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Tag: crisis

  • NFF CRISIS: Gombe blames Sports Minister

    NFF CRISIS: Gombe blames Sports Minister

    Former chairman of the Gombe state football association, Shuaibu Ahmed Gara-Gombe has accused Nigeria’s sports minister, Tammy Danagogo of fuelling the crisis currently eating up the leadership of Nigerian football.

    The fiery sport critic and administrator has told SL10 that all the issues currently bedevilling the country’s football, and all the blame should be forwarded to the doorsteps of the minister.

    “I will tell you that the minister deserves the entire blame, as he has been the one behind these issues. He has been the architect of the whole thing but unfortunately, the problems have grown beyond him now and he seems to lack the capacity to manage it,” Gombe said.

    “He has over 30 sports federations under him, how come football takes his whole time? And now it’s obvious that he cannot even manage any of football’s problems in the country. The reasons why he has towed this path are that he is inexperienced and has bad advisers, and he also failed to sit with people who have the experience with the politics of sports management in Nigeria.”

    Gombe has been an open critic of Danagogo, since the inception of the NFF crisis and has never hidden his opinion about the issues. And he believes the minister has made mistakes because he hasn’t taken his time to study the laws governing the game in Nigeria and the world at large.

    “I don’t think he has studied the laws governing the NFF and FIFA statutes and for me, that is where his mistakes started from,” he said.

    Meanwhile, senior special assistant to the minister on media, Patrick Omorodion has replied the accusations, saying Gombe has got nothing meaningful to say.

    “I don’t even like joining issues with him (Gombe); he obviously has nothing to say. He has been talking and claims to be a saint, but he should come and tell us what happened to him in Kano and why he was sacked.

    “He keeps talking and talking but why was he sacked from the Kano State government, if he is a saint like he claims,” Omorodion told Hot FM.

  • Crisis of confidence rocks Ilorin NBA

    Crisis of confidence rocks Ilorin NBA

    The Ilorin branch of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) is engulfed in a crisis that is threatening its foundation. Rather than engaging in dispute resolution and arbitration, lawyers are at one anothers’ throats, following an attempt by the leadership to probe the immediate past executive. Besides, a group of lawyers plan to impeach the chairman of the branch, Mobolaji Ojibara.

    The lawyers, who are said to be loyal to the former chairman, were said to have served Ojibara a two weeks impeachment notice. The notice of impeachment is said to be sponsored by 16 members of the association and seconded by 18 others. They are accusing him of professional misconduct contrary to Article 14(a) of the NBA bye-law 2013, Section 9(a) (iv) of the NBA Constitution 2009, Article 22 NBA bye-law 2013 and NBA Guidelines and Timetable for 2014 NBA and abuse of office contrary to Section 14(c) of NBA Ilorin bye-law, 2013.

    They accused him of issuing a dud cheque of N300, 000 to Dr. J.O. Olatoke (SAN) and also replacing the name of Balogun with that of Salman Jawondo as a delegate to the just-concluded NBA national elections. They are also accusing him of using funds meant for the association to buy bags of rice for his friends and also sponsored the funeral ceremony of the association’s Vice-Chairman without due clearance from the association.

    According to those who want him out of office, Ojibara allegedly redeemed the sum of N3 million from pledges made at a recent NBA function without disclosing same to the executive council or congress of the association.

    Investigations revealed that the alleged disqualification of Balogun who sought to contest election as National Legal Adviser of the Association at the just-concluded NBA election may have been responsible for the anger against Ojibata by some of the members.

    Ojibara told our correspondent that those seeking his removal as the NBA chairman will not succeed; even as he allegedly blamed the development on the immediate past leadership of the branch headed by Balogun whom he claimed had allegedly refused to submit to the rule of accountability.

    While claiming not to have received any notice form impeachment as at the time of this report, his associates said only two third of financial members of the association can actually remove the chairman, stressing that those behind the move really do not have evidence to prove their allegations.

    Ojibara said: “The problem is that they have refused to be accountable to the association. When they left office, we decided to look into the account and that is the normal practice, but they refused.

    “For instance, they claimed to have spent N6.5 million on the Bar Centre and still left a debt of N7.7 million. When they presented that report, members said the account should be audited and we set up an audit committee to do that but they went to court to stop the auditing.

    “In December, while that was going on, we had our dinner but they hijacked the programme and presented themselves with awards. If we had screened the accounts by then, we wouldn’t have presented them with awards. We also later decided to look into how they hijacked the programme and set up a committee to do that.

    Again, they went to court to stop the process. It was at that point that Balogun sought to contest for a post in the National Executive Council of the association. They then began to make various comments on the social media which attracted the attention of the National President.

    They claimed there was a state of emergency in the Ilorin chapter, that the executive have been banned and other allegation. I had to talk with the President and I put down my position formally and they found substance in what I said and that was why they disqualified Balogun from contesting.”

    Continuing, he said: “The moment they returned to Ilorin, they launched this impeachment drive as an attack on my administration. Check the document and you will see that virtually all the lawyers that signed are from one chamber or the other where members of the past executives are working.

    Their campaign is that once Balogun was disallowed form contesting, then this executive must also go. But we are merely insisting on sanity in the branch because we believe that people should be accountable. They just want to negotiate knowing that they cannot get anything from the court process. They have done so much havoc to the association.

    “I urge you to go and see the Bar Centre and the level of work done. I am not begging anybody not to go ahead with the plan to remove me if they think they have what it takes to do so.”

    One of the lawyers, Rafiu Balogun dissociated himself from Ojibara’s ordeal saying “I am surprised that a leader of the bar could go on this way when he knows the truth. I don’t know why some of them are being economical with the truth. The audit committee that was set up was manipulated by the chairman and one or two of his cohorts who are hell bent on destroying our credibility.

    “In the history of the bar in Ilorin here, there is no administration that can match ours. The records of our achievement are there. I am surprised that he is saying I am the one supporting the move.

    “At our general meeting of April 18, the one we had at the Chief Judge’s Court, the secretary, Mr. Akande sat with the congress. He rose up and said the chairman is guilty of financial recklessness, abuse of office and unguarded statement. That is coming from his secretary and that is part of the grounds of impeachment.

    “Is that Balogun again? He should just leave me alone. This is what happened: after our tenure when we submitted our annual reports and accounts, we set out everything clearly. There was no issue at all. It was at the point of the report being adopted at the swearing-in of the new executive that Mr. Salman Jawondo, his godfather, raised up his hands that we must not adopt this report that day because the time was far spent.

    “The tradition is that we must adopt it but because we didn’t know they had their own plans, I said no problem; that we could adopt it at the next general meeting which is the inaugural meeting of the Ojibara administration. But the day we were supposed to do that, Jawondo again raised an issue that the report had not been audited and therefore should not be adopted.

    “I was surprised. Meanwhile Ojibara began to read out a list of names of a committee on that. One of the elders objected to it because that was not the practice. How can you appoint committee for us to audit the report? There and then Jawondo raised his hands up again and nominated Dr. Adams whose name had earlier been read out by Ojibara, to head the committee.

    “Thereafter, they began to jubilate that they were going to deal with me. The secretary to that committee is in the same office with Dr. Adams. They wrote to me asking for records of the administration. I asked them to contact the secretary because as chairman, I don’t keep records. Let them write to all secretaries and financial secretary.

    “They wrote and those people responded. But the committee didn’t work at all. The chairman alone was looking at our record and was filing report because he was detailed to indict me because of my ambition. As a result of the practice in those days, the chairman must recommend you to say that you are in good standing, otherwise you will not be allowed to contest.”

    Balogun also said: “The plan was that they would use the report against me; they were going to use two reports; the audit and the one on the plaque we were given at the end of our tenure which is a normal thing. They made it become an issue and set up another committee to probe me.

    “The audit committee was not working but they were preparing report. We have somebody there who felt it was all unfair and spoke out against what they were doing. We wrote them to hands off because we have seen that in law, they don’t even have what it takes to audit and account; it is the job of professional accountants.

    “We also said we have seen that they are not going to be fair to us because I had issues with the chairman of the committee, Dr. Adams. This is so because I didn’t allow him to contest when I was secretary because he was not qualified. But they hid our letter whereas they ought to refer the letter to the congress; that we are complaining.

    “We are lawyers and I am surprised that they could keep that letter without referring it to the congress. We had no option again but to go to court. But before doing that, we went to our elders; we wrote to them to let them know what was brewing and asked for their intervention, that we have served so well and therefore do not deserve to be humiliated.

    “It was my administration that constituted the Council of Elders and we put it in the bye-law. We wrote to them and we even talked with some of them. But nothing was done. So, we had to go to court. You should ask us what our prayer in court is. “We are saying that we are not going to get fair hearing from the committee and that the court should mandate the association to constitute an independent auditor from outside who will do the auditing.

    “So we are not saying our accounts should not be audited even though reports of the two past administrations of Jawondo and Akanbi were not audited. We are on trust; we are lawyers and if lawyers speak from the bar, there is no need to doubt them. We are not used to this kind of thing; we operate on trust.”

    He added that what was happening to him is pure “vendetta. I contested with Ojibara on two occasions and as God would have it, I defeated him both as secretary and chairman and he said I didn’t support him during time he won, adding that I was supporting my Vice-Chairman, Dr. Abikan.

    That was my offence because the elders had intervened on the matter earlier and they blamed him for taking such action.

    “I say it is vendetta or envy because they are marveled at what we have achieved so far. When I started, they said I was too young to do it but when we started to achieve so much, they were marveled. They accuse me of planning to turn myself into Saraki of NBA. But I tell them it is because I am popular and people like my style.”

  • Ugborodo crisis: Navy threatens to use force

    •’If they want peace, they should honour community’s tradition’ 

    The Ugborodo crisis seems to be deepening.

    The Federal Government, through the Nigeria Navy Ship (NNS) Delta, has threatened to wield the big stick against the recalcitrant side in the crisis over the implementation of the signed peace agreement.

    The crisis recently worsened, resulting in the destruction of houses and cars worth millions of naira in Ugborodo and Warri.

    The arson followed the refusal of members of the Aruton quarters in Ugborodo to allow the Navy, led by the Commanding Officer of NNS Delta, Navy Captain Musa Gemu, resettle members of the community allegedly displaced. They said the people, whom the community had accused of leading the invasion of Aruton, should atone for the sacrilege.

    At a meeting organised by the Navy at the Warri naval base at the weekend, Captain Gemu warned those working against the implementation of the peace agreement, especially the resettlement of displaced persons, not to test the will of the force.

    He gave them a week to sort out the reabsorbing, after which the Navy might step in to enforce the term.

    Speaking with The Nation in Warri in a meeting, the leader of one of the warring factions, Mr. David Tonwe, said nobody would force the community to reabsorb the displaced people, until they fulfilled the rites required of them by the Ugborodo tradition, for the atonement of the sacrilege they allegedly committed against the community.

    At the meeting, attended by stakeholders, including the Olaja-Orori (Spiritual Head), Benson Omadeli and Chief Ayiri Emami of the Thomas Ereyitomi  faction, boycotted by Tonwe, Gemu said: “I’m sounding it clearly to the elders, leaders and youths. This is your last chance. You have one week to go home, meet and agree to allow the displaced persons return.

    “This is not my personal decision. It is part of the peace accord leaders on both sides signed with the Federal Government in Abuja. I want to receive a positive feedback at the end of the week. After then we will not tolerate lawlessness. It is not the desire of the government to apply force. But we would have no other option if you fail to respect peace.”

    Tonwe warned that an attempt to coerce the community against the dictates of its custom in the matter of reabsorbing would not work well, noting that it was a community matter, which had a long list of precedents.

    He said peace would not be achieved by the use of force, adding that the concerned authorities should rather ensure that the right things were done, as the people would not succumb to intimidation.

    Said Tonwe: “Other people went through the same process before. The Olaja-Orori went through it, the Eghara-Aja went through it. Nobody is above the law. You are dealing with military people and they don’t care about whatever you say. What they are saying is that we want peace and let me tell you, that is where we have problem in this country. The process of achieving peace is not by force, it’s by entering into a dialogue, it’s by negotiation, it’s by discussing.

    “At the meeting at the naval base, an elderly man, Abeokutan Anderson, told the naval chief that ‘these people have committed a crime, which is a sacrilege and they need to go and appease the gods of Ugborodo community’. They shouted him down, saying the issue was not for there. You cannot use force, except you want to kill everybody. You are now trying to use force, imposing people so that they can forget about their culture and tradition.

    “If they want peace, let them follow that process. We don’t even need a naval man to take them back to the community, we don’t need any force to bring them to the community. If the community resolves that because you don’t want to do this you will be out of the community for three years. It is our own custom and tradition.”

    Expressing concern about the absence of Tonwe at the meeting held at the weekend at the Warri naval base, Chief Emami said: “There is no one not aware that each faction has its stronghold in Ugborodo. We are aware that Aruton and Magangho, where the violent youths are preventing Navy from resettling displaced persons, are not our strongholds. So when those who these youths are loyal to continuously stay away from meetings like this, it tells where the problem lies.”

    The Olaja-Orori said: “I feel some leaders have shielded the Federal Government’s peace agreement from the youths in Aruton and Madangho. My view is that copies of the resolutions be made available to everybody, so that we all, particularly the youths, know when we are violating the orders already signed by the leaders.”Gemu, while expressing disappointment about the absence of Tonwe, urged the Olaja-Orori to take responsibility for passing the decisions reached at the meeting to Tonwe.

    “He was informed of the meeting and was supposed to be here. Tell him that the decisions are binding.”

    Elders and youths from Aruton, Madangho, Ogidigben and Ajudaibo were in attendance. The meeting was also attended by Austin Oborogbeyi, the Chairman, EPZ Interface Committee. Gemu was joined by the Police, Army and the Air Force Command in Warri.

  • Death toll in Taraba crisis rises to 40

    The death toll in the renewed ethnic and religious crisis in Ibi Local Government Area of Taraba State has risen to 40.

    It was gathered yesterday that tension is also mounting in Wukari and other neighbouring towns.

    The crisis is r between Jukun/Tiv Christians and Hausa-Fulani Muslims.

    It was learnt that the crisis is being fueled by heavily-armed hired mercenaries.

    Trouble started when a Christian farmer and his son were allegedly attacked by insurgents suspected to be Muslims at the bank of River Benue.

    The attacked persons, though seriously wounded, were able to swim to safety. The news of the attack led to bloodletting.

    Taraba Police Command’s Spokesman, Joseph Kwaji, said police recovered 14 bodies, including two dead soldiers, when the violence died down.

    But a resident told The Nation they recovered 28 corpses.

    Eye-witnesses said over 40 persons might have been feared killed, adding that some of the bodies were yet to be recovered.

    “Some residents are still missing as I talk to you. Some died in the hospitals, some were killed and their bodies thrown into the bush or river after a string of reprisal attack,” he said.

    Sources revealed that soldiers, who arrived at the scene left almost immediately when two of their men were killed in cross-fires by the rioters.

    More residents fled the troubled town yesterday after over 20 houses were confirmed torched.

    But Kwaji said normalcy was beginning to return to the area.

    The southern Taraba district, particularly Ibi and Wukari local councils, had been the news since the beginning of the year.

    In June, over 100 persons were killed in a resurgence of violence in Ibi that spilled to Wukari.

    No fewer than 500 persons were injured and many homes destroyed.

    Senator representing Taraba south, Emmanuel Bwacha asked President Goodluck Jonathan to declare a state of emergency to protect lives and property.

  • Ajimobi summons peace parley on Oyo NURTW crisis

    Ajimobi summons peace parley on Oyo NURTW crisis

    Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi has summoned a peace meeting  for today over a new crisis in the state National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) chapter.

    A serving NURTW Deputy Chairman, Alhaji Abideen Olajide and Auditor, Alhaji Kasali Lawal, had alleged threat to their lives following the crisis.

    Ajimobi, who got wind of the sistuation as well as the agitation by union leaders for the removal of their chairman, Taofeek Oyerinde (a.k.a. Fele), asked for the parley.

    There was tension in Ibadan yesterday as some union members were spreading rumour of Fele’s removal through impeachment.

    But investigation at the chapter’s Olomi state secretariat indicated that “Fele was still calling the shots.”

    A letter from Adebayo Adegbite & Co Legal practitioners, dated July 30th, 2014 and signed by S.I. Koshoedo Esq and copied to the governor, the state Commissioner of Police, Director of Department of State Security (DSS) and National President of the union, Alhaji Najeem Yasin, alleged that there were threats to the lives of the two union leaders.

    The letter, copies of which wwere made available to reporters yesterday, was titled: “Threat to lives of the two NURTW chieftains”.

    Olajide and Lawal confirmed the threats to reporters.

    They hinted yesterday that they were on their way to see the Commissioner of Police, Muhammed Ndabawa, to brief him on the need to investigate their claims.

    Reacting, Fele said he was not after the lives of the duo, adding: “They are the ones with insatiable greed, especially my deputy who wants to unseat me at all cost. I am a peace-loving chairman and my reign has been very peaceful. Check the records. The governor will meet us tomorrow after Jumat service.”

  • Uduaghan cuts short trip to settle Ugborodo crisis

    Uduaghan cuts short trip to settle Ugborodo crisis

     •Unrest spreads to Warri

    Delta State Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan has cut short his trip to Glasgow, Scotland,  for the Commonwealth Games. He is returning home to settle the escalating Ugborodo crisis.

    On Tuesday, members of  opposing groups stormed the Esisi Road, Warri township home of a factional leader, David Tonwe, torching two cars.

    There has been a resurgence of hostilities in the last one week, sparked by attempts by the authorities at the Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) Delta to execute one of the articles in the peace agreement signed by the warring factions in the community- resettlement of displaced persons from Ugborodo community, which was resisted by some members in the community.

    The failed attempt at resettling displaced community members resulted in a gale of arson.

    Uduaghan said he had reached out to the two factions in the crisis, telling them to embrace peace.

    The governor, who spoke to The Nation from Glasgow last night, however, debunked an allegation that the Ugborodo crisis was caused by the rivalry between the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC).

    Tuesday night’s attack is considered to be the most provocative in recent times.

    Narrating his ordeal to The Nation in Warri yesterday, Tonwe alleged that the group that attacked his home, destroying the vehicles parked outside, was led by Chief Ayiri Emami, one of his rivals.

    Emami, however, refuted the allegation. He said he was in his home when he was informed of the attack and that it happened during a clash between a group led by Amejuma Atete and those loyal to Tonwe.

    According to Tonwe, the problem started when the Emami group, leaving the police station, a short distance from his house, where they had gone to secure the release of the prime suspect in the series of arson in the past few days, attacked his home.

    “Yesterday, prior to the arson at Ubeji, the owner of the house went to report to the police. After he reported the case, police arrested one of the prime suspects, Mike Atete. When Ayiri heard that he was in police custody, he mobilised more than 50 boys to the police station and on getting there, they demanded that the boy be released. That was yesterday evening, about 6:30pm.

    “After leaving the police station with the boy, they passed through my place. The police station is near my house. He (Ayiri) led the troop. On reaching my place, they vandalised my cars and torched the two other cars,” Tonwe said.

    But Emami said he was never around Tonwe’s house, adding that the person who attacked Tonwe’s home was one of his former loyalists, who felt disaffected.

    His words: “I was never near Tonwe’s house. I did not pass through his area. It is not true, he is just looking for a way to dent my name. If they have not told you the truth, I will tell you now. Police arrested one boy called Amejuma Atete, a boy they were using against me before, but who has turned against them. I was at the police station to secure his release because already they had gathered at the front of the police station. I left them at the place after he was released.

    “I had reached my home before I heard what happened at Tonwe’s house. I heard that when they left the police station, which is not far from Tonwe’s house, they passed through Tonwe’s home and clashed with his supporters. It was then that the destruction of vehicles happened. I was never around there.”

  • Doctors and crisis in health sector

    SIR: It is no longer news that there is serious crisis lingering in the health sector. This is as a result of constant threat by various professionals that constitute the core professions in this sector. Unlike judiciary, which enjoys the monopoly of lawyers as professionals trained to interpret and guide the constitution, the health sector is different; it is a sector where many professions team up and work as a team for the overall benefit of every patient.

    In 70s and early 80sin the health sector, there was little or no internal bickering among health professionals until the coming of the then minister of health, the late Professor Olikoye Ransome-Kuti under the military regime who changed the entire administrative system and policies in the sector, mandating physicians (medical doctors) to take absolute control of the sector. Since then, the health sector has been passing  through one crisis or the other, making Nigerian citizens including physicians  to seek better health care elsewhere outside the country.

    Presently, all the juicy positions in the health sector are being held by doctors starting from head of clinical services (CMAC), medical directors, commissioners, directors of public health to minister of health with jumbo salary packages more than other health workers, yet they not satisfied. It should be noted that every worker’s aim and desire is to reach the peak of his or her career wherever he or she works. Why is the health sector different? One profession has made it so difficult for others in the sector to progress despite being a government-owned institution. This is because physicians hold most of the vital positions in this sector, and so he who is given yam and knife at the same time needs no stress to decide how many pieces he will cut. It is disheartening and painstaking to see other health professionals with Masters/PhD in line with their professions, yet one professional with first degree (MBBS) automatically is being imposed as the head. It is unreasonable for an MBBS holder with a post-graduate qualification (consultants) be rated higher than a PhD holder who spent roughly not less than eight years, as the case may be for other health professionals.

    The role of clinical pathologists in the hospital is to interpret laboratory results to their colleagues (physicians) for proper understanding and treatment of patients and not to partake in running the test on the bench. The clamour by doctors to replace medical laboratory science practice with laboratory medicine (laboratory physicians) is needless. Medical laboratory science is known all over the world to be the practitioners of medical laboratory services. Besides, there are already trained medical laboratory professionals with an established act and license to control, regulate and practice. It is therefore unlawful for duplication of duties and profession, which will amount to nothing but waste of resources and energy. No wonder health sector is indeed in crisis and government seems not to understand where the problem is emanating from.

    Working in the hospital is quite risky for contagious diseases. All health professionals face equal risk hazard in the hospital since needle prick is common during surgery in the theatre and bleeding in the laboratory. For any hazard allowance to be paid, it must be across board. For physicians to demand separate hazard allowance for themselves alone is greedy and selfish.

    All the professionals working in the health sector are health workers. For physicians to brand other health professionals as health workers to the exclusion of themselves is wrong. Government should as matter of urgency put an end to this unnecessary discrimination and disparity between health workers. Equal opportunity should be given to every profession in the health sector to rise to the peak of their career. A seasoned administrator should be appointed to head our hospitals where all health professionals will be confined to their respective departments and units. This is only way sanity can be restored in health sector.

     

    • Emeka Opara,  

    Calabar, Cross River State

     

  • Obiano, Wada move to end crisis

    Obiano, Wada move to end crisis

    Anambra State Governor Chief Willie Obiano and his counterpart from Kogi State Idris Wada have begun talks on how to end the hostilities in the border communities.

    On Monday, the indigenes of Echeno, Odeke in Kogi State stormed Aguleri-otu farm in Anambra State and attacked the people over oil wells.

    Four persons were feared killed and many injured.

    When Obiano visited some of the victims yesterday at Onitsha hospitals, he said the attacks had nothing to do with oil as being alleged, but an aggression by misguided persons.

    He said he had met Wada to find a solution to the crisis.

    Obiano said: “We are working out a comprehensive strategy and modalities to entrench peace and check the excesses of miscreants.”

    He urged Aguleri people to remain calm and not to take the law into their hands.

  • ‘Edo Assembly crisis not fuelled by defection’

    ‘Edo Assembly crisis not fuelled by defection’

    Majority Leader of the Edo State House of Assembly Philip Shaibu has said the crisis in the Assembly was not fuelled by the defection of four All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmakers.

    Shaibu told reporters yesterday in Benin that what happened was contrary to the claims making the rounds.

    “The crisis was rather fuelled by the refusal of the four lawmakers who defected to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to obey a court order,’’ he said.

    The lawmaker said the APC, whose members are in the majority, had no problem with the defection.

    He said the four PDP lawmakers, before their defection, went to court to prevent the Assembly from declaring their seats vacant or suspending them.

    “We (the House) obeyed the first prayer. But the court did not grant them the second prayer, which was meant to stop us from suspending them.

    “The House of Assembly has its rules and it allows for the suspension of erring members and members who are disobedient.

    “It was on this basis that the four erring members were suspended. They refused to obey the court order suspending them and even disregarded the court order, which forbids them from coming into the Assembly. We cannot be lawmakers and lawbreakers at the same time.”

    The House condemned reports referring to it as APC House of Assembly.

    The Chairman, Committee on Information, Kabiru Adjoto, said the House was referred to as Edo APC House of Assembly.

    This, according to the lawmaker, amounted to a deliberate attempt to misinform the public.

    He emphasised that though they were elected under the APC platform, they should not be addressed as “APC House of Assembly or APC lawmakers”, adding that as lawmakers, they are representatives of the people.

  • Doctors and health sector crisis

    Recently the media has been awash with comments and write ups by some doctors who in a bid to justify the current strike of the Nigeria Medical Association are putting forward arguments that are capable of misinforming the public about the Nigerian health sector. Part of such arguments is that doctors are all in all and that they can effectively do the work of other health professionals while others cannot do the doctor’s work. They claim that the physician of old merely delegated some of his duties to people who are now called pharmacists, physiotherapists, nurses, laboratory technologists etc. just for convenience and he can take it back any time he so wishes.

    Some doctors also claim that other health workers having been trained by them to merely assist them do their work, should not now start to demand to hold any leadership position in the health sector because it should naturally be the birthright of the doctor. So, doctors see absolutely no reason for other health workers to seek to attain the post of consultants in their own field or directors in the hospitals, as according to them, it will just create crisis in the hospitals and other health facilities. Another claim is that most of the other health professionals found themselves in their respective fields because they were either unable to meet up with the requirements for medicine or were withdrawn from medical schools because they could not cope with the rigours. Thus many of these ‘failures’ now begrudge doctors and strive to become one through the back door.

    I believe that if things are not put in proper perspective, these comments may successfully create an impression in the general public that other health workers are begrudging doctors or seeking to become doctors through the backdoor when it is indeed the doctors that are illegally encroaching into the constitutionally recognised roles of non- doctors.

    While it is true in ages past, that physicians were a Jack of all trades as far as treatment of the patient was concerned, the practice in the wisdom of practitioners was later broken down into different disciplines for better efficiency and specialisation. It was not to make any health worker a servant or slave to the other. Every discipline is important and all are expected to work together and collaborate to achieve a better patient outcome. Therefore, the claim that the doctor can do the work of every member of the health team is therefore a very big fallacy because he was never trained to do so.

    The multidisciplinary approach to treating patients which many Nigerian doctors are trying so hard to downplay today is firmly established, promoted and appreciated in developed countries like the United Kingdom, United States and Canada. There, no one feels superior to another. No one brandishes irrelevant ego. All that matter is the patient’s well-being and everyone will go to any extent to put their heads together in order to achieve the best outcome for the patient.

    Nigerian doctors when they travel abroad to practice follow these laid down principles and do their utmost to collaborate with other health professionals in the interest of the patient. However, in Nigeria, doctors have thrown global best practices to the wind and see other health professionals as servants who should receive orders rather than collaborate with them. They would rather have a less than desirable patient outcome than having to ‘descend so low’ as to seek the opinion of other health workers in the management of the patient. Even though some of them do, majority who do not, view them with derision and would want them blacklisted if they had their way.

    Rather than putting their heads together to discuss ways of tackling the problems bedeviling the Nigerian health sector, the Nigerian doctors have preoccupied themselves with means of continuing the culture of suppression and intimidation of other health care professionals in the health sector.

    For instance, why will the doctors go on strike because another health professional will be appointed a consultant in his own field having acquired the required knowledge and qualification?

    Why will the doctor negotiate for and accept to be paid 160% of his basic salary as call duty allowance but would insist that the radiologist must settle for less than 80% rather than the 100% he is clamouring for?

    Why will Nigerian doctors threaten to go on strike if anyone but them is made the health minister knowing full well that the post is purely administrative and is not an exclusive preserve of health experts in most nations of the world? Why does the doctor have a phobia for a non-doctor becoming a permanent secretary in the ministry of health? Why are doctors being imposed on laboratory technologists and scientists to become Heads of Department in many hospital laboratories? Several other acts of repression are perpetrated by doctors in the health sector.

    I expect some of the commentators in the media to mention specific instances where other health care providers have encroached into the practice of doctors in the hospitals, which could have warranted such a high level of mistrust. Rather, all they did was base their arguments solely on vague assumptions.

    The law does not permit the doctor to be in charge of drug procurement as is being practiced in many Nigerian hospitals today. The law forbids a non-pharmacist to dispense ethical drugs even in private hospitals but today quacks and auxiliary nurses are recruited by doctors in private practice to dispense steroids and the most delicate of controlled drugs.

    Framers of the laws regulating pharmacy practice discourage the setting up of privately owned pharmacies in government hospitals. Today, many Chief Medical Directors have either unilaterally or in connivance with commissioners or minister of health (who are doctors) established private pharmacies in government hospitals. Most of them enjoy controlling shares in these profit maximizing outlets through their fronts and cronies. Who then is trying to become what through the backdoor?

    The law permits a first degree holder to rise up to Grade Level  17 in the civil service as long as he passes the required examinations and meets every other requirement, but doctors, through Chief Medical Directors in the federal government hospitals do everything within their means to frustrate promotion of non-doctors above Grade Level  15. In fact, doctors do not disguise their phobia for seeing non- doctors in the directorate cadre.

    When some of these illegalities are successfully contested in competent courts of law and judgments obtained, ‘the powers that be’ have devised means of circumventing such judgments, just like they are doing with the current contemptuous strike.

    That most doctors speak about the military era with nostalgia cannot surprise anyone that has been following events in the health sector in the last three decades. It was during the Babangida regime that the leadership of the Nigerian Medical Association used their closeness to the military to get Decree 10 promulgated which essentially amended the laws that prescribe fairness and harmony in the health sector to ones that make the doctor a demigod, and accords to him salaries and emoluments that were skies above his other contemporaries in the health sector. It was indeed during this era that doctors were able to corner every position that matters in the health sector. Administrative posts that were hitherto held by professional administrators and social scientists were hijacked by medical doctors. In any gathering of decision makers in the health ministry today, more than 75% of the roll call will be medical doctors.

    It is advisable that Nigerian doctors accept the team work approach to medical practice as is the norm in civilized societies. The current scenario that makes the doctor sees himself as god and other health workers as lesser beings can only portend doom for medical practice in Nigeria. The current practice that assigns the doctor to almost all administrative posts in the health sector and makes him feed fat while others settle for crumbs is no longer sustainable and will only make the health sector crisis a recurring decimal.

    • Adekunle, a pharmacist, writes from Matogun, Ogun State