eeeeeee:

There is EVERYTHING wrong with that.

The Commissioner is the head of the ministry of health in the state and is responsible for policy making, yet she has absolutely no professional knowledge of the ministry she is running.
Pray tell how she is supposed to map out policies to help forestall the outbreak of Lassa fever/ebola/Zika virus, or reduce under 5 mortality or improve immunization coverage or maternal mortality when she does not have adequate knowledge on these.

She simply is a redundant stooge put there to spite health workers.

Rochas may as well appoint an engineer as chief judge.

you need to understand how the government is supposed to work.
The political head of a ministry simply represents the head of government and is in charge of ensuring that the government's wishes and policies are carried out in that ministry, where applicable. The professionals, i.e. the civil servants, are responsible for carrying out these policies - their job being to faithfully serve whatever government is in power.

So, for example, maybe APC has a policy that requires free health care for rural dwellers, or suchlike. The APC minister for health now tasks the civil servants in the ministry to come up with a procedure for implementing this policy by interfacing with all concerned, the doctors in the rural healthcare centres, the leaders in rural communities, etc. You do not need to be a doctor to make this happen.

Secondly, in purely technical issues, like for example, the cited Zika virus combat strategy, again, you have doctors, public health specialists, etc, etc, working for the Ministry of Health. It is THEIR job to come up with strategies and all you do is to approve or not approve and pass it on to and/or liaise with the other ministries concerned (fr example, implementing quarantines usually involves the cooperation of agencies under the Ministry of the Interior).

Go to other countries, like for example in the UK, the health secretary is a former Japanese teacher and consultant, in the U.S the health secretary is a professional administrator and you will see that the system works. It's only here, where vested interests rule, that we have this type of stupidity, because the doctors and lawyers dislike being controlled by non-members of their profession, which usually has negative effects. It is one of the reasons why the general hospitals in Imo State became dysfunctional, as the doctor-administrators were never able to sanction erring doctors and turned a blind eye to their activities.

As an aside, the current UK justice secretary (Minister for Justice) was a journalist, not a lawyer and was also once the education secretary.

sunnyuche1:

'Thought' sir.

ok sir

Cyberknight:


you need to understand how the government is supposed to work.
The political head of a ministry simply represents the head of government and is in charge of ensuring that the government's wishes and policies are carried out in that ministry, where applicable. The professionals, i.e. the civil servants, are responsible for carrying out these policies - their job being to faithfully serve whatever government is in power.

So, for example, maybe APC has a policy that requires free health care for rural dwellers, or suchlike. The APC minister for health now tasks the civil servants in the ministry to come up with a procedure for implementing this policy by interfacing with all concerned, the doctors in the rural healthcare centres, the leaders in rural communities, etc. You do not need to be a doctor to make this happen.

Secondly, in purely technical issues, like for example, the cited Zika virus combat strategy, again, you have doctors, public health specialists, etc, etc, working for the Ministry of Health. It is THEIR job to come up with strategies and all you do is to approve or not approve and pass it on to and/or liaise with the other ministries concerned (fr example, implementing quarantines usually involves the cooperation of agencies under the Ministry of the Interior).

Go to other countries, like for example in the UK, the health secretary is a former Japanese teacher and consultant, in the U.S the health secretary is a professional administrator and you will see that the system works. It's only here, where vested interests rule, that we have this type of stupidity, because the doctors and lawyers dislike being controlled by non-members of their profession, which usually has negative effects. It is one of the reasons why the general hospitals in Imo State became dysfunctional, as the doctor-administrators were never able to sanction erring doctors and turned a blind eye to their activities.

As an aside, the current UK justice secretary (Minister for Justice) was a journalist, not a lawyer and was also once the education secretary.

You have exhibited your ignorance by mixing up different systems of governance.

You cannot be drawing direct comparisons from a parliamentary system and a quasi presidential one like Nigeria.
For your information the UK is a parliamentary government and as such, Cabinet ministers (secretary) are usually (or mandatory as in the UK) appointed from among sitting members of the legislature (MP member of parliament)and either remain members of the legislature while serving in the cabinet (e.g. in the United Kingdom). These are MPs or core politicians and this is a sharp contrast to the presidential system. They even retain their MP seats as serving ministers. This is almost exclusive to the UK and others practicing Westminster parliamentary system.

You cannot compare apples and oranges that is the problem that arises when you have ill informed politicians like Rochas running the affairs of a state.
In the UK the CMO is a better equivalent.

eeeeeee:


You have exhibited your ignorance by mixing up different systems of governance.

You cannot be drawing direct comparisons from a parliamentary system and a quasi presidential one like Nigeria.
For your information the UK is a parliamentary government and as such, Cabinet ministers (secretary) are usually (or mandatory as in the UK) appointed from among sitting members of the legislature (MP member of parliament)and either remain members of the legislature while serving in the cabinet (e.g. in the United Kingdom). These are MPs or core politicians and this is a sharp contrast to the presidential system. They even retain their MP seats as serving ministers. This is almost exclusive to the UK and others practicing Westminster parliamentary system.

You cannot compare apples and oranges that is the problem that arises when you have ill informed politicians like Rochas running the affairs of a state.
In the UK the CMO is a better equivalent.

And you have also exhibited your own ignorance by failing to understand the point or even reading the post.
the point was that - no matter the system, the political head of a ministry does NOT have to be a professional in certain fields or even a person with any knowledge of the field at all.

That was the point.
And if you notice, I also mentioned a case from the U.S, which also practices a presidential system of government.

Next time, read through and try to think before you respond.

Cyberknight:


And you have also exhibited your own ignorance by failing to understand the point or even reading the post.
the point was that - no matter the system, the political head of a ministry does NOT have to be a professional in certain fields or even a person with any knowledge of the field at all.

That was the point.
And if you notice, I also mentioned a case from the U.S, which also practices a presidential system of government.

Next time, read through and try to think before you respond.

No need going back and forth.

The offices have different roles, that is my point.