….Direct FMH To Reinstate Him
House of Representatives Committee on Public Petitions has said that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was misled to have replaced Prof. Monday Igwe as the Medical Director of the Federal Neuropsychatric Hospital, Enugu.
The House Committee has, therefore directed the Federal Ministry of Health to reinstate him.
The committee gave the directive, in his ruling on a petition brought before the House by Igwe against the Federal Ministry of Health and Federal Neuropsychatric Hospital, Enugu challenging his removal as the Medical Director of the institution.
The Chairman of the committee, Mike Ataba, in his ruling said, “we have listen to this matter. We don’t need to call the Honourable Minister of Health for state. Mr President has been misled for him to replace this man (Igwe). And the House’s position is that this man be reinstated back to his duties and that will be our recommendation to the floor.”
Igwe, in his petition to the House, had contended that his suspension and subsequent termination of his appointment did not follow laid down procedure.
Consequently, he prayed the parliament to declare his suspension and termination of his appointment illegal and direct the government to reinstate him.
While testifying before the committee, Igwe explained that “I was appointed as medical director for the second and final term with effect from April 1, 2023. Around September there was frivolous allegations petitions from the acting principal of the school and some social media information that was misleading and not true. For example, he claimed that the School of of nursing was closed and that I was responsible for
“Then on 5/9 2023, the federal ministry of Health gave me a query to respond to the allegations of closing the school. The school was not closed, it was the nursing and midwifery council that withdrew accreditation. So, I didn’t close school. I responded on 8th of September. I was expecting that I would be called for fair hearing.
“On 20th of September I got a suspension letter without any recourse to me to explain what I have written as a response to the query. And it was very unfair. I wasn’t given a fair hearing and the suspension was indefinite. And in public service, there is nothing like indefinite suspension. It either you suspend somebody for three months or for six months. But I was suspended indefinitely.”
Also, the counsel to the petitioner, Micheal Okorie , told the panel that action of the Hearth ministry, “including the suspension and termination did not follow the laid down procedure in the circular from the SGF.”
He added that “disciplinary procedure against chief executives of federal parastatals should follow certain procedures, that any action in respect of suspension should be routed through the Office of the SGF to the President. It is Mr President that will take a decision about the suspension or termination if the appointment of a chief executive officer. But in this case, they did not follow the procedure.”
However, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, Daju Kachollom, in her response said the suspension and subsequent termination of Igwe’s appointment as the MD of the the Federal Neuropsychatric Hospital, Enugu was in accordance with extant rules.
She explained that Igwe was suspended based on a petition from the institution. According to her, after his three months suspension elapsed, it was further extended for another three months before his eventual sack.
Nevertheless, the lawmakers observed that Igwe’s appointment was terminated after he was issued only one query; and that the Ministry of Health disregarded the recommendations of a 7-man panel, which recommended the reinstatement of the latter.
Therefore, they insisted that Kachollom should furnish the parliament on the rules the Ministry of Health relied on in terminating the appointment of Igwe.
One of the lawmakers, Fred Agedi, in his intervention, said “Chairman, tell PS to refer us to the rules. We are talking of rules. Nobody can talk on his own when it comes to running government. Take us to the rules that says for whatever offense, three months suspension. Tell us the rules that you also have the power after the three months to also extend the suspension for another three months. Refer us to the rules.
In her response, Kachollom said, “as I sit here Honourable chairman, with deep respect to the House, everything that I did, is based on the procedure. I might not have the commission guideline here, but what we did is based on disciplinary procedure.”
