Manny Ita –
The Federal Government of Nigeria has approved an amendment that will allow medical professionals to use medical fellowships as the equivalent of a PhD for academic promotion and career progression in universities.
The Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, disclosed the decision on Wednesday after a meeting of the Federal Executive Council presided over by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Mr Alausa said the council reviewed and approved amendments to the National Postgraduate Medical College Act to recognise medical fellowships as an equivalent qualification to a PhD for medical professionals working in academia. He added that the proposed changes would be forwarded to the National Assembly of Nigeria for legislative amendment.
Medical professionals in Nigeria have long argued that medical fellowships should be considered equivalent to a PhD within the academic environment. They maintain that the curriculum and research requirements of fellowships offered by institutions such as the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria and the West African Postgraduate Medical College, as well as recognised foreign postgraduate medical colleges, already provide substantial academic and research training.
The debate over the equivalence of fellowships and PhDs has persisted for years within Nigeria’s university system. In 2020, the Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria and the National Universities Commission reached an agreement that possession of a PhD would not be a compulsory requirement for the promotion of clinical lecturers.
Under that agreement, the absence of a PhD would not prevent clinical lecturers from advancing through academic ranks up to the level of professor within Nigerian universities.
However, the Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria has continued to allege discrimination against medical professionals who possess fellowships but do not hold PhDs, particularly during the selection and recruitment of university vice-chancellors, where a PhD is often listed as a mandatory qualification.
