Meet Kidney Specialist as New Nigerian Education Minister under Tinubu

Meet Kidney Specialist as New Nigerian Education Minister under Tinubu
By Abdelghaffar Amoka

There was a cabinet reshuffle a few days ago and the Ministry of Education was affected. President Tinubu announced a US-based Nephrologist specializing in kidney diseases and hypertension management as the new minister of education. The first thing that came to the mind of some people was whether the President think the education sector has a kidney disease that requires prescriptions from a Nephrologist.

Dr. Morufu Olatunji Alausa obtained his Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery degree from the University of Lagos in 1993. The period of his graduation fell within the period of brain drain of the early 90s. A situation that is reoccurring now, 30 years later. The interesting part is that while another generation of Nigerians is on another Brain-Drain mission (Japa), those who left (Japa) 30 years ago are coming back home for political appointments to lead those who either refused to “Japa” or had no opportunity to do so.

In 1995, that should possibly be after his mandatory one-year service, he left for the United Kingdom for a residency training in Internal Medicine at Royal Bolton Hospital and the University of Newcastle from 1995 to 1997.

After 2 years in the UK, he moved to the United States, where he completed his residency training in Internal Medicine at Cook County Hospital, Chicago between 1997 and 2001. There, he held the position of Chief Medical Resident responsible for coordinating training programs for interns and residents as well as serving as an Attending Physician.

In 2002, he enrolled in a specialist training in Nephrology and Hypertension at the Medical College of Wisconsin and completed it in 2004. This advanced education qualified him as a board-certified nephrologist, specializing in kidney diseases and hypertension management.

Following his tenure at CCH, he became an Assistant Professor at Rush University Medical School before pursuing specialized training in Nephrology and Hypertension at the prestigious Medical College of Wisconsin from July 2002 to June 2004. He spent just about 2 years of his nearly 30-year career in medicine as an academic.

He is the founder of Kidney Care Center and Dialysis Care Center, a multi-state nephrology practice and dialysis service provider in the United States of America. It is not in doubt that he has done very well for himself and the United States of America as he has spent his working life in the US and won awards.

However, he has zero working experience in Nigeria. The available information shows that his first job in Nigeria since graduating from Unilag in 1993 was his appointment as the Minister of State for Health about a year ago. The medical doctor with 2 years of academic experience in the US is coming as the new Education Minister. He is coming at a time when the education sector is in deep crisis. A crisis that his 28 years in diaspora may have shielded him from.

The issue of the Renegotiation of the 2009 ASUU-FG Agreement, a renegotiation that was due 12 years ago, is still hot on the table and the lecturers need that renegotiation now than ever and determined to get it done. We are at a time when we need to redirect our education system for a purposeful impact on national development. We are in a period of a collapsing secondary education system. We are in a period where supposedly educated people can’t differentiate between skills and degrees.

It’s not enough for the President and his men to keep saying ASUU will not go on another round of strikes if this administration fails to do the needful. The education sector is in a sorry state and in dire need of leadership that understands what is needed to salvage it. As Jacob Sule, from Washington DC, United States stated in the Nation Newspaper of 25th October, 2024: The education sector urgently requires transformative leadership with an in-depth understanding of pedagogical practices, teacher training, curriculum development, and educational infrastructure. It also needs someone who understands the socio-political dynamics surrounding student and faculty welfare, an area where long-standing agreements have been repeatedly neglected. The need for transformative leadership is more pressing than ever.

Don’t let anyone deceive you that the FG-ASUU crisis is over. For as long as the deep FG poverty of sincerity persists, ASUU is not a Union you can use hunger to break. The members are preparing for a serious industrial action. Countries that are making an impact in education engaged experts to lead their education sector.

Now that we have a diasporan with zero working experience in Nigeria and little knowledge of the education system as the Minister of Education, what are the expectations? The elitist approach? Continued dehumanization of our intellectuals? Does the diasporan understand the socio-political dynamics of the Nigerian university system?

The education sector is surely sick, but not kidney failure, and it needs expertise and not prescriptions. The sector is not experiencing a kidney failure that requires dialysis. So, how will he use his expertise in Kidney and Dialysis care in the US to turn around the fortune of the state of the Nigerian education sector?

I have not seen the sincerity in tackling the crisis in the Nigerian education sector. Hope Morufu Alausa won’t leave us with a trench deeper than what was left by Adamu Adamu, a Columnist and Chris Ngige, another Medical Doctor.

I will keep you posted.

Abdelghaffar Amoka