This letter was written by Dr Paul John in response to an earlier letter written to the president by JOHESU and AHPA http://mhwun.org/media-centre/news-events/36-johesu-ahpa-call-for-inclusive-decision-making-in-the-ministry-of-health.html
It is the usual attitude of the NMA to snub any publication by the paramedical staff attacking her members as the association believes they are just noise makers and are not worth a reply.
However, Dr Paul personally replied this.

Mr President: I write in response to the recent petition to you signed by the
chairman JOHESU, comrade Jay Josiah and the chairman AHPA,Dr Godswill C.
Okara with the above titular theme. For ease of reference, JOHESU stands for
Joint Health Sector Unions whereas AHPA stands for Assembly of Healthcare
Professional Associations. The said petition raised specious points which if not
immediately corrected may derail the public. This rebuttal is necessary
because neither my leaders nor my elder colleagues will respond to the
spurious allegations raised against them in the petition because to them,
Nigerian medical doctors are not in competition with any group and responding
to such allegation may give the petitioners undue recognition; hence,
the petition is not worth the attention of Nigerian medical doctors .

APPOINTMENT OF TWO MEDICAL DOCTORS IN THE FEDERAL MINISTRY OF
HEALTH
In the petition, the petitioners argued that it is unfair to have two doctors in the
ministry. I want to specially thank you for your well-thought-out appointments
so far. Gone are the days when people who were not eligible were appointed to
different government positions in order to appease a particular group.
Meanwhile, in the Federal ministry of Justice, the current Permanent Secretary,
Barrister Taiwo Abidogun, is a lawyer. Are there no paralegal workers or other
workers in the Ministry of Justice the same way we have these paramedical
workers in the Health ministry? The paralegal workers there have never
complained that both the Permanent Secretary and the Honourable Minister of
Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation are lawyers because the
paralegal workers are aware that for the ministry of Justice to move forward,
sensitive positions must be manned by technocrats . Thus, one would begin to
wonder why it is difficult for these paramedical workers (JOHESU and AHPA) in
the health sector to know that before the desired change will be established in
Nigeria, all appointments into government positions must be devoid of
sentiments, nepotism, tribalism and other mundane considerations.

DR AMINA SHAMAKI IS BIASED
The petitioners went on to posit that the current permanent secretary Federal
Ministry of Health, Dr Amina Shamaki is biased as she only favours her fellow
medical doctors. They mischievously cited her roles as a permanent secretary in
the office of the Head of Service of the Federation. This rabid hatred by
these paramedical workers against Nigerian doctors is proverbial. The
petitioners were silent over the position of the permanent secretary when the
immediate former Permanent Secretary, Mr Linus Awute, with MSC in
Agricultural chemistry and Soil science was there. To the petitioners, it is better
that the position be left unoccupied than being occupied by a medical doctor.
Such hatred is not new as when the current director-general of NAFDAC, Dr
Paul Orhii, a medical doctor, was at the verge of being appointed, they wrote a
similar petition to the then president. After their petition was ignored, they went
to court with suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/259/09 to challenge the appointment of
Dr Paul Orhii arguing that section 9(1) of the NAFDAC Act Cap N1 LFN 2004
stated, inter alia, that the DG of NAFDAC must be a person with good
knowledge of pharmacy, food and drugs. They failed to realise any medical
doctor has those qualities and that since the inception of USFDA (United States
Food and Drug Administration) in 1906 that 13 out of the 21 Food and Drug
commissioners (a term for our own Director-General) were medical doctors.
Expectedly, the said law-suit was struck out by the federal High court sitting in
Abuja, on April 2012 for lack of merit. They are at it again with the appointment
of this woman of substance in the federal ministry of Health.

THAT DR CHRIS NWABUEZE NGIGE WILL WORK AGAINST THEM
In the petition, they argued that with another medical doctor
superintending the Federal Ministry of Labour and
Productivity, their welfare demands will be rendered
nugatory. It is on record that since the national leadership of
NLC (Nigerian Labour Congress) is headed by a paramedical worker, Comrade
Ayuba Wabba, no Nigerian medical doctor, either acting as a group or as an
individual, has ever opposed or seen the leadership of NLC as a threat to the
welfare of Nigerian doctors. As I have said before, there are some professions
that are naturally made to be competition-free. The same way that the
professor of paralegal studies can never be addressed as a lawyer hence cannot
head Ministry of Justice, that is the same way the professor of a paramedical
course can never be called a medical doctor. If Dr Ngige were posted to the
ministry of Water Resources, Agriculture or any other ministry that does not
have direct link with the Ministry of Health, the petitioners would also find a
way to bring in Dr Ngige into their spurious petition .Surprisingly, If Nigerian
medical doctors come out today to say, Abuja is the federal capital of Nigeria,
the petitioners and their group will come out to dispute this obvious fact.

THAT MEDICAL DOCTORS CONSTITUTE 5% OF THE WORKFORCE IN THE
MINISTRY OF HEALTH
Well, I am not aware of the criterion they used to get their data .Is it not
preposterous and serendipitous that the same group that was accusing past
ministers of health, chief medical directors, medical doctors of our hospitals of
not employing their members has just found out that they now constitute about
95 of the workforce in the ministry and by extension, in the health sector? I
congratulate them on this new finding and at same time, I urge them not to
complain of unemployment among their members as they are already leading
Nigerian doctors in the area of employment hence they should not disturb Dr
Ngige, who is faced with the challenge of massive unemployment in the country.

ON THE HISTORIC VISIT OF THE NEW MINISTER OF HEALTH TO NMA
SECRETARIAT
To the petitioners and the associations they represent, whatever a Nigerian
doctor does or says is wrong until proven otherwise. Where were the petitioners
when the immediate past government sacked about 16,000 striking resident
doctors under the watch of a minister of health who is a doctor? Where were
they when Prof Onyebuchi Chukwu, a medical doctor, challenged his colleagues
to an open national debate over his colleagues' demand? Have these petitioners
sent any invitation to the new minister of health to come to their secretariats
and he refused to come? We are not surprised at their reactions as we have
since adapted to their belligerent nature in the sector. Were they not the ones
shouting ,'International best practices ' and when the idea of privatisation of
the health sector , which is the fulcrum of the much-touted international best
practices, was mooted , they openly opposed it for no other reason than
Nigerian doctors supported it and for the fact that the said privatisation would
pay an individual according to the economic value of the person's qualifications
and work and not according to the ability to form more unions in the sector or
draw more media attention. What else do Nigerians expect from a group that
supports medical tourism abroad for no other reason than Nigerian doctors
oppose the idea?

ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE YAYALE AHMED PANEL REPORT AND A
LEGAL SUIT PENDING BEFORE NICN
The way the petitioners applauded the panel sent chills down the spine of
Nigerian doctors when the panel was still investigating the cause of the
incessant crises in the sector. They went on to accuse the former president of
planning to stop the panel from releasing her report. Surprisingly, the same
group has made a volte- face, accusing the report of the panel of being lopsided
in favour of Nigerian medical doctors. What an irony!
The petitioners went ahead to claim that the Health and the Labour ministers
are raising legal teams to join forces against them in the NICN( National
Industrial Court Of Nigeria). My little knowledge of legal practice shows that in
a legal suit the respondents are entitled to defend themselves in line with
section 36 of our constitution (as amended) hence if the petitioners or their
associations have gone to court as plaintiffs mentioning the federal ministry of
Health and Labour as respondents ,the ministries are morally and legally bound
to respond to the charges against them unless the petitioners are now ordering
the respondents not to respond to the legal suit against them .

ON THE RECOGNITION OF DOCTORS' POSTGRADUATE FELLOWSHIP OVER
PHD IN THEIR CAREERS AS ACADEMICS
Your Excellency, the first day I saw a headline comparing PhD and Doctors'
postgraduate fellowship on the television ,I nearly aspirated the food I was
eating because I burst into uncontrollable laughter . My laughter was due to the
resemblance of the arguments to the interview once granted by Chief James
Akwari Iroha (known as Gringory Akabuogu), the writer and initiator of the
popular NTA drama series called 'The New Masquerade ' ,which featured
characters like Zebrudaya Okoroigwe Nwogbo alias 4:30 , Ovularia,Clarus,
Nathy, Jegede Shokoya etc. While answering questions from Chukwu Eke
( reporter), about his inspirations in initiating the soap opera , late Mr James
Iroha had this to say about his own family:
My father had a man called Etudo as his house keeper .He was a native
of Ikot Ekpene , Akwa Ibom state. It was he who took care of all of us -
my siblings and I. The man was very kind to us,very honest and very
assiduous .If you did not pass your exam very well, he would not allow
you to go back to school, my father gave him money to pay our school
fees. So he was in deed in charge. For instance, I remember when my
sister got credits in all her subjects; he refused to accept the result .He
scolded her for getting credits instead of passes. After all, she was
given money .For him, the credits she got meant that she was owing,
what was good for him was 'pass' period.
We may forgive Mr Etudo because he was uneducated. But how are we going to
forgive a group of educated individuals who now believe that anybody that gets
a credit or distinction will be punished, believing that a pass grade is higher
than a credit/distinction? If a PhD holder starts as a lecturer 2 while a medical
doctor with a postgraduate fellowship starts as a lecturer 1 in the academic
field, is it not clear to the petitioners and their friends that
doctors' postgraduate fellowship is superior to PhD. Following the line of
reasoning of these petitioners, tertiary institutions who advertised their minimum
requirements as five O' level credit in relevant subjects to admission seekers
will now refuse to accept candidates with distinctions in the relevant subjects
because just like Mr Etudo in the interview all they want to hear is PhD and not
doctors' postgraduate fellowship. That is what Sir Robert Hutchison in his
popular Aphorism called,' Putting knowledge before wisdom, Science before art,
and cleverness before common sense....'

http://www.medicalworldnigeria.com/2015/11/re-appraising-appointments-in-the-federal-ministry-of-health-by-dr-paul-john#.VlrAedKrRdg

The letter earlier sent by JOHESU and AHPA to Mr President

His Excellency
President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR
Aso Rock Villa
Abuja
Your Excellency,

APPRAISING APPOINTMENTS IN THE FEDERAL MINISTRY OF HEALTH.
We bring you glad tidings of the approaching yuletide season and
of the end of year.
For Nigeria it has been an eventful year under your distinguished
leadership and we can only hope it get better.
While Nigeria appears to be on course for a great future, we are
worried that the ever boiling Health Sector appears to be headed
for more heated discourse especially against the background of
recent appointments in the leadership strata of the Federal
Ministry of Health.
Your Excellency, we concede that the Constitution gives you a
legal leverage to appoint your Ministers in the bid to steer the
ship of the state. We have tried to be understanding and matured
in the strong hope that your administration’s change mantra will
bring long expected succour to our ailing Health Sector.
Your Excellency, the appointment of two Medical Doctors as
Ministers in Charge of the Federal Ministry of Health equaled the
precedence of former President Goodluck Jonathan, GCFR, which
unfortunately catalyzed unprecedented dislocation of the
component elements of the Health Sector in that dispensation.
The only ameliorating balm in that discourse (the Old Jonathan
Order) was that the Permanent Secretary in Charge of the Federal
Ministry of Health were always administrators or non-care
providers. Today even that has been taken away because the new
Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Health is also a
traditional strong advocate of the interests of only her Medical
Doctor colleagues from her time as a Permanent Secretary in the
office of the Head of Service of the Federation.
To compound the woes of all other health workers apart from
Doctors which we represent, the Federal Ministry of Labour and
Productivity which ordinarily should arbitrate over our welfare
demands which the hegemony of Doctors over-bearing leadership
truncates at the Federal Ministry of Health is now being headed
by yet another Medical Doctor, Dr. Chris Ngige. The obvious
fallout of this dangerous but unprecedented structure against the
professional destinies of all health workers apart from Doctors
can be summarized in the reflected phraseology- calamitous future
expectations.
For a Health Sector where Doctors hitherto reduced a supposed
Federal Ministry of Health to a Ministry of Doctor to now be
officially and legitimized as home to only Doctors who constitute
less than 5% of the workforce at the detriment of the majority of
over 95% in our humble opinion Your Excellency, appears to
epitomise neglects of the feelings of the gross majority of health
workers and will aggravate the volatility in the sector instead of
abating it .
For sake of emphasis the Nigeria Medical Association is already
reaping the expected fruits of the whirlwind of benevolent
appointments. On Friday, November 13, 2015 the Hon. Minister
of Health, Prof. Issac Adewole visited the Nigeria Medical
Association (NMA) Secretariat in Abuja where he met both the
Nigeria Medical Association President, Dr. Kayode Obembe and
National Assocaition of Resident Doctors (NARD) President, Dr.
Muhammed Askira. As expected the demand list included:
(1) Preservation of the status quo ante in the unskewed
appointments in board constitution and membership of the 55
Federal Health Institutions.
(2) Imposing the Yayale Ahmed Panel report which only the NMA
favours in the Health Sector. This is at a time other health
workers are challenging and infact seeking quashing of this
report at the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN). Today
we are aware the Health Minister and Labour Minister are
raising legal teams to join forces against us at the NICN.
(3) Implementing the agenda of the Nigeria Medical Association
(NMA) through the National Health Act. The Federal Ministry of
Health has already set up committees and structures made up
exclusively of only Doctors as usual.
(4) Imposing relativity/skipping for Doctors on the Federal Health
Institutions even when other health professionals who got
National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN) judgments in their
favour since 2010 have not been paid by some Chief Medical
Director (CMDs) in the Federal Health Institutions (FHIs).
(5) Exclusive overseas training for Medical Doctors through
improved residency programmes.
(6) Designing new welfare schemes for Corper Doctors.
(7) Introduction of pension and gratuity for Resident Doctors
( Perfecting domination of Doctors in the National Health
Insurance Scheme (NHIS)
(9) Payment of Doctor-University Lecturers with the CONMESS scale
and privileges.
(10) Recognition of Doctor’s Postgraduate Fellowship over Ph.D in
their careers as academics.

The Hon. Minister was reported to have assured his colleagues to
be patient as he would actualize these demands.
We have continued to evaluate this situation in the last few days
and it is only in tandem with commonsense that we now
respectfully request Your Excellency to look into our prayers
which include:

(1) An urgent need to balance the various appointments already
made at the Federal Ministry of Health in the interest of enduring
peace in the Health Sector.
(2) A dire need to appoint healthcare providers of diverse
background within the rank and file of our members as Special
Adviser on Health to the President, Senior Special Assistant on
Health in addition to lawful appointments of our members who
should head some of the key parastatals in the Health Sector
based on existing condition precedents in the relevant statutes.
(3) An immediate approval of the adjustment of the CONHESS scale
as was done with CONMESS scale since year January 2014 to pave
way for implementation based on approvals in the 2016 budget.
This must be in addition to other welfare demands of JOHESU
members.

CONCLUSION
Your Excellency, we do know that different versions of the
situation in the Health Sector pervade the land. As citizens of this
country, we are fed up with a status-quo that continually
consumes and diminishes our potentials because our
commonwealth is always been poached while our privileges as
citizens are breached as well as trampled upon.
We are of the firm opinion that as Your Excellency builds
structures to preserve our national heritage, the collective
destinies of all shades with tendencies of our people must be
reckoned with. This cannot be said to be a reality in the Health
Sector where it continues to be convenient to sacrifice the destiny
of 95% of the workforce for the pecuniary interests of a few
sacred cows.
It is therefore our hope Your Excellency will urgently redress the
myriad of serious issues raised in this memo in the typical
commendable spirit Your Excellency has been championing a
turn-around in our entire nation.
Thank you very much Your Excellency.

http://mhwun.org/media-centre/news-events/36-johesu-ahpa-call-for-inclusive-decision-making-in-the-ministry-of-health.html