- As Buhari names Idris acting IGP
The Federal Government has ordered the sack of striking resident doctors in the country.
The Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole, in a circular signed by Amina Shamaki, permanent secretary of the ministry directed chief medical directors (CMDs) and medical directors (MDs) of FG tertiary health institutions to fill the vacancies created by resident doctors who have “abandoned” their programme.
Resident doctors in government hospitals embarked on a nationwide strike on Monday.
The circular reads: “It has come to the notice of the management of the ministry that some resident doctors in your establishment have voluntarily withdrawn from the residency training program by refusing to report for training without authorisation. public service rule, PSR 030402 (e) is relevant.
“This is in spite of the ongoing negotiations on their demands put forward by the representatives of the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) under the auspices of the Nigerian Medical Association.
“In view of this development, you are hereby directed to replace all the doctors that have withdrawn their services, with others from the pool of applicants for the training programs in the various disciplines in order not to create ominous gap in training with attendant disruption of health care delivery in your facility.
“Meanwhile, the ministry is working with the panel on the review of the residency training programme in Nigeria, led by Professor Wole Atoyebi, the registrar of the National Postgraduate Medical College, to fast-track the development of a comprehensive blueprint for postgraduate training of doctors in the country. “Please, ensure immediate compliance.”
In the meantime, President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday appointed an Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Ibrahim Idris, as the acting Inspector-General of Police.
The appointment was contained in a statement made available to journalists by the President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina.
Idris succeeds Solomon Arase who proceeds on retirement after attaining the retirement age of 60 years.
“President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the appointment of Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Kpotun Idris, as the Acting Inspector-General of Police,” the statement read.
According to the statement, Idris, who hails from Kutigi, Lavun in Niger State, was born on January 15 1959, and was enlisted into the Nigerian Police Force in 1984, after graduating from the Ahmadu Bello University Zaria with a Bachelors degree in Agriculture.
He also holds a degree in Law from the University of Maiduguri.
Meanwhile, the Police Service Commission will in the coming weeks appoint six new Deputy Inspectors- General of Police as the current members of the Police Management Team are expected to retire along with Arase.
The DIGs include Dan-Azumi Job Doma, DIG in charge Finance and Administration (A) department, DIG Sotonye Wakama, DIG in charge Operations (B) department, DIG Ibrahim Mamman Tsafe, DIG in charge Logistics and Supplies (C) department.
Others are Kakwa Christopher Katso, DIG in charge, Force Criminal Investigations and Intelligence Department, Olawale Adeniji, DIG Research and Planning. The DIG in charge ICT, Cynthia Amaju Onu, retired from service on June 17,2016.
Onu represented the South-East in the PMT and with her retirement, the most senior Commissioner of Police from the region would be promoted as DIG. The South-East presently has no officer among the AIG cadre.
It was learnt that the outgoing DIGs could not serve under the acting IG, who was a junior AIG before his appointment as the police boss by the Federal Government.
The Commissioner in charge of media, PSC, Comfort Obi, confirmed to one of our correspondents on Tuesday that the DIGs would likely retire alongside Arase who formally left the service on Tuesday.
Punch with additional report from The Citizen Ng
