NIMR Crisis Deepens As Research Professors Face Premature Retirement

At the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR), the corridors once alive with the hum of discovery now echo with uncertainty. Professors and Research Fellows—men and women who have dedicated decades to probing Nigeria’s most pressing health challenges—find themselves staring at eviction notices and premature retirement letters. Their crime?  Serving more than eight years as Directors in a system where tenure rules were never meant to apply to them.

The Academic Staff Union of Research Institutions, ASURI points to a definitive clarification issued by the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF) on November 29, 2014.

The clarification, referenced as HCSF/EPO/EIR/RR/6411436T/54 and addressed to the then Minister of Science and Technology, stated:

“Officers of Research under the purview of your Ministry who were appointed as Research/Academic Cadre staff, and whose career advancement fulfills the specified conditions, including publications, may continue in service until they attain the age of 65 years in line with the provisions of the extant rules.”

The clarification added: “This is without prejudice to the eight- year tenure policy of the government.”

To ASURI, that document settled the matter.

The union says the clarification established that Research/Academic Cadre staff could remain in service until 65, while the eight-year rule applied to Directors who were not members of the Research/Academic Cadre.

ASURI considered it as a policy misapplied, adding that the eight-year tenure policy was designed for administrative Directors in the Federal Public Service, not for academics whose careers are tied to research and teaching.

It stated that multiple clarifications from the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF) over the past two decades exempted research and academic cadre Directors. A 2014 letter explicitly stated: “Officers of Research under the purview of your Ministry who were appointed as Research/Academic Cadre staff… may continue in service until they attain the age of 65 years in line with the provisions of the extant rules.”

Yet, despite these clarifications, NIMR’s management pressed forward. Grants were terminated, projects stalled, and professors were told to vacate their offices and residences.

Reacting to the development, the Secretary-General of the Academic Staff Union of Research Institutions (ASURI), Prof. Theophilus Ndubuaku said:, “Now you say all the research professors should retire because they have served as directors for eight years.” He was lamenting.  “Funny enough, the people they are asking to retire are the ones who mentor the new people. If they go now, the new people will not have mentors, amid a ban on employment.”

“You drive a professor out of his residence, and he has not collected his gratuity and pension,” Ndubuaku explained. “Most of them don’t have savings. They are indebted to cooperatives and loans to train their children. You now ask him to pack out. This is the predicament of researchers.”

The crisis deepened in July when the National Industrial Court struck down the Federal Government’s circular enforcing the eight-year tenure rule on education directors. Justice Olufunke Anuwe ruled that teachers and education officers are entitled to remain in service until 65 years of age or 40 years of pensionable service. The court declared the circulars illegal, null, and void, granting a perpetual injunction against their implementation.

Though the case was specific to education officers, the principle resonates strongly with research institutes. Both cadres are governed by similar rules, and the judgment reinforces ASURI’s position that research directors cannot be forced out prematurely.

For research fellows, the ruling was a beacon of hope. But at NIMR, the management’s stance remained unchanged.

Responding to questions via phone, Prof. Theophilus Ndubuaku, said:  “NIMR Chief Executive is insisting because he got a letter from his Ministry that the research professors must go.

“For the past twenty years, the HOCSF has maintained through letters that research Directors are not supposed to be affected by the tenure policy.  The policy says that if a Director serves for eight years, he should retire. It is public service policy.  The Director of research is not just directors, they are professors.  About six years ago, we changed their nomenclature to Research Fellows. We wanted research nomenclature different from what is in the public service. Even in the university, the professor is not a Director.  And that was approved by the same HOCSF. Now that you are calling them Research Directors is a misnomer.  They are Research professors or Research Fellows.  So, when you passed a circular that Directors must retire after eight years, it should not affect us especially for the past twenty years, the HOCSF have written dozens of letters to CEOs/DGs that they are exempted from eight- year tenure.

With what is going on at NIMR now, as the only medical institution in Nigeria, where is our preparation for the next epidemic? Nigeria is in danger. Not just about hunger, it is about our health.  It is only when you are alive that you will eat.

Prof Ndubuaku said: “We know our fight. The DG of NIMR is pushing us to the wall. If we come and lock that gate tomorrow, he will now say unions are bad, they are radicals. Go and check his records on what he did at LASU”

For many Research Fellows, the trauma is compounded by the sense of futility. They have labored for decades, often with meager resources, to build Nigeria’s research capacity. Now, at the twilight of their careers, they face eviction and humiliation. “What does a Professor earn? N500,000 a month,” Ndubuaku noted. “They don’t have savings. They are indebted. And you now ask them to go even when they are not up to 60 years of age.”

The crisis at NIMR is not just about tenure rules. It is about Nigeria’s future. Research is the backbone of development, yet the country has consistently neglected it. “There is a common knowledge globally that no country can develop without research,” Ndubuaku said. “No amount of borrowing can save us. Nigeria is getting into deeper problems because there must be some form of production to repay the money you are borrowing lest you go bankrupt.”

“From UNESCO report, we now have 5.4 researchers per million people. A country like Ghana has over 50 researchers per million. Put the two in context and see the difference.  How do we catch up as far as development is concerned?  All those countries that have 400 are the countries exporting goods to us. This is because they are doing research since you cannot produce without first carrying out research. “Even when you do ‘adopting technology’, or ‘reverse engineering’, you still need to do research. And it is not a motor-park tout that will do reverse engineering, even if you want to steal technology, you cannot steal what you cannot use.  So, as we speak now, Nigeria is at the bottom globally. That is when you hear that we are the poverty capital, we are the most insecure country, we have the highest number of poor people below poverty line, and child mortality is high.

“Now, you say all the research professors, they should retire because they have served as Directors or Professors for eight years.  Funny enough, the people they are asking to retire are the people that will mentor the new people. It means if they go now, the new people will not have mentors, amid ban on employment.

The implications are stark. Without research, Nigeria cannot prepare for epidemics. “With what is going on at NIMR now, as the only medical institution in Nigeria, is it where you are going to prepare for the next epidemic? No. Nigeria is in danger,” Ndubuaku warned. “Not just about hunger, it is about our health.”

Prof. Obafunwa, the man at the center of the storm, has remained largely silent, declining to respond to questions on phone, saying “I don’t grant interviews over the phone.”