LAOLU AKANDE

NEW YORK

 

A US based Nigerian, trained in a Nigerian university for his first degree has made history at the Princeton Theological Seminary -a college founded in 1818 by the same founders of Princeton University here in the USA-completing a Ph.D. programme in two years and making a distinction while at it.

 

Pastor Nimi Wariboko made history at the Princeton Seminary College when he completed a Ph.D. programme in Divinity in two years instead of an average 4 to 5 years that it normally takes for a doctoral candidate to earn the award of a doctorate. Indeed it is mostly when a doctoral programme is done on full-time basis that many candidates are expected to finish in 3 years. Although some doctoral candidates have been known to complete their work in little less than three years in universities across the world, Wariboko's feat in pulling off the Doctorate even before the official end of the second year is considered an unusual achievement by international standards.

 

Wariboko's dissertation for the doctorate is in Divinity and is titled: Money and Relations: Toward a Triune Model of the Global Monetary System. The dissertation was awarded the summa cum laude a.k.a. distinction.

 

According to records at the Seminary in Princeton, Wariboko, a full-time pastor of one of the biggest Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, in New York started his Ph.D. programme in the fall of 2004 and by October 5 this year, two months before the end of the fall of 2006, he already bagged the doctorate.

 

Commenting Professor Mark Lewis Taylor of Princeton Seminary said he was proud of the Nigerian scholar. Asked to make a comment, as Wariboko's  main doctoral supervisor, on his feats, especially his distinction award for his doctoral dissertation and the speed with which he accomplished the work, Taylor, professor of the Theology of Culture said "I am glad you are writing this story. All who know him and support him must be proud. I am certainly very proud of him, and proud to count him as colleague and friend."

For the award of a doctorate by Princeton Seminary, Wariboko had to complete 8 doctoral seminars in 4 semesters, normally 2 years, but he was able to complete 9 seminars in less than two years-specifically completing more than required in 3 semesters with straight A's in all the seminars.

The school also conducted 5 comprehensive examinations for him and approved his dissertation proposal within the 4th semester, although he was expected to accomplish this in the third academic year or the 5th and 6th semesters. Within the same period of two years, Wariboko already found himself at the equivalent of the third academic year. By April 19 this year, i.e. the 3rd semester, he started writing his doctoral dissertation which he completed on September 14. He then submitted the dissertation for 2 weeks of public review in the school where any professor or academic can raise questions or queries about the quality and content. The review opportunity time lasted more than the normal two weeks till the 3rd week, but there was no objection. he was then scheduled for an oral defense of the dissertation which held in Princeton on October 5.

Wariboko, who was all the while working as a full time Pastor successfully defended his dissertation and got the award. In his acknowledgment, he said "I do not think I could have gone this far in life without the support of my Lord and my God, Jesus Christ."

Wariboko who attended the University of Portharcourt Nigeria, between 1980-1984 for his first degree graduated with a first class in Economics and received the Federal Government of Nigeria's Merit Award for Outstanding Academic Achievement. Two years later in 1986 he won African Concord International Essay Award and was consequently recruited by the Chairman of African Concord magazine, Chief M.K.O Abiola to work for the magazine as a Business staff writer.

After relocating to the US he continued into graduate studies in New York, where in 1992 he got an M.B.A., Finance and Accounting from another ivy US college, Columbia University. After he was ordained a pastor by the RCCG in the US he proceeded to Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where in 2003, he got  his Master of Divinity with a special acomplishments completing the program in 18 months with all A's in all the 93 credits he took, but one.

At Princeton in the pursuit of his doctorate, Wariboko took courses from other departments in  Princeton University including in Analytical Philosophy, Development Ethics and State Politics and Development. His dissertation is considered a critical review of the global monetary system which makes the dollar and to a lesser extent the euro and yen to be too domineering as global currencies against others in the world. For Wariboko, the triune notion of God urges that the global monetary system ought to be based on equality and fairness just like the trinity where the Godhead, God the son and God the Holy spirit are one.

To accomplish his doctorate, Wariboko was awarded a doctoral fellowship by the Princeton Theological Seminary. He is described as trained as a social ethicist in Religion and Society. According to him, " my research addresses the intersections between religion, faith, theology, monetary systems/policies, global empire, business behavior, and economic development in a globalizing world."

Although he is a scholar, he observes that his love "and commitment to the church community," is unfailing.

As his resume stated Wariboko, a senior RCCG pastor, as a Zonal Coordinator, was also a former strategy advisor to top 20 investment banks in the world " with excellent understanding of workings of the financial systems; expert in financial analysis and superior knowledge of management practices, business operations, and corporate cultures."

He has won the RCCG North America award for best pastors thrice including last week at the church's ministers conference in Dallas.