Guy who claims he has overcome autism not Oxford professor

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Records show that Chris Imafidon has no affiliation with Oxford University or any of its colleges or departments – Varsity’s media relations manager.

The University of Oxford has disclaimed that a Nigerian, Chris Imafidon is a professor at the university.

Saturday PUNCH on November 18, 2017, published an interview in which Imafidon claimed that he had overcome autism to achieve greatness and that no child was born with an inferior gene. The interview went viral on the web, where his rich profile abounds and appears at every search of his name.

Questions were raised by concerned members of the public after the publication of the interview.

Local and some international media have described Imafidon as a professor at Oxford University and at other times, as a professor of University of Oxford (Keble College). However, in their responses to Saturday PUNCH’s enquiries, University of Oxford and one of its independent constituent institutions, Keble College, denied having any connection with him.

Over the last two weeks, Saturday PUNCH has then made several efforts to get Imafidon to substantiate his purported link with the Oxford University or Keble College.

Saturday PUNCH, had, in a series of emails sent to the University of Oxford, requested to know Imafidon’s connection to the school.

The school, in its response sent by Lanisha of its News and Information office, responded, saying: “Thank you for your email. Our records show that Chris Imafidon has no affiliation with Oxford University or any of its colleges or departments. I hope this information is what you are after; please let us know if we can be of any further help.”

The exact same response came from the school’s Media Relations Manager, Dr. Julia Paolitto, saying, “Thank you for your email. Our records show that Chris Imafidon has no affiliation with Oxford University or any of its colleges or departments. I hope this information is what you are after, please do let us know if we can be of any further help.”

The University of Oxford has 38 colleges, which is described on its website as “financially independent and self-governing, but relate to the central university in a kind of federal system.”

And since Keble College (University of Oxford), which Imafidon has also claimed to identify with, is one of the 38 independent colleges affiliated with the Oxford University; therefore, Saturday PUNCH sent another email directly to the college.

Saturday PUNCH, in the email, requested to know if Imafidon had lectured at any time in the school or had any affiliation whatsoever with it.

A response from the school by its Communications Manager, Boriana Boneva, said the “only formal connection between Chris Imafidon and the college of which we are aware is that his daughter was a student here.”

Checks by Saturday PUNCH confirmed that Anne-Marie Imafidon (2006) is listed on the college’s website as one of the beneficiaries of the 2017 New Year Honours given to Keble Old Members, whose achievements were recognised.

When Saturday PUNCH called Imafidon on the telephone to tell him about Oxford University’s responses, Imafidon expressed surprise, saying it was strange for the school to have denied having any relationship with him.

Imafidon’s profile on his Linkedin page describes himself as a “professor, an advisor to governments, monarchs, & leaders, keynote speaker and Chair, Excellence in Education.”

Excellence in Education, according to its website, is a non-profit support group in Oxford working with children, schools, local groups, companies and charities to improve educational development.

It also says, “As Honorary Board Member/Director of Research, Chris mentors and supports young leaders, teachers/tutors, teaching assistants/researchers from University of Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial College, Kings College, UCL and Queen Mary University of London. He also collaborates with and consults for Ohio State University (USA); London and Oxford colleges that are keen on mutual areas collaboration.”

His profile on Linkedin further describes him as one of the “world’s foremost scholars on leveraging informatics for learning and exceptional achievement (genius)", but no mention was made of what he is a professor of or the trajectory of his educational career, stating where he had his first degree, Master’s degree, PhD and later became a professor.

It, however, says under the period between September 1999 and August 2013 that “Chris is a multi-award winning researcher and scientific pioneer. A member of the Information Age Executive Round-table forum – which is made up of the top 15 IT experts, decision-makers, CIOs, and executives in the UK.


“He is a consultant to governments and industry leaders. As a former university lecturer in Cambridge, he also has been a guest lecturer at the University of Oxford (Keble College) and a visiting professor to US universities, including Harvard, Cornell, Columbia, SUNY, Georgetown, Miami, LSU (Louisiana State University), and has collaborated with scientists at Yale University.

“He continues to mentor, supervise and examine both internal and external PhD, and undergraduate students at Imperial College, Cambridge, UCL and for Queen Mary University of London, where he was a former Head of the Management Technology Unit. Chris served on the Board of Governors, Woodford, one of the nation’s most successful schools. He currently serves on the board of Excellence in Education programme.”

It further says that Imafidon has been “quoted in, contributed to, and featured in over 1,500 major media outlets worldwide,” including the BBC, CNN, ITV, Time Magazine and Wall Street Journal.

On the page, Imafidon expressed his gratitude to the students he had purportedly supervised in some of the most prestigious universities in the world, saying, “I am honoured and fortunate to have supervised some of the most dedicated and determined students ever. I wish to salute my PhD, MPhil, & Master’s students in Oxford, Cambridge, & London. Your works have led to recent BCS awards, and numerous scientific papers/book chapters and invitations to speak in parliaments, as well as opportunities to train senior legislators, and industry leaders.”

On October 19, 2017, Imafidon was at the University of Ilorin, Kwara State, to deliver its 33rd Convocation Lecture, titled, ‘The Genius in You: New Tools, Techniques and Technology for Developing the Individual and Institutional Greatness.’

A statement credited to the school’s Registrar, Dada Emmanuel, which can be found online, had described Imafidon as “Prof. Chris Imafidon of Oxford University, United Kingdom.”

Meanwhile, Saturday PUNCH has also sent emails to most of the numerous schools that Imafidon is said to have affiliations with, to confirm the veracity of the claims.

These institutions include Yale University, Harvard University, Cornell University, University of Georgetown, University of Miami, Lousiana State University, Imperial College, Queen Mary University of London and Woodford County High School, but they had yet to respond as of the time of filing this report.