By Sunday Ani
Mrs. Mercy Omowunmi Ojo is the registrar/chief executive of Dental Therapists Registration Board of Nigeria (DTHRBN), a parastatal under the Federal Ministry of Health charged with the responsibility to regulate efficiently the training and professional practice of dental therapists and dental surgery technicians and technology in Nigeria.
Mrs. Ojo became the substantive registrar of the board on March 1, 2017, and, following her sterling performance in her first four years, her appointment was renewed in 2021 for a second tenure. She was billed to leave office on Friday, February 28, 2025, after eight years as the DTHRBN’s helmswoman.
In this interview with Daily Sun, Mrs. Ojo, a pioneer member of the board, narratives how she was stagnated at level 14 for many years because she had a Higher National Diploma, as against a university degree, even when she had acquired additional certificates, her efforts to remove the career progression barrier for others in the same boat as her when she became the board’s chief executive, her numerous achievements as registrar, the challenges she faced, her growing up experiences, what she would go into after retirement and her hobbies, among other issues.
What is DTHRBN all about?
It is a parastatal under the Federal Ministry of Health, established by Decree 81 of August 25, 1993, and embodied in Cap. D7 of the Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004, to regulate efficiently the training and professional practice of dental therapists and dental surgery technicians and technology in Nigeria.
Our vision includes improving and maintaining excellence in the practice of four professionals under the purview of the board, while our mission is to regulate the practice of these professionals in the most efficient and effective manner that upholds and protects the best oral health care delivery system in the country.
Our organisation’s core values equally include integrity, respect, professionalism, care, innovation and drive.
How has the journey been so far; what has been your experience since you came on board?
Well, it has been a good story. It is not as if it has been rosy all the way. I have had a couple of challenges but, with the power of God and the support of the peaceful staff that I have here, I was able to overcome all of them. I thank God that we have been able to conquer and achieve a lot.
What were some of the challenges you encountered and how were you able to overcome them?
One of the challenges was professional rivalry. When I came in, we had a lot of agitations from professionals from the two nomenclatures that we regulate, and that was the lack of career progression. For instance, dental therapists are Higher National Diploma (HND) holders. In other words, there was no degree-awarding institution in the field at that time and it was like that for years. They have been stagnated at Level 14 for so many years. They couldn’t move beyond that level. Even when they had their doctorate degrees (PhD), they would be told only people from the dental profession, in this case dentists, could move.
When I came in, there was nothing like a degree for dental therapists but I took it upon myself to ensure that the issue was resolved. It was like my vision because I am an in-house person here and I have experienced the same injustice. People that met me here even when I was already on Level 10 all became directors and I was still on Level 14 because I had HND. I could not move, despite the fact that I had acquired additional qualifications. And there were no degree training institutions for dental therapists in Nigeria. So, if you didn’t have a degree in dental therapy, you couldn’t move beyond Level 14. That was in the scheme.
So, who are those that were moving beyond Level 14?
They were people in other cadres, like the dentists and dental technologists, who were able to get their degree years back before us. So, they were getting their promotions to Level 17, and we couldn’t move.
It was one of my visions because I was a victim of that stagnation for years. Immediately I assumed office, I started to work on it. I consulted many people, including some registrars of other professional bodies, and they told me that before they could get their own, they travelled outside the country and brought some programmes to enhance their own at university level.
However, the good news started in 2016, when I attended a programme in Burkina Faso, where I met the coordinator of the programme, Prof. Olorunwada, who asked me if I was interested in a degree for the dental therapists. I told him that it was one of my visions and I would love to have it. He assisted us with what the former registrar had done. Before I came in, the former registrar had drafted the curriculum before he left. Though it was not handed over to me, I searched for it, got it and took it up. So, Prof. Olorunwada from the WAHU organisation assisted us to get a university from West Africa that brought a degree programme in Dental Therapy to Nigeria. We had two centres, one in the South and the other in the North, and we began to sell forms and call people to inform them about what was available for them. They all participated in the programme, which was made available to us by the Legacy University of Gambia, affiliated with the University of India. So, they were able to attend that programme for two years, after which they all got their degrees in Dental Therapy. While I was working on that, I was also working on the National Universities Commission (NUC) to have our own curriculum already developed here to be inculcated into Nigerian universities. And some people were working against us. Dentists didn’t want it; they were the obstacle in getting degrees for dental therapists over the years. But I kept on pushing until I met one dentist that was an associate professor, who took me to the accreditation team. They promised to do it. I even saw the then executive secretary of the NUC, Prof. Okogie, who also promised that if I could host a stakeholders’ meeting, they would grant my request. I was ready to do anything to get that degree for us. Along the line, the whole thing stopped; they couldn’t do anything and I also soft-pedaled for that moment.
So, we continued with Legacy University, Gambia. At the same time, I faced the Head of Service of the Federation, as I kept sending memos and letters to the office. Initially, I didn’t go through the Ministry of Health but later, when I got to the final stage, I passed through the Ministry of Health. I did that because the head of dentistry then didn’t want it; he was attacking us here and there, but God was on our side. We had a couple of good people who sympathized with us and assisted us to get what we were fighting for. The Head of Service was a dental surgeon but he was very willing to assist and he assisted us to get the scheme of moving up to Level 17 approved.
We succeeded in removing the barrier of Level 14 and we were accepted to move up to Level 17 but that was after three years when the people that enrolled in Legacy had passed out. It was around then that the School of Dental Technology, Enugu, was upgraded to a degree-awarding institution. So, I used the certificates from Legacy University and those of Enugu School of Dental Technology to justify why we should be allowed to move beyond Level 14 to 17 and it was granted to us.
Today, is it only Enugu that is awarding degrees in Nigeria?
No, Lead University has started because, after that scheme, the NUC gave us a benchmark without which we can’t award degree in dental therapy. For now, about six institutions are offering degrees in Nigeria, including the one in Bayelsa, Azare in Bauchi, Ondo, Osun, Borno and Zamfara states. Enugu is also operating full-fledged degree programmes in dental therapy.
Is it only dental therapists that your board regulates?
Not at all, another professional that we regulate is the dental surgery technician. They used to be called dental surgery assistants but, after one year, when other professions were upgrading to technicians, they also joined them. When technicians from other professions upgraded to technological cadre, there was another agitation for them to also upgrade. Just like technicians in pharmacy and laboratory were upgraded to technologists, we also applied to the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) to come and draft a curriculum for OND and HND for us and we achieved that. So, now we have technologists. We have also developed a degree programme for them, which is Dental Surgery Technology. I intend to send it to the NUC before I leave office so that the person coming after me will take it up from there. All these activities that I undertake, there is none for which I didn’t take approval from the board.
What other challenges did you encounter in your eight year stint?
Other challenges came through the agitation for career progression. Dental nurses were formerly with this board but some of them, out of envy, started writing petitions that they wanted to leave. They eventually left. They wanted to carry the dental surgery technicians to be on their own but they were not allowed to do that because you can’t be on your own while serving the country; somebody must certify you before you can treat a human being in Nigeria; that is, obtaining a license to operate. They went to the Nursing Council but then one of the factions of the nurses again took the Nursing Council to court and joined us, stating that we don’t have the powers to regulate dental nurses and dental surgery technicians. These are some of the challenges I am talking about.
As a mother and wife, how do you combine the home front with this onerous job such that no front suffers?
By the grace of God, I find it very easy. My family understands the nature of the job that I do, and before I became registrar, they knew the passion I had for the job. I am a pioneer staff of this board; I started both the education and the registration departments of this board. I always take work home; so my family knows what I do. Most often, I work throughout the night and in the morning I go to work. They know that I don’t joke with the work and they understand the nature of the job. I have been travelling before I became the registrar, so they are used to it. The only thing is that I know how to schedule my itinerary. Before I leave home, I will prepare everything. I have my grandchildren with me and I have house-helps who take care of them. I have a big deep freezer and I make sure that everything they will need is there; food stuff, provisions, anything they will need is provided. I don’t allow my home to lack; so once they need it, they will take care of themselves. And they don’t call me in the afternoon; they call me only in the evening. If they need to talk to me, that will be maybe before 6am, then in the evening, we discuss again. I manage my home very well.
How do you unwind?
I unwind when I finish my job; when I do something good in the office. When I came onboard, the majority of my workers were not computer literate, so we bought computers for everybody to ensure they are computer literate. We don’t engage secretaries any longer; you do your job by yourself. It is part of my achievement and part of the things that make me unwind. I digitized this place.
So, I feel relaxed when I watch African Magic movies at home. Even when I travel and I enter any hotel for accreditation, the first question I will ask the hotel attendant is whether they have African Magic in their television; once they have it, I am okay. Again, I have a small note that I always carry with me and there are so many films, Netflix on it; so even if I am on a flight and I feel little tension, I will open it and watch films. The moment I see Yoruba films, English films, and the local ones; I feel relaxed.
How close are you to your children?
I am very close to my children (grandchildren). They are on a mid-term break now. I play with them, watch cartoons with them and ask them questions. I also organize private teachers for them. I don’t have children that are in secondary schools again; my children are all grown up. So, it is their children, my grandchildren that are with me.
What do you want to be remembered for after you left office?
I want to be remembered as that person that removed the barrier of career progression for dental therapists to become directors in their life because with the scheme of level 17, they will get to anywhere they want to go; to get that 17 is not an easy thing. I want to be remembered for that. Those before me tried to get it but I know it is the Grace of God that made it possible for me to achieve that in my own time.
As you leave this board, where will you be going?
I am so happy that I am leaving. Right now, I don’t have any agenda of what I want to do next. But to God’s glory, I was a big fish farmer before I became Registrar. I advised the cooperative here to start fish farming because I was in a cooperative in the Ministry of Health where I came from. I told them that they could do a lot of things with the help of a cooperative to augment their salaries. They know me; I always took the highest loan from them before I became Registrar. I was a big farmer; it does not affect my job. It was a very big catfish farm. I had somebody, who would change the water in the evening and when I return from work, I assist them to feed the fish. In the night, we made sure we prepared their feed and very early in the morning, as early as 4am, you will see me in my trousers feeding the fish.
My father’s farm in the village is there and nobody is cultivating it. Since I know I will be retiring this year, I have gone into cassava farming and I also do yam farming. This year, my attention is on potatoes. I am just waiting for the rains and I will start that fully in my village.
Is it correct to say that you will be retiring to farm?
Yes, you are right. I am a village person from Ikole-Ekiti. My father was a farmer and my mother was a trader but they were into farming. So, I am used to this kind of farming. When I was young, my mother sold kola nuts and palm oil. So, if you go to my village, I have packed so many 25-litre gallons there in preparation to go into the palm oil business just like my mother did. You buy them during the period of plenty and sell when they are scarce and make your profit.
What was your growing up like?
It was fantastic. I grew up in Ekiti. Actually, it was a teacher that brought me up, my father’s younger sister. She was looking for the fruit of the womb. So, my mother just handed me over to her without my father’s knowledge when I was five. I was about 15 when my father insisted that I should return home because when she started giving birth to children, I dropped out of primary school to take care of the children. So, when I was 15 and I had not entered secondary school, my father said I must return home and at that time, you couldn’t go directly to secondary school from primary school. There was a modern school arrangement where you spent one year before proceeding to secondary school. So, I spent one year in modern school before I gained admission into secondary school. So, from 15, I stayed and grew up with my parents. And that time, we woke up early in the morning to go to the farm. You would not eat if you didn’t go to the farm. My father had a large cocoa farm in three different locations. I am from a polygamous family. In those days, fathers didn’t really care about their female children going to school but my father was not like that; he trained both male and female children. So, we would go to the farm very early in the morning to bring cocoa seeds and they would give money to buy food and prepare to go to school. And when you came back in the afternoon and they were still in the farm, you would drop your school bag and go and meet them there. It is on the farm that you would eat your dinner and then all of us would go home together. All of us as children had our own portion of the farm. If it is groundnut you want to do, you have your own portion. If it is maize, you have your portion.