The crisis rocking the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, NIMR, has taken a new twist, as the Director-General, Professor John Oladapo Obafunwa, has refused to abandon his push to retire some research professors after they have served eight years as directors in the institute.
He has, therefore, drawn the battle line with the Academic Staff Union of Research Institutions, ASURI, which has opposed the move, insisting that the policy exempts research professors.
The DG is hell-bent on implementing a retirement policy that has been nullified by a ruling of the National Industrial Court, presided over by Justice Olufunke Anuwe. However, ASURI has maintained that the policy does not apply to Chief Research Fellows or Research Professors in research institutions.
The union argued that Chief Research Fellows and Research Professors are treated like their counterparts in the universities. It insisted that extending the policy to them would threaten the research component of Nigeria’s national development and that the matter had been conclusively addressed, negotiated and resolved.