The Academic Staff Union of Research Institutions (ASURI) is set to engage in a long-drawn battle with the Director-General (DG) of the Nigeria Institute of Medical Research (NIMR), Professor John Obafunwa, over the latter’s alleged high-handedness and disregard for the rule of law.
At the crux of the looming titanic battle is the DG’s insistence on implementing a retirement policy that stipulates that a civil or public servant who attains the position of director would retire from service after eight years in that position.
ASURI has argued that the policy does not apply to Academic/Research Professors, as they enjoy the same conditions of service as their university counterparts.
The DG’s position, the workers said, had been nullified by a pronouncement of the National Industrial Court, under Justice Olufunke Anuwe, as well as a policy statement from the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation.
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But Obafunwa is insisting that the eight-year tenure policy must apply to Academic/Research Professors.
He has been accused of high-handedness, total disregard for established laws and an attempt to treat Academic/Research Professors as mere civil servants.
Among the litany of accusations against him is his insistence on implementing the retirement policy. He is alleged to be among a few heads of research institutions in Nigeria who are bent on implementing the Federal Government’s eight-year tenure policy for the federal public service, which mandates the compulsory retirement of directors at Grade Level 17 after eight years in that rank.
However, the Academic Staff Union of Research Institutions argued that the policy does not apply to Chief Research Fellows or Research Professors in research institutions, as they are treated the same as their counterparts in the universities. They insisted that such a policy was a threat to the research component of Nigeria’s national development and that the matter had been conclusively addressed, negotiated and resolved.
The National Secretary of ASURI, Prof. Theophilus Ndubuaku, said it started when a circular from the Head of the Civil Service earlier this year did not categorically exempt research professors, as numerous previous memos had done.
He said: “The Head of Service issued a circular last year; the same circular they have been issuing in the past, but she did not issue the one she normally issues exempting directors in the research institutions. We wrote to the Head of Service, asking her to issue the exemption as usual so that people will know. But she has not replied to that letter for almost one year now.”
“So, her failure to respond was what gave the NIMR DG the nerve to want to retire some research professors after serving eight years as directors.”
To ensure that the Head of Service came clean on the memo, he said: “We now asked some ministries to ask the Head of Service if she had changed the policy. Some of them wrote, but she did not reply.
“However, some other ministries said they didn’t need to hear from the Head of Service again because they already have the memos she wrote in the past, exempting research institutions, and that they were going to work with those research institutions. They said if the Head of Service feels they have made any mistake, she should tell them when she changed the policy.”
However, following the confusion over the memo, a Grade Level 17 director in the University Education Department of the Federal Ministry of Education, Rakiya Iliyasu, approached the National Industrial Court to look into the matter and offer a definite and final clarification on it.
The court, on Wednesday, July 10, struck down the policy requiring education directors to retire after serving eight years in office, insisting that teachers and education officers are entitled to remain in service until they attain 65 years of age or complete 40 years of pensionable service.
In her ruling, Justice Olufunke Anuwe held that the circulars enforcing the eight-year tenure rule were inconsistent with the Harmonised Retirement Age for Teachers in Nigeria Act, 2022. She further declared that the circulars could not lawfully apply to teachers and education officers, who are protected by the 2022 Act.
“The eight-year tenure as director is not a retirement condition for teachers any longer,” Anuwe ruled.
The judge agreed that Section 3 of the Act exempts teachers from a Public Service Rule requiring retirement before the statutory age or years of service. The court found that the Act’s definition of a teacher expressly includes education officers, placing Iliyasu within the category protected by the legislation.
Justice Anuwe equally observed that the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, in a 2025 correspondence, acknowledged that education officers covered by the Act were exempted from the eight-year retirement policy, making the government’s subsequent directive inconsistent with its earlier position.
The court, therefore, declared illegal, null and void the February 10, 2026 circular issued by the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, alongside the February 24 and 26, 2026 circulars by the Federal Ministry of Education, insofar as they applied to teachers and education officers.
The court also set aside the circulars and granted a perpetual injunction restraining the Federal Government and the Ministry of Education from implementing the eight-year mandatory retirement policy against teachers and education officers in a manner inconsistent with the Harmonised Retirement Age for Teachers in Nigeria Act, 2022.
“A teacher or education officer, whether he or she got to the post of Director or not, is entitled to retire from service after attaining 65 years of age or 40 years of service,” Justice Anuwe held.
In the same vein, in 2014, Dr Soibi Dede took the National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP) to the National Industrial Court over the same issue.
In the ruling, the judge said: “I hold that the action of NOTAP in this case runs contrary to Section 254C(1)(f) of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria, as amended, which forbids unfair labour practice, as it is also against international best practice on labour.
“The claimant, being a Director of Technology and Research at the National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion, an agency of the second defendant (NOTAP), is not affected by the eight-year tenure policy, being research academic staff, and as such, he may continue in office until he attains the age of 65 years.
“The defendant (NOTAP) is hereby restrained from retiring the claimant (Dede) from the services and employment of the defendants.
“I direct NOTAP to withdraw all the retirement notices and restore to the claimant all his rights, benefits, emoluments, salaries and entitlements to his office as a director for NOTAP forthwith.”
However, in spite of the court pronouncement, some DGs of research institutions, including that of NIMR, are still bent on implementing the policy, a development that led to a warning strike by the union in April.
The union lamented that the FG’s eight-year tenure policy for directors in the core civil service was being wrongly extended to Academic/Research Professors, who are covered by the 2022 Act.
The union argued that such a development was resulting in the premature and forced retirement of highly specialised researchers and professors, disruption of ongoing research programmes, erosion of institutional memory and weakening of the country’s already fragile research ecosystem.
In a notice of industrial action to the Ministry of Education, as well as the Ministry of Labour and Productivity, the union reminded them that, “The matter is not novel and had been conclusively resolved by the Federal Government.
“At a conciliatory meeting on November 13, 2014, convened by the Ministry of Education and attended by the Head of Service of the Federation, it was agreed that Academic and Research Professors in Research Institutions are exempted from the eight-year tenure policy.”
ASURI also demanded the immediate suspension of all ongoing and proposed retirements under the eight-year tenure policy, formal reaffirmation of the exemption of Academic/Research Professors, full restoration of all affected officers where retirement had occurred, recognition and enforcement of retirement at 65 years, as well as the urgent convening of a conciliation meeting under the auspices of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity.
The union warned that if those conditions were not met, it would proceed with full-scale industrial action after the warning strike, arguing that the dispute transcended institutional concerns as it represented a national emergency.
Following an agreement between the union and the government to meet the demands, the planned industrial action was shelved.
However, just when the union felt that peace had returned and that all parties had agreed to abide by the law, a statement from NIMR emerged, directing research professors who had served for eight years as directors to hand over all government properties in their possession and vacate their offices and apartments by August 31, 2026.
Part of the statement, written on August 7 and titled “Re: Disengagement from Service – Notice to Handover All Government Properties and Vacate Your Office and Apartment”, read:
“I am directed to refer to our earlier communication with you in respect of your disengagement from service, effective December 31, 2026.
“The Institute noted that despite the letters written to you, no action on your part has been taken to hand over government properties in your possession, neither have you vacated your office nor your apartment. You have also not made any effort to pay the rent for the apartment you are occupying, which is the amount accruable to the institute for the maintenance of the facilities.
“Consequently, you are by this notice required to hand over all the government’s properties in your possession, including the office, as well as the apartment, by August 31, 2026.
“Please note that if you fail to comply with the deadline, the Institute would be left with no option but to take all necessary steps to recover government properties in your possession.
“Please endeavour to treat this memo with all the courtesy and seriousness it deserves.”
According to ASURI’s National Secretary, Prof. Ndubuaku, the union had earlier wanted to picket NIMR following complaints from its staff about the DG’s conduct.
He said a reconciliation meeting was convened by the Ministry of Labour. He stressed that all the issues were resolved except the eight-year tenure policy. He also noted that a director in the ministry advised the NIMR DG to wait until he got a response from the Head of Service.
The DG was also advised to wait for the outcome of the matter in court, since the union was advised to go back to the Industrial Court.
“We dragged NIMR to the Ministry of Labour, not just because of the eight-year tenure policy; there were other things the man was doing which we didn’t like. We resolved every other issue except that of the tenure of research professors.
“But the tenure policy does not affect NIMR alone. So, we were advised to take the matter up with the Head of Service. We were also advised to go back to the National Industrial Court, which had earlier adjudicated on the matter.
“The DG’s argument that after serving eight years as a director, one should retire even if the person has attained the position of a Research Professor or Chief Research Fellow is going against several memos in the past. This is just like telling a university professor who was appointed as a director of students’ affairs or any other department to retire from service after serving in that capacity.
“No, that is wrong because the position of a director in the university, as well as in the research institutions, is an appointment, not a rank.
“So, after serving as a director, you should go back to your normal duty as long as you have not exceeded the age of 65 years or 40 years in service. That is what the NIMR DG has refused to understand,” he said.
He condemned the NIMR DG’s action, saying, “An MOU was signed on July 20. On that date, the Permanent Secretary reminded the DG of NIMR of the inappropriateness of ejecting the Research Professors while the dispute over the tenure policy was still outstanding. But on August 7, he still sent them a letter of ejection.”
With the latest development, ASURI said it had concluded plans to return to the trenches, particularly with NIMR.
“By this position,” the union argued, “the NIMR DG has shown that he has no respect for the court and even the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, both of which had, at different times, exempted Academic/Research Professors from the eight-year tenure policy.
“Why is he insisting on going ahead with a policy that the court had declared illegal, null and void and placed a perpetual injunction restraining the government or anybody from bringing it up again? It appears he is now fighting a personal war and no longer protecting the institution he oversees.”
According to Ndubuaku, the union is going back to the National Industrial Court as directed by the Ministry of Labour.
“We have written a letter to the Ministry of Health, and if the NIMR DG does not want to be cautious, we will lock down NIMR on August 31,” the union threatened.
He described Obafunwa’s action as an act of wickedness, noting that even if the research professors were legally retired, they should be given some time to collect their gratuities before vacating their residences.
“But to just throw them out as he is trying to do is the height of wickedness. Researchers live within the Institute because of the nature of their work. I am a retired researcher, and I was once the chairman of the housing committee in the research institute where I worked.
“The practice is that when a researcher retires, we allow the person some time to collect his or her gratuities and pensions to enable the person to build a house. Researchers hardly build a house during their years in service; they put all their earnings into research, and they don’t collect kickbacks from anywhere.
“It is not a job that you get kickbacks from; it is a job that you put in your own money. Even the university system does that; so you don’t just kick people out of their apartments without giving them time to even collect their gratuities,” he said.
He lamented that instead of celebrating the Research Professors for dedicating all their lives to the service of the country, they were being humiliated in this manner.
“To attain the position of a Chief Research Fellow or Research Professor, you must go the extra mile, unlike your university counterpart. You put in your personal resources to do research that will benefit humanity. Most of them sacrifice all their life’s earnings and savings for research just for the good of the country and humanity.
“And after all these rigorous processes to attain that position, Professor Obafunwa wants to equate them to those in the civil service, thereby elevating the university professors above those in the research institute.
“That’s wrong because even the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation had written several memos to the effect that Research Professors should be treated as their counterparts in the university. And we will not accept that.
“So, why is the NIMR DG in a hurry to implement a memo that is yet to be clarified if he is not out to victimise the staff involved? If it is not wickedness, why is he in a hurry to throw away research professors in the streets of Lagos when their case is still in court?
“In labour matters, once negotiation starts, it becomes a judicial process and the judicial process which started from the Ministry of Labour can go on to the Court of Appeal. So, the best he can do is to wait until he gets the judgment.
“He has also not received a formal letter from the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, and the court is yet to clarify its position, and he is in a hurry to throw these people out of their residences. I believe it is no longer about official process; he is fighting a personal war, but we will not allow that. We will lock down NIMR on August 31, while we wait for a response from the Head of Service and the National Industrial Court’s final decision on the matter,” he submitted.
NIMR DG, Obafunwa reacts
However, when contacted, the DG, Prof Obafunwa, denied that NIMR had any issues with anyone.
He said: “At this point in time, I can tell you that there are no issues at NIMR. Everybody is at work, so there are no issues. You might want to go and read the Saturday Vanguard of August 22 where a rejoinder was published. That will give you the answers to all the questions you might have for me. There was a rejoinder in Saturday Vanguard, page 26.”
When urged to respond to the issue concerning the notice of ejection issued to some academic/research professors, he also said: “Sir, you will find the answers in Saturday Vanguard. I am a very humble guy and very polite. That’s why I am answering this question here. If you check Saturday Vanguard you will see answers to all your questions.”
When asked if the views expressed in the said rejoinder could be regarded as his views on the matter, he said yes.
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