Leadership crisis is brewing at the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) as the current Registrar, Dr Tajudeen Bolanle Sanusi allegedly declines to relinquish his position after attaining the statutory 60 years retirement age in the service.
Following this, a not for profit organization, Right to Good Governance (The People’s Watchdog) has called on the Federal Government FG to quickly intervene in the looming leadership tussle for a lasting solution, by compelling the medical professional body boss to do the needful.
The group, in a petition signed by its Coordinator, Oladipo Ahmed and sent to The Eagleonline indicated that having attained the compulsory retirement age for public officers, Dr Sanusi has continued to occupy the position in contravention of the Public Service Rule (020810) which states that “The compulsory retirement age for all grades in the Services hall be 60 years or 35 years of pension able service whichever is earlier” and also the subsisting government circular HCSF/EMS/EIR/B.63694/IV/T2/196 dated 27th July, 2009 which clearly state that “career officers who have not retired or choose not to retire from service, before the commencement of their tenured appointment, must leave office on attainment of the mandatory age /years of service for retirement.”
The group alleged that credible documents obtained from multiple sources showed that the Registrar who was first appointed in 2018 by the then Minister of Health remained in pensionable service as Registrar of the Parastatal beyond his attainment of the retirement age of 60years on 19th September, 2022and continued to occupy the position till this date.
“The Board of MDCN which reappointed him with less than seven months in service for another term in February 2022 failed to take into consideration the existing guiding laws which do not permit a public servant appointed to the position of the Registrar to remain in office beyond the compulsory retirement age of 60years.
“Similarly, Session 6 (1) of MDCN establishment ACT which gave the Governing Council powers to appoint a Registrar expects that such appointment complies with provisions of Public Service Rules for public officers” the group revealed.
The organisation said it strongly believed that incumbent President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who is an experienced democrat, will not allow non-compliance with the extant laws by any Head of Ministry Department and Agencies (MDAs).
It alarmed that the MDCN as a key player in the health sector is in dire need of a competent and qualified medical practitioner with demonstrable experience in Public Service to properly manage its affairs particularly at a time when the sector is inundated with many challenges.
Against this background, the group called on stakeholders saddled with the responsibility of determining the quality and quantity of medical and dental practitioners that are produced and practice within the country to quickly intervene.
It noted that members of the general public are mostly unaware that MDCN is also saddled with the task of maintaining ethical standards among medical practitioners and handle cases of professional misconducts against erring practitioners.
To this end, the group called on the FG, to as a matter of urgency compel Dr. Sanusi, who it alleged “is illegally occupying the position of Registrar of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria to vacate the office forth with”, in line with extant laws and the position should be advertised for qualified and competent Medical and Dental Practitioners in both the public and private sectors to compete.
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