A former Assistant Director at Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH), Dr. Ofodire Emeka, has accused senior officials of deliberate obstruction, persecution, and administrative harassment following his persistent advocacy for the reform and development of nuclear medicine services in the country.
Dr. Emeka, a 2011 NYSC President’s Honours Awardee who joined the ministry in 2012 under an automatic federal appointment, said his challenges began when he consistently questioned what he called the ministry’s comfort with mediocrity. He added that his push for nuclear medicine reform was perceived not as a contribution, but as a threat.
“I was punished simply because I refused to accept that Nigeria’s healthcare system should remain stagnant,” he said. “What they wanted was business as usual. What I wanted was progress.”
He highlighted that Nigeria’s nuclear medicine program remains outdated, operating at “Phase One” while other African countries are deploying PET-CT, PET-MRI, advanced radionuclide therapies, and proton therapy. Currently, Nigeria has only two outdated scanners, located at University College Hospital, Ibadan, and the National Hospital, Abuja. In contrast, nations like Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, and South Africa have facilities comparable to those in developed countries.
Dr. Emeka dismissed misconceptions linking nuclear medicine with nuclear reactors and insecurity, noting that apart from South Africa, African countries import radioisotopes and do not require reactors to provide advanced nuclear medicine services.
He alleged that between 2008 and 2018, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) attempted to expand Nigeria’s nuclear medicine centers from two to eight but was frustrated by the FMOH’s lack of commitment, failed obligations, and insufficient counterpart funding.
In 2012, senior ministry officials persuaded him to abandon plans to study public health in the UK and instead pursue nuclear medicine at King’s College London, promising strong federal support—a promise he says was never fulfilled. After returning to Nigeria in 2013, he served as Desk Officer for the National Cancer Control and Nuclear Medicine Programs and later began residency training in nuclear medicine at the National Hospital, Abuja, encountering a program “already on life support” due to lack of funding, direction, and support.
Frustrations led one of the program’s key trainers, Dr. Zaba Jawa, to leave Nigeria. Disillusioned, Dr. Emeka eventually abandoned nuclear medicine training and completed a PhD in Pharmacology in March 2025.
With the appointment of Professor Mohammed Ali Pate as Minister of Health in 2023, Dr. Emeka saw renewed hope and proposed the creation of a separate Nuclear Medicine Office within the FMOH. While initially welcomed, his proposal was blocked at higher levels, and he was warned that correspondence to the Minister would be withheld.
Despite following the Minister’s directive to formally submit his proposal, the letter was reportedly delayed, and Dr. Emeka faced a hostile work environment. Colleagues avoided him, and after formally resigning in May 2024, his salary was immediately stopped. He was later queried for absence without leave, and disciplinary actions were pursued even after he had left service.
By September 2025, more than a year after his resignation, he received a letter stating his withdrawal from service had not been approved due to ongoing disciplinary proceedings. A subsequent petition to the Minister in November 2025 has received no response.
Dr. Emeka is now calling for an independent investigation into what he describes as “systematic abuse of power, suppression of official correspondence, and victimization of a reform advocate.” He stressed that silencing reformers undermines Nigeria’s healthcare system, leaving it unable to meet basic standards, with foreign governments warning their citizens about inadequate healthcare services in the country.
