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By Enyeribe Ejiogu
Dr Uche Uchegbu who holds a doctorate in Medial Laboratory Science works at the Federal Teaching Hospital Owerri, formerly the Federal Medical Centre, which was taken over by the Federal Government to serve as the teaching hospital of the medical faculty of Federal University of Technology, Owerri, (FUTO). Since graduating from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, he has been in practice for nearly 30 years. He has been an adjunct lecturer in Imo State University. Uchegbu was chairman of the FMC Chapter of AMLSN from 2007 to 2009. He is a lecturer in the Department of Medical Laboratory Science.
In this interview, he shares insight on the leadership tussle that has practically crippled AMLSN.
What are your thoughts about the secretariat which was shut down by Dr Casmir Ifeanyi in the heat of the leadership tussle in AMLSN?
It is really unfortunate that the tussle over leadership of the Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria (AMLSN) reached the disgraceful low point where the national secretariat of was forcibly shut down the staff sent away without their salaries. This incident trended on social media – that it was Dr Casmir Ifeanyi who allegedly shut down the secretariat. I don’t live in Abuja, and I didn’t go to that national secretariat to find out facts for myself. However, the action taken by Dr Casmir with the alleged support of thugs is worrisome. The action, to say the least, was very, very unfair and quite unfortunate. When the issue came up, I made a comment that Dr. Casmir should not have gone to that extent. If you are contesting and something happened, try to resolve issues and make your opinion known.
Now when there is a stronger argument, you succumb. That is what makes a man humble and good enough to be looked at. I don’t really like the closure and what followed it in terms of sending away the staff.
How long have you been a member of AMLSN?
I have been a member since I graduated from the University of Nigeria in 1991 and got involved in AMLSN activities from Port Harcourt, where I did my youth service and subsequently began to follow up. In those days, as a greenhorn, you had to go in, to find out what was happening and know how to be involved and to the extent to get involved. I was a chapter chairman of AMLSN in my place of work. I’m a member of the state branch at AMLSN.
The Minister of Health directed the Medical Laboratory Science Council of Nigeria (MLSCN) to organise a fresh election, even though there is a subsisting judgment of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN). What is your view on this?
The directive by the Health minister is something we have heard unofficially. AMLSN is a pressure group of medical professionals. It is not a parastatal under the Ministry of Health. Therefore, the Minister cannot issue a directive to AMLSN. Nothing in the constitution of AMLSN empowers the Minister to issue directives to the professional body, either directly or through the Council acting as the Minister’s proxy.
I have not heard that before since my years in AMLSN; there hasn’t been any such directive from the minister. There is an Igbo proverb that says if you are showing a child a snake in the night, you must know where the head is, so that the child will avoid it.
I believe that the Minister may not have been briefed well. If he had been briefed well the Minister would not have given the directive. The Nigerian Constitution guides everybody that resides here and the polity is supposed to be under the guidance of the law. The minister is an appointed official of the Federal Government. A pressure group like AMLSN is not under the supervision of the Health minister, because sometimes the minister may do something that impinges on the Council and AMLSN will raise stout objection to it, in accordance with law. Therefore, AMLSN is a professional association and the Minister cannot purport to issue directives to it through the MLSCN. The MLSCN is made up of medical laboratory science professionals and other employees. The MLSCN is a regulatory agency under the Ministry of Health. The ministry is not the parent body of AMLSN. It is a body registered by the Corporate Affairs Commission and has a constitution. In essence, both the Minister and MLSCN have no legal authority to issue directives to AMLSN. It does not happen anywhere. Can the Minister issue similar directives to the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) or the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA)? So, what then is the legal foundation on which the minister stood to issue directives to AMLSN through the MLSCN? Whoever informed the minister of what happened or what is happening in AMLSN may have fed him wrong information. If a case is in court and you want to withdraw the matter from the court, the two parties will have to agree. If the two parties have agreed and you make peace and the both parties accept your peace, then fine and well; you go back to the court and say we have resolved. If there is no resolution after moving for the peace, then you will say no, we have not resolved. These are procedures.
Really, it is very unfortunate that Dr. Ofili, the Acting Registrar is behaving this way. I knew him when I was in Council because I was the Chairman of Promotion, Discipline and Appointment Committee. He’s down to earth, he’s a gentle guy but what is pulling him to do all these things he’s doing now is what I cannot understand. So it is absurd, it is an aberration to say MLSCN is organising the election for AMLSN.
AMLSN plays a major role in the appointment of members of MLSCN Board. AMLSN can withdraw members from the Board. The Council is in place because AMLSN exists. It is not the other way around. It can never be the other way around. I don’t know if they briefed the minister. Well, the minister should be well informed to know that things don’t happen the other way around. You can’t see a younger person to lead an older person, especially in things that concern age or you tell a Brigadier General to be under a Lieutenant, something like that. No, it doesn’t happen.
Therefore, the truth of the matter is that the minister was not well briefed and the minister may be acting based on the wrong things he was told. The Constitution of Nigeria does not give the minister powers to conduct election for a union or pressure group. Most of the associations under the medical profession have had their problems at one time or the other. In none of the instances did the Minister conduct election for them or direct their regulatory body to do so. This one proposed for AMLSN by the Minister and MLSCN will not happen because it is an aberration. Nobody does that. If the Minister and MLSCN go ahead with it, it means they have vested interest. It is that vested interest that is destroying the association and the profession, so to speak.
Are you aware that the MLSCN has scheduled the election for February?
Yes, I have heard that the election will hold in February. Who gave that order? Did the court give the Minister and the MLSCN an order to organise the election? The court has not given any order. The case is still in court. I am not aware that Dr Uche Odionyenma has withdrawn the case at the National Industrial Court of Nigeria. If he has done so, then he should inform us, the generality of AMLSN membership.
First, for an election to hold there has to be an annual conference, which will appoint the electoral body as we normally do it according to the constitution and then run election. For me, I don’t think there will be election because people may show interest in one way or the other. If you do what you want to do and the matter is not resolved, it will still linger. It will bring us back to what happened or what is happening now from that 2023 election. So you don’t cover up feaces with paper and go to pick a star apple. To pick that star apple, you have to remove that feaces, so that we know that place is clear. What if another apple falls on top of the feaces? Therefore, we have a long way to go.
What is the way to resolve the matter?
People need to first understand how the problem started and the specific provisions of the AMLSN constitution regarding election. Dr. Odionyenma and Dr Casmir both come from the Southeast. But their practice locations are in the South and North. Odionyenma is based in Ondo in the South while Dr Casmir is based in Abuja. Based on the North-South rotation arrangement, Dr Casmir was not qualified to contest as enshrined in the AMLSN constitution, given that it was the turn of the South and Odionyenma contested as the Southern candidate. Casmir permanently teaches at the University of Abuja, and resides in Abuja, which is regarded as part of the North Central zone.
