The federal government has approved medical fellowships awarded by professional medical colleges as equivalent of PhD degrees in Nigeria.
This comes on the heels of a long-standing debate over
whether medical professionals must have a PhD as a terminal degree for academic
progression into the professorship cadre.
In 2016, a committee set up by the Medical and Dental
Consultants’ Association of Nigeria (MDCAN) submitted that the qualification to
teach and rise to professorship in the basic medical sciences should be the
PhD.
It, however, noted that the qualification to teach the
clinical aspects of the medical degree programme should be the National
Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria (NPMCN) fellowship.
In 2021, the National Universities Commission (NUC) declared
that post-graduate medical fellowships from NPMCN, the West African College of
Physicians (WACP), the West African College of Surgeons (WACS), and other
related bodies are not equivalent to PhD degree.
In 2023, the NUC also reiterated its stance on the need for
medical doctors in the academics to acquire Master’s and doctorate degrees to
enable them attain the rank of professors.
Briefing State House correspondents in Abuja after the
federal executive council (FEC) meeting on Wednesday, Tunji Alausa, minister of
education, said the federal government has finally recognised medical
fellowships as PhD equivalents.
Alausa said FEC approved amendments to the National
Postgraduate Medical College (NPMC) Act, developed with the attorney-general,
to eliminate barriers for super-specialised doctors.
“We need to remove the dichotomy of doctors who spent almost
16 years from medical school and their residency, and then doing their
fellowship, becoming super specialised,” he said.
“The kind of degree we need in Nigeria today for doctors is
MBBS, Master of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery.”
He noted that those in the medical sector often spend more
years to obtain a PhD, noting that once the executive bill has been sent to the
national assembly, “the NPMC will now act as a PhD equivalent”.
During the meeting presided over by President Bola Tinubu,
FEC also imposed a six-year ban on the establishment of privately-owned
universities, polytechnics and colleges of education.
It also restored the National Commission for Mass Literacy,
Adult and Non-formal Education (NMEC) to its full status as an independent
commission.
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