The Medical Consultants’ Association of Nigeria (MDCAN), South-East Caucus, has announced a five-day solidarity and warning strike for universities in the South-East and South-South regions beginning from Monday, October 21st.
This was contained in a communique dated October 16, 2024 and signed by both the Chairman and Secretary of MDCAN South-East Caucus, Dr. Iroro Yarhere and Dr. Stanley Ogbonna.
They explained that this action was in support of staff at Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, who were protesting the exclusion of clinical lecturers from the eligibility criteria for the Vice-Chancellor position.
The Association expressed concern over the selection criteria for the Vice-Chancellor role, which includes:
“A requirement for candidates to hold a PhD, automatically excluding clinical lecturers who are employed as Fellows of the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria and the West African College of Physicians/Surgeons.
“A stipulation that candidates must be supervising PhD students, which unfairly disqualifies clinical lecturers primarily responsible for supervising medical residents and clinical fellows.
“A demand for candidates to have secured research grants of no less than 400 million Naira, a criterion that overlooks the nature of research in several discipline in the university such as Language, arts etc, which may not always attract such large funding but significantly impacts university education and service delivery in the society”, the communique read
It added that the advert also required a PhD of 15 years from the time of the advert. To this, the Association said, “this exclusion is unacceptable to us, as it sets a dangerous precedent.
“Should this be allowed to stand, it could encourage other universities to adopt similar exclusionary policies, effectively denigrating the Fellowship qualifications with which clinical lecturers were employed at the rank of Lecturer I or higher.
“This development also undermines the professional standing of clinical lecturers who have contributed immensely to the academic, research, and service delivery missions of their respective universities”.
Speaking further, MDCAN South East Caucus stated, “Consequently, clinical lecturers across the South-East and South-South regions have resolved to initiate a five-day solidarity and warning strike starting Monday, October 21, 2024, to express their strong opposition to this unfair exclusion”.
They therefore warned that if the issue was not resolved it may lead to an escalation of the industrial action beyond the five-day warning strike.
Consequently, they urged the Committees of Vice Chancellors and Pro Chancellors to intervene promptly and review the discriminatory advertisement to ensure that clinical lecturers are included and equity in leadership selection is upheld.
Meanwhile on Wednesday, October 16, 2024, the Senate of Nnamdi Azikiwe University unanimously rejected the advertisement for the Vice-Chancellor position released by the council on September 12, 2024, as published on page 33 of Vanguard.
The Senate decided to withdraw from the selection process and urged the council to retract the current advert and issue a new, more inclusive one.
