By Dr Olayinka Atilola
Background
It is public knowledge that the tenure of the incumbent VC of LASU, Prof. Lanre Fagbohun will come to an end on 11th January, 2021. As is the usual tradition, a joint Selection Committee of the Senate and Council has been set up by the university to interview candidates for the position of new VC and submit the names of the three best candidates for the job for onward transmission to the Visitor (the Lagos State Governor) for final selection of one successful candidate for the job. The advertisement for the post required a successful applicant to be a Professor of at least 10 years standing, with good track-record of academic excellence of local and international repute including supervision and mentoring of postgraduate students, demonstration of continuous capacity for academic leadership, track record of experience in university administration at high levels, and evidence of unassailable grounding in the finest academic traditions.
More than eighteen Professors, academic giants in their own right, from almost ten different universities both within and outside Nigeria applied for the job. Among these fine applicants, the Selection Committee settled for three top candidates including Prof Olumuyiwa Odusanya, a Professor of Public Health; Prof Senapon Bakre, a Professor of Microbiology, and Prof Kabiru Akinyemi, another professor of Microbiology made the list of the top three. The names of these candidates have since been forwarded to Governor Sanwo-Olu for consideration and selection of the final candidate for the job.
That was the point when the controversy broke out. In the center of the controversy is the insinuation that one of the candidates is not qualified for the job because his entry qualification to the university was the Fellowship of the Nigerian Postgraduate Medical College (hereafter referred to as the Fellowship) and not the PhD, which according to some of the agitators, makes him unqualified for the job of LASU VC. The argument quickly degenerated to a devaluation of the Fellowship degree as a sub-academic degree and holders of the Fellowship as some inferior academics that should stay in the background when it comes to university leadership.
In addition, an old, previously adjudged misguided, and subsequently withdrawn circular from the NUC which misrepresented the Fellowship as inferior to PhD for the purpose of appointment and promotion for clinical lecturers in Nigerian universities resurfaced again and contents of same circular was being mischievously cherry-picked to suit the resurfaced Fellowship vs. PhD debate. In the process, the fellowship-holder among the selected candidates, was wickedly projected as a pseudo-academic while the Fellowship degree was bandied as an inferior stop-gap qualification for academics who are unable or unwilling to earn a PhD.
While I usually will refrain from joining the
politics of the jostle for the plum job of VC LASU, my interest, which
stimulated this write-up, stems from the fact that I am also a holder of the
Fellowship degree and someone who is a staunch believer in the finest academic
traditions that the current needless bruhaha about the status of the Fellowship
within the university is generating. I am, therefore, obliged to set some
perspectives right for the records.
The Facts
What is the Fellowship?
The
Fellowship is the highest obtainable academic and professional qualification in
Clinical Medicine and Dentistry today. The certification is issued by the
National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria, a Postgraduate Institution
established by the Act of the National Assembly (National Postgraduate Medical College Decree No. 67 of 24th September,
1979, now Cap N59, Laws of the Federation 2004). The institution was
established in 1979 and it is till today, the apex and only tertiary
institution in Nigeria for
postgraduate academic and professional education in Clinical Medicine. The
highest postgraduate certification awarded by the College is the Fellowship. It is the only
qualification recognized by the NUC to teach in the Faculty of Clinical
Sciences in the whole country. There is no alternative. In other words, as
things stands today, Faculties of Clinical Sciences in Universities in Nigeria
only employ holders of the Fellowship, under normal circumstances. Any other postgraduate qualification obtained
from Universities in Nigeria such as Msc. or PhD is NOT acceptable by the
NUC to teach clinical medicine and Dentistry in any University in Nigeria. The philosophy behind the establishment of
this special postgraduate institution was because the founders of postgraduate
Clinical Medicine thought it fit to integrate both professional and academic
training together, a feat that may be impracticable within the regular
university system. This way, the National Postgraduate Medical College is,
therefore, able to meet the human resource needs of both the healthcare
industry and the Colleges of Medicine.
What is the Structure of the National Postgraduate Medical College?
The College comprise of 15 Faculties which
represents all the specialties and sub-specialities of Clinical Medicine. The
Faculties are headed by a Chairman who is a Fellow of many years stranding, and
mostly sourced from the Clinical Science faculties of Universities around the
country. There is a College Senate, which comprises of the Principal Officers
of the College and the Faculty Chairmen. The Senate oversees the academic
programmes and the award of the Fellowship and other Certifications on the recommendation
of Faculties. The College is headed by a President, a Fellow of many years
standing, and a College Registrar who sees to the day-to-day running of the
College. The current President of the College is Prof Musa Muhammed Borodo, a renowned Professor of Medicine at Bayero
University Kano while the Registrar is Prof
Owoidoho Udofia, a Professor of Psychiatry from the University of Calabar.
As such, the College is not some backstreet institution without academic
standing as many non-medics will want to see it.
How do you obtain the Fellowship?
First, you must be a holder of the MBBS Degree
(a straight 6 calendar year university undergraduate program) and must be a
fully registered medical practitioner. Then, if you desire to pursue
postgraduate academic and professional training in Clinical Medicine and
Dentistry, you will apply to the College. All applicants will be required to
write an entry examination (called Primary Examination), usually covering the
sciences basic to their specialty. For instance, in Psychiatry- which is my own
field-, the Primary exams will cover neuro-anatomy, neuro-physiology,
neuro-biochemistry, neuro-pharmacology, neuro-pathology, and neuro-psychology.
Only successful candidates in these exams can start the postgraduate programme.
The pass rate is often around 30%. If you are successful in the Primary exams,
you will be required to seek employment as a resident (trainee) doctor in the
department of your specialty in a tertiary health centre in Nigeria (usually
teaching hospitals and at times the major medical centres) which must have been
accredited by the College as a centre of excellence for postgraduate medical
training. The moment you secure such placement, your postgraduate academic and
professional training can then commence.
The training per se is a 6-7year programme of continuous, 70-80 hours a week of contact of the entire at-least 312 weeks (72
months) of the programme. The training is coordinated by Senior Fellows of
the College who are consultants (and often University Professors) in your
training institution. The postgraduate program is divided into two parts,
usually referred to as Part I and Part
II. The focus of the Part I is to equip you with clinical skills in your
specialty while introducing you to basic research methodology and data
gathering techniques in your field. This
involves the assessment and management of REAL patients in your field,
under the direct supervision of your College approved Consultant/Supervisors.
There are minimum numbers of postings and procedures you must log-in before you
are eligible for assessment. During this period, you must leave your training
post to attend a 2-week update course organised by the College to keep you
abreast of cutting-edge practices/technology in your field and another 2-week
intensive research methodology course. This is in addition to weekly
academic seminar organised by the respective departments in the training
institution. Attendance of all these courses and seminars is compulsory.
After a 3-4year period of this intensive hands-on training and meeting all the
other strict criteria, you will be eligible to sit for the Part I examination
called the Membership Examination.
This examination, which is central for ALL candidates in Nigeria, tests
your clinical skills in theory and in practice. The week-long examination is
coordinated by the Faculty Board of your specialty in the College. It consists
of a theory part (MCQ and Essays) and a clinical examination using real patients. Success in these exams
(usually less than 30% at first sitting) allows you to proceed to Part II of
your training, which is another 3 years at least. Those who are not successful
are eligible to repeat the examination 6 months after until they pass or are
advised to withdraw from the postgraduate program as un-trainable (and people
actually gets thrown out regularly).
Unlike the Part I which focuses on the
clinical skills in your specialty, the Part II focuses on research skill
training in your specialty. While the candidate continues to hone their
clinical skills, Part II candidates are expected to develop a PhD-level
research proposal in their specialty. They will approach a potential
supervisor, a Fellow of at least 5 years (and probably a University don) in
their specialty who is willing to supervise them. After developing the
proposal, the candidate will send it to the College Registrar who will pass it
to the appropriate Faculty Chairman. The Faculty Chairman will then send the
proposal to at least two anonymous Senior Faculty members who are known to have
biases for your research interest as reviewers. The job of the reviewers at
this stage is to advise the Faculty Board as to the suitability of your
research topic and the soundness of your methods. They may accept the proposal,
ask you to make some amends, or reject the proposal out-rightly. If your proposal is accepted, you can then go
ahead to start your research with your supervisor. During this time, you are
required to attend research methodology courses organized by the College.
When you have collected your data, analysed it
and have written-up your dissertation to you and your supervisor’s
satisfaction, you will submit it to the College and apply to write your Part II
examination which comprise of an advance examination of your current clinical
skills and a DEFENCE of your Dissertation. At the dissertation defence, you
will face two examiners appointed by the Faculty Board for that purpose. Such
examiners must not be from your training institution and must neither be your
supervisors or initial assessors of your proposal. The defence is as obtainable
in any standard PhD defence. You may pass and you may fail
Part II candidates who passed the advanced
clinical examination and successfully defended their dissertations are awarded
the Fellowship of the College.
This is the summary of the 6-7 years journey of the Fellowship
The Myths
Having laid the facts, it is also important
for me to dispel some of the myths
Myth 1: The
Fellowship is just a mere professional certification and not an academic
certificate. This is untrue. The first three years (Part I) of the
Fellowship is geared towards clinical/professional skills, while the last three
or more (Part II) is dissertation based. As things stand today, the Fellowship
represents an all-round hands-on clinical skills and academic training in
Clinical Medicine.
Myth 2: The
Fellowship is just like ICAN, COREN, and other professional certifications, it
for the health industry, it is not for University. This is also not true. The NUC has assessed
the course content and the dissertations of the Fellowship at some point. The
conclusion was that it satisfies all requirements for a PhD-level academic
qualification. It has been designated as the
highest academic certification obtainable in Clinical Medicine for the purpose
of being appointable as a lecturer. In fact, the approved entry point for
Fellowship in ALL universities in Nigeria till today is Lecturer I.
Myth 3: Fellowship
is a short-cut by medical doctors who couldn’t do the PhD. That is a
fallacy. The Fellowship is an unnecessarily long route to academic career that
if clinicians were given the option of Fellowship or PhD, no sensible person
will opt for the Fellowship. Fellowship holders are not incapable of writing
and defending a PhD level dissertation, they did defend one as part of the
Fellowship! Even when the Fellowship is not disaggregated into the traditional
Msc and PhD sequence as it is in other specialties, the Fellowship has all the
components of Msc, PhD and more. The Part I stage of Fellowship is largely
geared towards acquisition of the knowledge of the subject of the field (just
like Msc candidates are required to) while the Part II is geared towards
advanced knowledge, including sub-specialization, as well as research
methodology and thesis (similar to what PhD candidates do). The only difference
is that the Fellowship is a fine blend of both theory, practice, and research
in its most advanced and thorough form.
Myth 4: The
Fellowship in clinical medicine and her status as a joint academic/professional
certification is a Nigerian creation. This is not true. All over the world,
from US, to UK, to Canada, the Fellowship is the joint professional/academic
certification. You cannot be a clinical lecturer in any university in the world
without the Fellowship of the Postgraduate Medical College of that country or
that of a recognised country. The difference is that in some countries, their
postgraduate medical college runs an intercalated Fellowship/PhD programme in
clinical medicine with a collaborating University. This model is currently
being recommended in Nigeria to put a rest to the PhD-Fellowship dichotomy in
the country but this is still at infancy stage and not billed to commence as
a condition for appointment or promotion until 2025. The NUC and the
National Postgraduate Medical College is still working out modalities to
achieve this. It is important to note that the move to integrate Fellowship and
PhD programs together is not an indication of any inherent shortcoming of the
Fellowship but a bid to streamline the conditions of service in Nigerian
universities such that the Fellowship dissertation can have the additional
value of being adoptable as a PhD dissertation by affiliated universities.
Myth 5:
If the Fellowship was such a big
deal, why do Fellowship holders still go for PhD anyway? I have heard this
argument being advanced to support the fact that Fellowship must be inferior to
PhD. So, let us be clear. There are several motivations for clinical lecturers
going for a PhD, Master’s, or even Diploma courses even when they have the Fellowship.
Firstly, knowledge never ends and it is human nature to seek for more. I am a
child psychiatrist and a clinical lecturer. After my Fellowship, I went for a
Postgraduate Diploma in Children and Youth Studies in the International
Institute of Social Studies, of the University of Rotterdam. My motivation was
to gain more unique academic and professional insights into the sociology of childhood beyond the neuro-biological orientation to childhood I already acquired through
the Fellowship program. It had nothing to do with whether my 6-year Fellowship
was inferior or superior to a 6-month diploma, it was about the unique value it
was to add to me. Others did a PhD having gotten a fat grant with a PhD
opportunity attached to it, why not? Others like the idea of having multiple
titles after their names, while others
just did it to prove a point and remove any doubts about their academic
credentials within a university where the dichotomy is still a debate.
Others did it just for the hell of it! In any case, please be aware that a Masters or PhD in clinical medicine does
NOT add any additional point to you for the purpose of appointment and
promotion in any Nigerian University once you hold the Fellowship. In other
words, such additional certifications are seen, as at today, as mere personal
frolic.
Myth 6: The
University Community does not accord the Fellowship the full status of highest
academic qualification like they did the PhD, therefore it must be inferior.
This is not true. While some academics, for reasons that is best known to them,
have made several attempts to disparage the Fellowship as an inferior academic
qualification, ALL universities in Nigeria continues to respect it. I make bold to say that in ALL universities
in Nigeria (including LASU), the Fellowship is the ONLY qualification
acceptable for appointment as lecturer in the Faculties of Clinical Sciences
and Dentistry. The Fellowship gives you an entry point of Lecturer I in ALL
universities in Nigeria (LASU inclusive), is scored the same mark as the PhD in
A&P assessments in ALL universities (LASU inclusive); and holders of the
Fellowship are appointable as and are appointed Professors of clinical medicine
and dentistry in ALL Universities in Nigeria (including LASU). In short, no university in Nigeria currently
discriminate against the Fellowship in appointment and promotion.
Myth 7: Someone without PhD cannot become
VC because the university awards PhDs and you cannot confer what you do not
have
For me, this is both a mischievous and, with
due respect, ignorant view. Firstly, the Vice Chancellor dose not confer
degrees, including PhDs on anyone, the University Chancellor (who could be
anybody), on behalf of the Senate does. In any case, the university comprise of
diverse faculties and colleges, of which the VC cannot possibly be an expert in
ALL of them. There are already structures in place to direct the process of
award of degrees, undergraduate or graduate, within the different Departments,
Faculties, Schools, and Colleges. The job of the VC is to provide leadership
for the process of university administration including teaching, research, and
community service. The requirement to do that is to be a globally reputable
Professor, extensive teaching and research experience, good understanding of
the finest academic traditions, and leadership skills. Most universities and
research institutes understand this fact and have always sought for these
skills when appointing leaders of research institutes and academic outfits and
consortia. I will give just one example. Take for instance, the case of Consortium
for Advanced Research Training in Africa (CARTA), a consortium whose
core mandate is to enhance “the capacity of African universities to create
sustainable multidisciplinary research hubs by supporting junior faculty
members to undertake their doctoral (PhD) training locally. Despite the
fact that one of their activities include identification of, placement in, and
mentoring junior faculties in Africa through their PhD programmes, Prof
Akinyinka Omigbodun, the Chairman of the CARTA, does not hold a PhD
but the Fellowship! In
appointing the internationally reputable Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology
as the Chairman, the consideration of the Board of CARTA was not whether
Fellowship is equivalent to PhD or whether someone without a PhD can direct the
affairs of a Consortium which aims to advance the course of PhDs, but his
foremost academic standing in Africa including his leadership capacity and
track-record. This is the way the world is moving, and any suggestion to the
contrary in the appointment of LASU VC is just plain mischief at best or
deliberate ignorance at worst.
Myth 8: Some Universities will not make you Vice Chancellor if you
have the Fellowship and not PhD, therefore Fellowship is inferior to PhD.
The truth is that Professors of Medicine (who
hold the Fellowship and not the PhD) has been and are still Vice Chancellors of
Universities in Nigeria. See Prof Adeoye
Lambo (UI 1967 – 1971, Psychiatry); Prof
Babatunde Kwaku-Adadevoh (Unilag 1978 – 1980; Chemical Pathology); Prof
Deji Femi-Pearse (Unilag Acting VC, 1980; Internal Medicine), Prof Akinpelu Oludele Akinsola (Unilag
1981-1988, Surgery); Prof Adeoye Adeniyi
(Unilorin 1992-1997, Pediatrics); Prof
Fatiu Akesode (LASU 1997 -2001, Pediatrics); Prof Oladosu Ojengbede (UI Acting VC 1995-1996, Obstetrics &
Gynaecology); Prof Ayodele Falase
(UI 2000-2004, Internal Medicine); Prof
Isaac Adewole (UI 2010-2014, Obstetrics & Gynaecology); Prof John Obafunwa (LASU 2011 -2015,
Pathology); Prof Fidelis Njokanma (LASU Acting VC 2015; Paediatrics), Prof Abdulmumini Rafindadi (Federal
University Lokoja 2011- 2016, Pathology), and recently Prof Benjamin Ozumba (UNN, 2014-2019) till date, Obstetrics &
Gynaecology) and Prof Folasade Ogunsola (Unilag Acting VC, 2020; Medical
microbiology). In fact, as at the time of writing this letter, there are at
least two Fellowship-without-PhD Professors serving as Vice Chancellors of Universities,
examples are Prof Chigozie Ogbu
(Ebonyi State University, 2017 till date, Pediatrics) and Prof Aliyu Usman
El-Nafaty (Gombe State University, 2019 till date; Obstetrics and
Gynaecology) . Granted that I know of at least two dual Fellowship/PhD holders
who have been appointed VCs, in the persons of Prof Rogers Makanjuola (OAU 2001-2006, Psychiatry) and Prof Friday Okonofua (Ondo State
University of Medicine 2016 -2020, Obstetrics & Gynaecology), they
were both appointed VC in recognition of their academic standing as there is no
evidence it was based on their possession of PhD in addition to their
Fellowships.
Myth 9: The
NUC says that there is no equivalent to a PhD; therefore, the Fellowship cannot
be equivalent to a PhD.
This is an emotional argument, as far as I am
concerned. The Fellowship is NOT equivalent to a PhD. Period. This is
because they are two different certifications with different philosophies.
While the PhD is a purely academic degree, the Fellowship is a combined
academic and professional certification. What is an unassailable fact, however,
is that as far as the NUC and the Senates of ALL universities in Nigeria (including
LASU) is concerned today; the
Fellowship is the minimum entry point
for academics in Clinical Medicine & Dentistry and the highest academic qualification required
to reach the top of academic career in clinical medicine and dentistry. This is
exactly the status of PhD in every other academic discipline. Debating whether
or not the Fellowship and PhD are equivalent is therefore, a needless,
emotional, and wasteful academic exercise. Aside this, non-equivalence is not tantamount to superiority. The Bachelors of Engineering (B.Eng) is clearly NOT
equivalent to the Bachelors of Laws (LLB). This is a fact. Will it then be
logical to conclude from this premise that one is superior to the other?
Myth 10: Fellowship
holders are weak academics because they do not possess a PhD.
This is untrue and it is contrary to the facts
on ground. There are hordes of
university lecturers in non-medical faculties (with PhDs) who are redundant
academics. We also have Fellowship holders who are university lecturers and are
equally academically redundant. This is a fact. If PhDs were the academic
magic, we should not have plenty PhD holders who are struggling academics. In
the same vein, if the Fellowship was the key to academic success, we shouldn’t
have redundant Fellowship-holding clinical lecturers, but we do. This goes to
show that academic excellence is not a PhD/Fellowship issue, it is the innate
academic skill which the Fellowship or PhD help individuals to hone that really
matters. Take for instance, while Prof
Oshungade Isaac Olayiwola, a PhD in mathematics was the University of
Ilorin Researcher of the Year 2014, Prof
Wasiu Kolawole Wahab, a Fellowship holder without PhD from the Department
of Medicine (Neurology) got the same award in 2016. It had nothing to do with
their PhD or Fellowship; it was a reflection of their individual academic
prowess. When Prof Friday Okonofua, a dual PhD-Fellowship holder was being
admitted into the Nigerian Academy of Science (NAS) in the year 2010, Profs
Akinyinka Omigbodun and Isaac Adewole who hold the Fellowship without a PhD
were inducted into the academy same day. This was in recognition of their
individual academic standing and contributions, not the nature of academic
certification they held. In any case, and without attempting to sound immodest,
clinical lecturers (with Fellowship) are often on the top echelon of academic
excellence in any University. They belong to the crème and often among the most
celebrated alongside their PhD holding counterparts in other Faculties within
the University. Among recent inductees of the Nigerian Academy of Science are
Profs Olayinka Omigbodun FAS
(Psychiatry), Adesola Ogunniyi FAS
(Medicine/neurology), and Wasiu Adeyemo
FAS (Maxilofacial Surgery). Only the latter possess an additional PhD to his
Fellowship, the rest are pure Fellowship holders.
Concluding remarks on the needless mudslinging
in the ongoing LASU VC selection process:
I have explained exactly what the Fellowship
is, beyond misconceptions, and I have also debunked some myths around the
qualification. While I understand that, the university is a politically charged
environment, and when it comes to the appointment of Vice Chancellors, which is
a political appointment, several sentiments come to play; the discourse so far
shows clearly the error in the view and insinuations that a certain candidate is
not qualified to be selected as possible VC of LASU based on the fact that he
holds the Fellowship as primary postgraduate qualification and not the PhD. The
candidate would not have been found appointable as Lecturer in clinical
medicine in LASU if he had held a PhD in lieu of the Fellowship for reasons
stated earlier. Also, if the VC interview he attended on the 21st of
December, 2020 was for the purpose of appointment as Lecturer I in clinical
medicine in LASU, he would still not be appointable by the conditions of
service of LASU of today, if he had held the PhD and not the Fellowship. It is
therefore illogical, to say that a certification that was not going to get a
candidate appointable in the first instance will be required to be VC of same
university that made him or her a Professor. Aside, it is ridiculous to say
that someone who was found appointable in the university, promoted to the rank
of Professor, made the HOD, Dean, and Provost of the College within the
university; and admitted into the hollowed chambers of the University Senate,
elected as Council member of same University is ineligible to be the VC of same
University based on a certain certification that was never set as condition of
appointment and/ or promotion at any point.
Like I said in my opening statement, the
politics of who becomes the next VC of LASU is beyond me, but when it comes to
this issue of Fellowship and PhD, we should follow the facts, not sentiments
Dr. Olayinka Atilola MBBS (Ilorin); FMCPsych (Nigeria); FWACP (West Africa); PGD (Rotterdam),
is an academic staff of Lagos State University, a Clinical lecturer, and a
holder of the Fellowship degree
