Botswana International University of Science & Technology (BIUST) has moved swiftly to expel Professor Frank Ibikunle following an expose by the Sunday Standard on the lecturer’s academic misconduct. Last October, Sunday Standard exposed Ibikunle, a lecturer in the Department of Engineering and Technology who also sits in the university’s council, after he was found to be in violation of IEEE’s Publication Principles. Professor Ibikunle was found to have violated the IEEE journal publication principles by submitting for publication an academic paper that contained significant portions of original text from a paper written by other academics. A statement of analysis from IEEE indicated that Ibikunle’s paper was in violation of IEEE’s Publication Principles.
In its notice of violation, the IEEE had accused Professor Ibikunle of copying the original text from a paper titled “Security Vulnerabilities and Solutions in Mobile WiMAX” which was authored by Andreas Deininger, Shinsaku Kiyomoto, Jun Kurihara and Toshiaki Tanaka and published in the International Journal of Computer Science and Network Security, Vol 7, No 11, November 2007. Following the publication of the Sunday Standard investigation, the university suspended Ibikunle. Sources at the university have confirmed that the university has since parted ways with the Nigerian Professor. Reached for comment, the university’s acting Director of Communications and Public Affairs Keoagile Rafifing said the contractual agreement between the employer and the employee is always a confidential and private matter that cannot be availed to third parties.
