The Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi has been dragged before a Federal High Court siting in Abuja over an alleged plagiarism by a Nigerian and United States of America-based academic, Prof Victor E. Dike.
Dike is a lecturer at the School of Engineering & Technology, National University of Sacramento, California, USA.
Dike, who is also the CEO and Founder, Center for Social Justice & Human Development, claims that he is the original author of the article titled: Review of the Challenges Facing The Nigerian (Is National Development Possible Without Technological Capability?).
The article was published in the Journal of Sustainable Development in Africa (Volume 12).
He claimed that the CBN Governor, in a public lecture delivered at the Eight Convocation Ceremony of Igbinedion University, Okada, Edo state on 26 November, 2010, titled Growth Prospects For The Nigerian Economy, copied verbatim and pasted from his academic articles he published without referring to him as the original author of the work.
The plaintiff averred that Sanusi copied from pages 98,99 and 100 of his work titled, ‘Review of the Challenges Facing the Nigerian Economy: Is National Development Possible Without Technological Capability?’
He stated the copied lines as follows: “The challenges facing the economy is ineffective institutions and dilapidated infrastructure (bad roads, erratic power supply, limited access to potable water and basic healthcare, and ineffective regulatory agencies, etc). The plethora of reforms and policies are ineffective due to institutional failure (Hoff, 2003)”.
The above is just a few sentences from one of the publications in which Lamido Sanusi is alleged to have plagiarised.
At another lecture delivered by the nation’s Chief Banker at the Convocation Square, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi where he presented a paper titled ‘Global Financial Meltdown and the Reforms in the Nigerian Banking Sector’, Prof Dike alleged that Sanusi also copied verbatim articles originally written and published by him without acknowledging him as the author of the works from where the he sourced the materials for his lecture.
He also stated that Sanusi on different occasions copied his materials without acknowledging him as the original author of the works.
The plaintiff subsequently asked for the sum of N15 million as compensation, the cost of filing the suit and the cost of travelling to Nigeria.
He also asked the court to declare that Sanusi plagiarised his works and breached his copy right.
He further asked the court to issue a perpetual injunction restraining Sanusi from citing his papers as his (Sanusi’s).
He asked the court to direct the CBN Governor to retract the papers from the public by removing them from the CBN website.
The plaintiff asked the court to make a publication in a national daily denouncing the authorship of the articles.
The court ordered the bailiff to paste the court’s processes at the CBN after the bailiff deposed to an affidavit that the security at the office did not accept service.
The case was subsequently adjourned by Justice Adamu Bello to 31 May for mention.