Nigerian Professional Practice in the Third World (PDF)

**0101-2** **3.3.2 [The Professional practice in the third world -- Nigerian example]** In Nigeria, many non-teaching professions have equally made their marks by adhering to global standards and which is why their regulatory bodies are proud members of the global bodies regulating these professio...

**0101-2** **3.3.2 [The Professional practice in the third world -- Nigerian example]** In Nigeria, many non-teaching professions have equally made their marks by adhering to global standards and which is why their regulatory bodies are proud members of the global bodies regulating these professions. This fact is true for Law, Medicine, Pharmacy, Engineering and other professions in Nigeria. For instance, the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) relates even with the World Health Organization to the point that if the Council denies any university accreditation in Nigeria, the information is sent to the World Health Organization and consequently, various other countries in that network will also de-recognize medical doctors that graduate from such a university. This was the case in 2012 when the media in Nigeria reported that Nigerian doctors from certain universities in the country have been de-recognized by the United Kingdom. It was later when the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria restored the accreditation of such universities that the graduates of the universities were once again recognized across the world. Therefore, if there is any sector of Nigeria that is aspiring and closing up with global benchmarks, it is the non-teaching professions.\ \ Across the medical, dental, legal, pharmacy and other fields, a professional is not made until and unless appropriate degree is earned, followed by internships and professional qualifying examinations which may be written, practical or a combination of both. Most of these professions also take five years to earn their first degrees and admission to the degree courses must be based on at least five credit passes at ordinary school level which must include English and Mathematics, as the case may be. The Law graduate for instance, proceeds to the Law School for another one year of tedious full time residency study. The medical, dental, and pharmacy graduate equally undertakes strictly supervised internship. Even other professions like accountancy governed by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) and Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN), get their graduates to undertake several tasking preparatory studies lasting for months and ending up in professional qualifying examinations in several fundamental accounting and financial courses. In comparison with medicine, law, pharmacy, engineering, the teaching profession has not fared well because, until the commencement of the "TEACHERS REGISTRATION COUNCIL OF NIGERIA (TRCN) in 1993, it was an all-comers job with more than a half of the teachers in the system being unqualified. Even with the commencement of TRCN and over ten-year-long advocacy and blend of programmes to rid the profession of quacks, the success has been modest. Individuals are still found in the classrooms as teachers across the country without teaching qualification or professional certification. The training that teachers go through still varies and falls below the standards that lawyers and doctors pass through. For instance, while doctors spend seven years, the lawyers and engineers spend five years to earn their degrees, you have persons parading as teachers who never attended tertiary education while others have either three year Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE) or four year degree certificate. Again, while the law graduates head to Law School and the medical doctor undertakes internship after their graduation, the teachers move straight to the classroom and start practicing with or without registration by TRCN. This absurdity has cast the teaching profession in a bad light and reversed its fortune from being first among equals to being an underdog among the professions. It is such absurdity in the teaching profession that the TRCN's professional qualifying examination (PQE) aims at addressing, in addition to other efforts being made by TRCN and stakeholders to deal with quackery and poor quality of professionals in the field. For purposes of illustration, a few literature is reviewed at this point to show what other professions in Nigeria are doing to keep their professional standards high. The following information about the legal profession in Nigeria are provided by the Nigerian Law School (http://www.nigerianlawschool.edu.ng; http://mynlsp.com/), the Nigerian Bar Association (http://www.nba.org.ng) and other sources (http://www.thepurposedrivenachiever.com/2012/11/how-to-become-lawyer-in-nigeria.html;n Okoroma, 2013; etc.)\ \ These are the requirements for membership of the legal profession: *\ (i) The individual must have studied law at the university and passed the basic courses as stipulated by the Council of Legal Education in Nigeria.\ \ (ii) The individual must have the qualifying certificate from Nigerian Law School by passing the Bar Examinations and be ascertained by the body of Benchers to be a Fit and Proper person.\ \ (iii)The individual must have been called to the Nigerian Bar by the body of Benchers.\ \ *\ Admission into the Law degree programme in Nigerian universities attracts the best scoring students in the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) organized by the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB). The ordinary level subjects required for the study include English Language, Literature in English, and Mathematics which must be passed at credit level. There may also be direct entry admission for candidates with Nigeria Certificate in Education, Higher National Diploma or First Degree. The candidate spends five years for UTME route or four years for the direct entry route and upon graduation earns LL.B degree. Then the candidate undertakes the one year studies at the Nigerian Law School (set up by the Legal Education Act of 1962). The one-year study terminates with the Bar Part II examinations leading to the award of the B.L certificate. The candidate is consequently called to the Bar by the Body of Benchers as provided by the Legal Practitioners Act. This is followed by enrolment as a Legal Practitioner at the Supreme Court of Nigeria.\ \ *Persons educated in foreign countries can only practice law in Nigeria after being trained at the Nigeria Law School. For this purpose, the course is broken into two parts. The first part - Bar Part I - is designed for persons educated in foreign countries. The courses taken are Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, Nigeria Legal System and Nigerian Land Law. The second part is for all students whether trained in Nigeria or not. The courses taken include Civil Procedure, Company Law and Commercial Practice, Criminal Procedure, Law of Evidence, Legal drafting and Conveyancing, Professional Ethics, Legal Practitioner\'s Accounts, Law Office Management and General Paper. For the students trained outside Nigeria therefore, they must first take and pass the Bar Part I examinations before they can join the students trained in Nigeria for the Bar Part II course. These courses - Bar Part I and Bar Part II are taught by the academic staff of the Nigeria Law School and outside experts - Judges, Senior lawyers and accountants - who are called in to deliver lectures from time to time.* (http://www.thepurposedrivenachiever.com/2012/11/how-to-become-lawyer-in-nigeria.html)\ \ The Medical and Dental Practitioners Act CAP M8 of 2004 which established the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) also gave it powers to regulate and control the medical and dental education and practice in Nigeria. In what the MDCN (2006) called *―The Red Book: Guidelines on Minimum Standards of Medical and Dental Education in Nigeria‖*, it asserts its overall authority to regulate medical and dental education in Nigeria thus:\ \ *\ One of the statutory functions of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria is to approve the institutions at which courses of training are to be given for persons who are seeking to become members of the Medical and Dental professions as well as the courses of instruction prescribed and the qualifications to be granted by such institutions. Council also has the responsibility for supervising the nature of the instructions and the examinations leading to the qualifications to be granted in these cases (vide Medical and Dental Practitioners Decree No. 23 of 1988, Sections I (2a), 8( I a & b) and 9 (1,3 & 4), after several reviews, the enabling Act is now CAP M8.\ \ In pursuance of these duties, the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria sends visitation panels from time to time to inspect newly established medical schools with a view to approving formally their training programmes as required by the law.\ *The MDCN Red Book spells out in detail the step-by-step conditions that must be complied with by every faculty of medicine or medical institution before the courses could be accredited. Experience shows that the MDCN had meticulously adhered to the provisions of its Red Book and this explains why some Nigerian universities have lost the accreditation of the MDCN and faced a lot of negative publicity in the local and international media. The Red book specifies the quantity and quality of academic personnel, physical infrastructure and facilities, admissions criteria, number of students to be admitted, courses and programmes that must be run and no medical institution expecting accreditation dares to violate the provisions. The MDCN further sets conditions for the registration and licensing of medical graduates, which includes supervised internships which have in-built practical tests and reports that help the MDCN to determine the suitability of the medical graduate to practice.\ \ The Council for Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) also has a very tight grip on the practice of engineering in Nigeria. Like the laws of the MDCN, Pharmacists Council of Nigeria, the COREN law also gives it powers to determine persons who could practice engineering in Nigeria, set standards for the practice and monitor the compliance by engineering education faculties and institutions and practicing engineers themselves (http://www.coren.gov.ng). COREN registers not only engineers but also their engineering consulting firms; and prescribes and enforces the conditions for such registration. On its website the following and related details of the regulation by COREN are displayed:-\ *\ \ \ In Section 1 (i) subsections (a) and (b) and subsection (3) of Section (4) of COREN enabling decree, Council is empowered to determine who are engineering personnel and to register them in their respective registers. Council has been able to regulate, as contained in its publication CP3 that a person desiring to become a registered Engineering Personnel must, after obtaining the approved/accredited required academic qualification, must have four (4) years post-graduate experience which must be under the supervision of a senior registered Engineer. Council believes that the continuing effectiveness of an engineering personnel depends on his contact with a recognized professional society and therefore advises engineering personnel to belong to a recognized professional society. It must be emphasized that membership of a society does not by itself grant automatic right to registration. Council still needs to satisfy itself that the academic qualification is registrable for the category applied for.\ \ *COREN gave the following as list of entry qualifications into its various professional cadres such as engineers, engineering technologists, engineering technicians, and engineering craftsmen and the abbreviation to be used by the various cadres:-\ \ *(i) B. Sc, B. Eng, B. Tech in Engineering; Higher National Diploma (HND) in Engineering from COREN accredited polytechnics or monotechnics. National Diploma (ND) in Engineering from accredited Polytechnics or Monotechnics.\ \ (ii) HND in an Engineering field + COREN accredited PGD in the same field e.g. HND Civil Engineering + PGD Civil Engineering\ (iii) Degrees in Engineering from East Bloc translated as B. Sc in Engineering\ \ (iv) Full Technological Certificate (FTC). Advance Technician Diploma. Trade Test\ \ (v) Diploma -- Engineer from Continental Europe. Diploma- Graduate from Continental Europe. Craft Certificate from City & Guilds.\ \ (vi) Degrees in Engineering from the East Bloc translated as M. Sc. B. Tech in Engineering from some accredited American Universities as contained in ABET list.\ \ (vii) New B. Sc in some countries in Eastern Bloc as degree.\ \ *\ The abbreviations are:-\ *(i) Registered Engineer shall use the abbreviation \"Engr\" before his name\ (ii) Registered Engineering Technologists shall use the abbreviation \"Engn. Tech\" after his name.\ (iii)Registered Engineering Technician shall use the abbreviation \"Tech\" after his name.\ (iv) Registered Engineering Craftsman shall use his full title \"Craftsman\" with his trade in bracket under his name.\ \ *Specifically for registration of foreign engineers and their firms, COREN law and guidelines provide that:\ \ (i) Foreign Engineers that are given provisional registration cannot register a 100% owned Engineering Consulting Firm.\ \ (ii) Foreign Engineers who are COREN registered and desire to register a Consulting Firm can only do so in Partnership with the Nigerian Engineer.\ \ (iii)The Partnership agreement must put the Nigerian Engineer on the Lead as a major shareholder (i.e 55% of the shares) while his foreign counterpart holds a minority shareholding.\ (iv) Consulting firms should reflect the fact that they are consulting firms when registering with Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).\ \ (v) Memorandum of the Association should specify that the company is solely in consulting business.\ \ One more example of how Nigerian professions deal with registration of professionals is the case of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), which is one of the most famous for administration of professional qualifying examination in Nigeria. ICAN (2010) provides details for the training and examination of candidates intending to register as professional accountants and the categories of registration, and indicates that its training and examination syllabus adheres to the requirements of the International Accounting Education Standards Board (IAESB) of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) and the World Bank Report on Observance of Standards and Codes (2004). The accounting training or education goes through three stages known as the Foundation Level which is knowledge based; the Intermediate Level which is skills based; and the Professional I and Professional II levels which are areas of essential and core competencies. Candidates have to pass a 15-paper examinations choosing a minimum of one and a maximum of three faculties of interests out of the six faculties, namely:\ \ (i) Audit, Investigations and Forensic Accounting\ (ii) Taxation and Fiscal Policy Management\ (iii) Consultancy and Information Technology\ (iv) Insolvency and Corporate Re-engineering\ (v) Public Finance Management and\ (vi) Corporate Finance Management.\ \ The two categories are *Chartered Accountant* and *Registered Accountant*, with the following criteria as set out by ICAN (2010):\ *A person shall be enrolled as a Chartered Accountant if:-\ \ (i) He/she passes the qualifying examination for membership conducted by the Council of the Institute and completes a prescribed practical training under the relevant sections of the syllabus.\ \ (ii) He/she holds a qualification granted outside Nigeria and for the time being accepted by the Institute, and\ \ (iii) He/she satisfies the Council of the Institute that he/she had sufficient practical experience as an Accountant. A person is entitled to be registered as a Registered Accountant if :-\ \ He/she satisfies the Council of the Institute that immediately before the appointed day (i.e. September 1, 1965), he/she has had not less than five years' experience as an inspector and auditor of company affairs under the provisions of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 1990.\ \ *ICAN further states that "a member of the Institute is not allowed to set up a public practice as an accountant until he/she has applied for, and has been granted a license to practice by the Council, and a member is not eligible for this license until he/she has, for a continuous period of thirty months before or after or partly before and partly after becoming a member of the Institute, been employed in a responsible accountancy position in the office of a qualified accountant in public practice in Nigeria or elsewhere in accordance with the Membership Rules 12 and 13 made in pursuance of Section 15(2)(d) and (e) of the ICAN Act."\ \ \ After this extensive review of professional requirements and practices in Nigeria, it could be observed that professionalization has taken its grip on Nigeria and the tide is not abetting. Under this circumstance, inability by the teaching profession to regulate and control its services in like manner only poses danger to the profession and leads to loss of public respectability and career prospects for teachers. This partially explains the need to properly regulate teaching in Nigeria which includes the case of institutionalizing a PQE culture for the profession.\ **\ **