Nigerian Senate advances bills for medical PhDs and NSIB autonomy

The Nigerian Senate has passed the second reading of two significant amendment bills sponsored by Senate Leader Senator Opeyemi Bamidele.

The first bill seeks to empower the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria to award Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degrees in clinical medicine, dentistry, and related disciplines. This expansion aims to bridge the gap between specialist medical training, clinical research, and advanced academic development, providing a statutory basis for the college to enhance research capacity and clinical scholarship under the accreditation of the National Universities Commission.

The second bill proposes amendments to the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) Act. The objective is to guarantee the agency’s institutional independence and operational autonomy by removing ministerial approval bottlenecks to ensure more credible accident investigations. Both bills have been referred to the Committees on Tertiary Institutions and Aviation for further consideration.