The House of Representatives has requested the federal government to suspend the Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH), Ikpeme Ikpeme, following accusations of ethnic bias in the appointment of house officers.
This resolution came during a Thursday plenary session after a motion of urgent public importance sponsored by Iduma Igariwey (PDP, Ebonyi) was adopted.
In presenting the motion, Mr. Igariwey highlighted reports indicating that UCTH’s leadership had rejected a list of 17 medical doctors assigned to the hospital by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) for a mandatory one-year housemanship training.
He noted that 15 of the rejected doctors belong to the Igbo ethnic group, and the CMD purportedly dismissed the list on the grounds of an excessive representation from a specific ethnicity.
Mr. Igariwey informed the House that attempts by various professional groups, including the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) at UCTH and the Cross River branch of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), to mediate the issue had been unsuccessful.
He stressed that this alleged conduct violates constitutional provisions against ethnic discrimination, branding it a serious offense by a senior public official.
“The House is alarmed that by rejecting a legitimate list of medical doctors presented to him by the regulatory body based on tribal affiliations, Prof. Ikpeme is in gross violation of the 1999 constitution of Nigeria, which safeguards citizens from discrimination due to tribe and tongue,” he mentioned.
Additionally, he pointed out that the situation could exacerbate the existing crisis in Nigeria’s healthcare system, which is already facing a severe shortage of medical practitioners.
Currently, Nigeria has around 40,000 licensed doctors, substantially lower than the estimated 300,000 necessary to adequately address the nation’s health care demands. He warned that actions perceived as discriminatory may further aggravate the brain drain within the sector.
“We disapprove of the behavior of this esteemed federal official that promotes brain drain in the healthcare sector and, more critically, further fractures the fragile ethnic relationships within our society, leading to divisiveness, insecurity, and instability,” he added.
The UCTH incident is not unique. Similar issues have surfaced in other federal establishments regarding perceived breaches of the Federal Character Principle, which aims to ensure equitable representation of all ethnic and geographic factions in public sector appointments.
In March 2025, the Senate instructed its Committee on Federal Character and Inter-Governmental Affairs to investigate compliance with the Federal Character Principle regarding recruitment, appointments, and promotions across various ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs).
This inquiry was intended to guarantee fair and equitable representation from all zones and ethnic groups in public sector appointments, promotions, and recruitment.
During the Thursday plenary, led by Speaker Abbas Tajudeen, the lawmakers unanimously supported the motion and decided to temporarily suspend Mr. Ikpeme to avoid any interference with the investigation being conducted by the House Committee on Health Institutions.
The committee was charged with investigating the allegations and was expected to deliver its report back to the House within a four-week timeframe for further legislative actions.
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