- The Federal government has approved an amendment allowing medical fellowships to serve as the equivalent of a PhD for the academic promotion and career progression of medical professionals
- The amendment has been endorsed by the FEC and will be forwarded to the National Assembly of Nigeria for legislative approval
- The agreement also clarified that clinical lecturers without a PhD should still be eligible for promotion up to the rank of professor within Nigerian universities
The Nigerian government has approved an amendment that will allow medical fellowships to be recognised as the equivalent of a PhD for academic promotion and career progression among medical professionals.
The Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, announced the development on Wednesday, March 4, after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by President Bola Tinubu.
Mr Alausa said the amendments to the National Postgraduate Medical College Act had been reviewed and approved by the council.
According to him, the proposed amendments will now be forwarded to the National Assembly of Nigeria for legislative changes to the law.
For years, medical professionals have argued that medical fellowships should carry the same academic weight as a PhD within the university system.
They maintain that the curriculum and research requirements involved in obtaining a fellowship from institutions such as the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria, the West African Postgraduate Medical College, or other recognised international postgraduate medical colleges are already rigorous and research-intensive.
The Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria and the National Universities Commission had previously reached an agreement in 2020 stating that a PhD should not be a compulsory requirement for the career advancement of clinical consultants in Nigerian universities.
Under that agreement, the absence of a PhD would not prevent clinical lecturers from moving up the academic ladder to the rank of professor in the Nigerian university system.
Despite this resolution, MDCAN has continued to raise concerns about what it describes as discrimination against medical professionals who hold fellowships but do not possess a PhD, particularly in processes such as the appointment of university vice-chancellors, where a PhD is typically listed as a requirement.