Apply merit, extant laws in appointment of LASU VC, Lagos doctors tell Sanwo-Olu
Vow to resist move to disenfranchise medical community
By Chioma Obinna
The Lagos State branch of the Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, and its affiliates on Thursday demanded the application of merit and extant laws in the selection of the Vice-Chancellor of the Lagos State University, LASU, vowing to resist any move to disenfranchise any qualified person including medical doctors with fellowship through lawful and legal means.
The medical doctors, however, appealed to the State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu to immediately announce any of the three finalists in the second selection process as the ninth Vice-Chancellor of the University.
It could be recalled that following the Lagos State Governor had ordered fresh selection for final selection of the Vice-Chancellor of LASU following petitions from some people within the University.
Speaking in a joint press statement signed by the State Chairman, NMA, Dr Adetunji Adenekan, Chairman, Medical Guild, Dr Oluwajimi Sodipo and Chairman, Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, MDCAN LASUTH, Dr Mumuni Amisu, leaders of the associations expressed fear that political interference and what they described as the “seemingly apparent discrimination” against the Medical Profession and established Medical education in Nigeria may derail the University system.
“We do not have any reason to believe that the previous processes of selection of ninth Vice-Chancellor for LASU were not rigorous or not in compliance with laid down procedures and the extant laws of the University.
“We appeal that any one of the three finalists in the second selection process be announced by Mr Governor without further delay.
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“They all have what it takes to put the University in the path of unrivalled progress and excellence in its three core mandates of teaching, research and community service.
The doctors further argued that undue interference will as well send a message to all clinical lecturers in the College of Medicine in general as unwanted members of the university community as well as to the selected Professors of Clinical Medicine in the University specifically, as being perceived as second-rate academics in LASU despite proving their mettle by coming top in the interviews conducted.
“What has drawn the interest of the medical community, including the NMA and her affiliate bodies initially is the fact that, to our excitement, each time the selection the process was completed, at least one clinical professor had made the first three submitted to His Excellency for consideration. “In fact, in the first selection process, now botched, the professor that ranked highest among the three selected professors, based on information in the public domain, was a medical doctor and professor of the field of clinical medicine.
“It even got more interesting in the second attempt at the selection as all the three professors selected by the selection committee were medical doctors and professors of different areas of clinical medicine. Our expectation was that one of these professors would have been selected for the position by now.”
The medical doctors added that their interest was further drawn to the selection process of the 9th Vice-Chancellor of LASU when it became apparent, based on earlier sundry media releases by some members of the university, that a key reason for the protraction in the appointment of the new Vice-Chancellor was certain petitions from some members of the University a community which queried the propriety of the Selection Committee to have countenanced clinical professors in LASU whose terminal qualification was the Medical Fellowship and not the PhD.
According to them, section 2.7.5 of the Condition of Service of Lagos State University states that”A recognised doctorate degree (PhD) or a recognised Professional Qualification in Medicine (Fellowship)” is the basic requirement for teaching and career progression in the university, as in the case in every university in Nigeria.
Describing the alleged petitions as frivolous, they argued that such should not be a basis for delay in appointment of the 9th Vice-Chancellor and a source of disappointment to all members of the Medical Academia.
“Our primary concern is the fact that despite the fact that in the very last (second) attempt at the selection, the Joint Selection Committee of LASU Senate and Council not only stated in the advertorial that the Medical Fellowship or a PhD were the terminal qualifications they sought in any professor that will aspire to lead LASU in line with the LASU condition of service, age-long tradition, and best-practice in all Nigerian universities; such baseless petitions were still being considered worthy of engagement by the Governor.
“It is also secondarily unsettling for us as stakeholders in the academia, including the medical academia, that despite the fact that the LASU Vice Chancellor selection process, now conducted twice, was widely adjudged thorough, with computer-based examination and oral interview with full video coverage, was still being subjected to endless scrutiny.”
They said the Governor’s subjection of the latest process to another scrutiny due to petitions came to them as a rude shock.
“We are unable to dismiss well-known public insinuations that the process is being hijacked by external political forces and that the interest of these political forces is to impose a Vice-Chancellor on LASU and to prevent medical doctors who are professors of clinical medicine from emerging as Vice-Chancellor in LASU as part of a larger conspiracy. “
They further accused the members of the visitation panel of being bias adding that, “We were amazed that despite the fact that the main the argument of the petitioners was on the PhD versus Medical Fellowship debacle, members of the visitation panel were all PhD holders and none is a Medical doctor. We were concerned by the level of ignorance feigned by the panelists about the Medical fellowship, as they all erroneously assert that the Medical Fellowship was not an acceptable qualification to teach at the University despite glaring evidence that this is the practice in Nigerian Universities and stipulated by the relevant laws and conditions of Service of LASU.”
They cited the fact that three past Vice-Chancellors of LASU (the pioneer VC, Prof Folabi Olumide, the 4th VC, Prof Fatiu Akesode and the 7th VC, Prof John Obafunwa) who distinguished themselves were Medical Doctors with Fellowship and the Condition of service of LASU recognised such, they stated that the Chairman of the panel continued to insinuate that Professors of clinical medicine should not become university Vice-Chancellors because they hold the Medical Fellowship in lieu of PhD.
“This view expressed by the Panel Chairman confirmed our fears that the whole crisis in the LASU Vice Chancellor selection process was orchestrated and for the sole agenda of using the needless PhD versus Medical Fellowship brouhaha as an excuse to reject the outcome of the selection process until the desired outcome of imposing a certain candidate is achieved.
“We strongly believe that the intervention of the Special Visitation Panel was in furtherance of a sinister agenda that will not serve a good purpose for the progress of the University and which may engender further crisis
“We use this opportunity to draw attention to the danger this act will portend to medical education in LASU and other Colleges of Medicine in Nigeria where clinical lecturers have diligently held and still hold the forte, if their morale is killed by this needless, almost reckless, act of discrimination.”
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