The Nation Newspaper

Tag: MD

  • Shell appoints Osagie as MD

    Shell appoints Osagie as MD

    •Sunmonu bows out after 36 years

    Shell Petroleum Development Company has appointed Mr. Osagie Okunbor, as its managing director.

    He has assumed office, succeeding Mr. Mutiu Sunmonu, who retired on Saturday after 36 years of service.

    Okunbor’s appointment had been announced in January while he was serving as a senior adviser in Shell’s Upstream International Operated business in The Hague, Netherlands.

    The new Shell helmsman, who is also assuming the role of the country chair, Shell Companies in Nigeria, brings over 28 years of industry experience and expertise to his new role.

    Okunbor is the third Nigerian MD of SPDC and country chair, Shell Companies in Nigeria.

  • Tor Nygard steps down as Berger Paints MD

    The managing director of Berger Paints Nigeria Plc, Mr. Tor Nygard, has disengaged from the services of the company following the expiration of his contract on January 31, 2015.

    The board of directors of Berger Paints Nigeria Plc has appointed Mr. Jatin Madan, the chief operating officer, as the acting chief executive officer pending the appointment of a substantive managing director.

    Mr.  Nygard joined the company on November 2, 2009 as the deputy managing director designate and was later appointed executive director. His tenure was associated with a number of reforms, including the expansion of the colour world centres and the factory modernisation project that is currently being implemented.

    In a related development, the company has announced the appointment of Mr. Sanjay Datwani  to its board of directors. Datwani graduated from Boston University, Massachusetts, USA with a Bachelor degree in Business Administration.

    He is the managing director of Clayton Finance Limited, a company which specialises in export of raw materials for Industry to West African region. He also works as a property consultant and developer in the United Kingdom.

    With over 18 years experience in international trade, finance and banking, Datwani brings a wealth of experience to the board.

     

  • Ewa-Henshaw, Dan-Abia nominated as NDDC chair, MD

    Ewa-Henshaw, Dan-Abia nominated as NDDC chair, MD

    President Goodluck Jonathan has nominated Senator Bassey Ewa-Henshaw and Mr Bassey Dan-Abia as Chairman and Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

    The names of the nominees were contained in letter Jonathan sent to the Senate for consideration and confirmation.

    The President also forwarded the name of former Governor of Edo State, Prof. Osarhiemen Osunbor to the Senate as Chairman, Nigerian Law Reform Commission.

    While Ewa-Henshaw was nominated to represent Cross River in the NDDC, Dan-Abia was named to represent Akwa Ibom.

    The other names forwarded to the Senate for confirmation are: Itotenaan Henry Ogiri (ED, Finance and Admin.) Rivers; Tuoyo Omatsulu (ED, Projects) Delta; Ball Turofade Oyarede (Bayelsa), Chief Ephraim Sobere Etete (Rivers); Etim Inyang Jnr (Akwa Ibom); Adah Paul Andeshi (Cross River) and Sir Tom Amioku (Delta).

    Others also nominated as representatives in the commission are: Samuel Okezie Nwogu (Abia); Uchegbu Chidiebere Kyrian (Imo); Maj.-Gen. Suleiman B. Said (Northcentral); Alhaji Abdulmaik Mahmud (Northeast); Enikuomehin B. G. Olorungbonju (Ondo) and Mark Ward.

    Jonathan noted that subsequent to the dissolution of the Governing Board of the commission on September 13, 2011, nomination for its reconstitution have been compiled in accordance with Section 2(1) of the NDDC Act.

    On the Law Reform Commission, Mr. Kefas Magaji (Northeast), Mr. P. C. Okorie (Southeast) and Mrs. Zainab Ibrahim (Northcentral) were nominated for confirmation as commissioners.

  • Hubris among medical profesionals

    SIR: Have you noticed that American doctor’s append only MD as their titles? Indeed, to practice in the United States require that a doctor specialize in at least one of the many areas of medicine after the basic qualification. Therefore, as a specialist, the only insignia is the MD, though a description as a fellow may follow to show the specialty. Other appendages may include PhD, MPH and a few others. The reason is simple: A medical doctor (MD) is a medical doctor. The difference lies in the area of practice and expertise- psychiatry, surgery, obstetrics and gynecology etc.

    To become a specialist therefore is a necessity expected of every doctor. It is because of this that a national matching system for residential programme exists in the US. It is equally because of this that the emphasis is on the quality and standard of each residential programme and its director rather than examinations.

    Finally, it is basically because of this that the speciality board examinations at the end of the residency programme is optional, or voluntary, taken only to satisfy members of the public or, if the individual is desirous of practice across state lines(a different state from which he trained).

    Specialization in medicine therefore, must never be a privilege; for what is the aim of specialization? To break down medical knowledge into discrete and manageable entities and enable an increasing depth of learning and skill acquisition therein. A division of labor of sorts.

    In contrast, specialists in Nigeria readily flaunt their titles,FWACP, FWACS, FMCP etc. These are well earned /deserved titles no doubt. Problem, however is the attempt to make specialization an elitist enclave.

    Elitism seems to be native to Nigeria. It is almost a cultural thing. Everyone wants to show the other how much worthier he is above his fellow. There is a subtle but fierce battle to be the first always, primus inter pares! Competition, whilst not necessarily bad, but competition for her own sake, and in an unbridled manner is a death march! It breeds excessive rivalry and a penchant for ruthless despicable acts in order to suppress.It is therefore of little wonder that even within medical circles this culture festers.

    To specialize in an area of medicine has become an elitist venture. The process is brutal, dehumanizing and deliberately so. The specialists who are also meant to train others are the ones who make it so by not being responsible or accountable in any guise for the resident doctors under them; by the desire for elitism and exclusivity, and through the proliferation of multiple landmines called examinations at every corner and stage.

    The more vexatious of these issues is tying career advancement and promotions of the resident doctor to these centralized examinations without recourse to the sensitivities and peculiarities of the individual residential programmes! These exams are landmines designed to frustrate and eliminate anyone but the best of the best-hubris!

    Candidates are pitted against candidates and you have results like only seven out almost 300 hundred candidates passed and exam nationwide( family medicine)!

    Since knowledge in medicine is so deep and wide, there has to be, of necessity, specialization where a doctor further undergoes a residency programme. A residential programme affords the doctor the opportunity to focus on an area of medicine, work with specialists in their day to day care of patients, witness, participate and ultimately become a specialist himself. That is the concept of specialization and this should be our minimum requirement too. Some of our people are wont us to believe it is the preserve of some special of privileged few.

    Why is elitism and hubris so rife?

     

    Timi Babatunde MD

    Lagos

  • FirstBank MD wins award

    The Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of First Bank of Nigeria Plc Mr. Bisi Onasanya has emerged the winner of the 2012 EMEA Finance “CEO of the Year Award”.

    At the well-attended ceremony, organised under the aegis of the Annual African Banking Awards, now in its fifth edition, First Bank of Nigeria Plc also won the “Best Local Bank in Nigeria for 2012”.

    FirstBank had won two previous editions of the award in 2009 and 2010. The African Banking Awards is regarded as the industry standard for banking excellence. Individual nominees are judged by their ability to deliver shareholder returns and gain strategic advantage in terms of market visibility and positioning, while institutions are appraised based on the performance of their critical fundamentals.