the youth to pursue similar paths to weather the current economic challenges in the country.
“I got married when I was doing the PhD. I didn’t marry as early as that. I was almost done with my course work on the PhD when I got married. I didn’t depend on my N32,000 salary when I was doing my programmes. I am a farmer; I was doing so many things. I farm with my hands and I employ people to farm for me.”
He elaborated, “If I should sell the cassava I cultivated last year, I will not sell it for less than N1.5 million. Then I am into piggery. I have many goats. So, these are the things that I do that helped me to do what I did,” he stated.
One of Enyi’s admirers, Godffery Chikwere, expressed his frustration regarding Enyi’s status at the university, despite his qualifications. “In my quest to get assistance for students of Ebonyi State University (EBSU) at the Presco campus of the university, because of the increasing spate of rape and robbery on that campus, I ran into this guy’s case. He has a PhD in Mathematics.”
Chikwere remarked, “This guy’s case should be an embarrassment to any Izzi man he has ever approached for assistance but they turned him down. His case should be a shame to EBSU as a whole.”
He continued, “This is Dr Enyi Onyebuchi Paul. He’s from Ikelegu Ishieke in Ndiabor community of Ebonyi Local Government Area. Having got a job as a cleaner and messenger at the Ebonyi State University in 2007, he struggled to see himself through university education in the same school to the level of PhD in 2022. Since then, they have refused to convert him to an academic staff.”
Chikwere lamented, “EBSU should have converted this man and used him as a reference point for hard work, but he has no one who knows someone who knows another person. He is still a cleaner with a PhD. Under the immediate past VC, six persons from outside the university were allegedly employed in the department in which he is qualified to work, but they can’t simply convert him. Reason is, he knows no one at the top. He has met two principal officers to the current governor, who is from Izzi, and a commissioner. But none of them could help. What a shame,” he said.
Emmanuel Onwe, a lecturer at the university, described Enyi’s situation as both bizarre and ridiculous. “Employed as a cleaner in 2007 and has remained a cleaner till 2025! Apart from the additional qualifications he acquired in the course of the 18 years, what happened to the normal progression in service?”
He added, “Though I learnt his case is currently receiving attention, I’ll still call him to get more information on this matter. I need to make sense out of this puzzle. Something is not adding up,” he stated.
When approached for comment, the university’s Public Relations Officer, Patrick Itumo, expressed surprise regarding Enyi’s situation. He explained that the university had only recently completed the process of converting qualified staff, with many individuals having applied for it.
“I don’t know whether he applied for it. If he applied for it, I don’t know why he didn’t pass the exam. Let him write a letter to the Vice Chancellor or Registrar indicating all these things and also come to our office so that we’ll know what happened,” Itumo told Saturday Sun.
