MANASON RUBAINU: A THOROUGHBRED PROFESSIONAL AND LEADER

It is heart-warming that one of our own, Manason Garkuwa Rubainu has ascended to the leadership board of the apex association of professionals in Nigeria, the Association of Professional Bodies of Nigeria (APBN) as President. Throughout his life, the distinguished Medical Laboratory Scientist have leadership acumen running in his veins. I could remember the role he played in Ilorin in 2007 when we were agitating for the hosting rights of the Annual Scientific Conference in Bauchi, and how we rallied around him in the 2008 election where he emerged the 10th National President of the Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria (AMLSN).

He retired from active service after setting a gargantuan goal of becoming the first Director of Medical Laboratory Services at the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital. He left Bauchi State before the creation of Gombe State, but I have learned a lot about his achievements in the early days of the professional expedition. When we were in the process of documenting the history of the profession in Gombe State, we sat with him for an interview, and, for over two hours, he revealed the interesting aspects of his life which were not only captivating but engrossing as well.

Manason Rubainu’s journey into the Medical Laboratory Science profession is motivating. He was admitted into the IJMB Programme in ABU Zaria where he was placed to study Chemistry. after his first year in the Chemistry Department, his grades in biological courses were very high, and he became the center of a thug of war between two Professors: Professor Deborah Ajakaiye, then the Dean of the Faculty of Science, and Professor Umaru Dechi Gomwalk, then Head of the Chemistry Department. Because of those high grades in biological sciences, Professor Ajakaiye was insisting Manason should move to Biological Sciences to study Zoology. At the end of the heated debate between the two Professors, the issue degenerated and Gomwalk declared that Manason won’t continue in the Chemistry Department. Manason quietly wrote a letter of voluntary withdrawal from the University. When summoned to explain the unprecedented decision, Manason insisted he will only study Chemistry, and nothing else. And so, he left the University.

He returned to Bauchi and secured a job with the Hospitals Management Board as a Hospital Assistant with his IJMB certificate and was posted to the maintenance unit of the Specialist Hospital. One day while going around the hospital, he came to the laboratory and instantly fell in love with the laboratory, principally because of the equipment he saw. Specialist Hospital Bauchi then have the best Immunology Laboratory in the country, but he was most especially fascinated by the Clinical Chemistry equipment on show: UV Visible Spectrophotometer, Scanning Spectrophotometer, and Flame Photometer, among others.

He was in Bauchi for some months and went for a sojourn to see friends in Zaria. While in Zaria, his friends insisted he returned to the University. He insisted adamantly that he can only return if he will be allowed back into the Chemistry Department. Escorted by his friends, he went to see Professor Gomwalk, who has then taken over from Professor Ajakaiye as the Dean of the school’s Faculty of Science. After explaining his mission, he was expecting a backlash from the Professor, but he agreed that Manason can return to the University and to the Chemistry Department if he writes for reinstalment. He wrote and was taken back.

After his graduation in 1981, he returned to Bauchi, to the equipment that enthralled him. During his days at the University, Manason had envisioned Medical Laboratory Science as the process of uncovering nature’s secret through experiments. To him, Science was a great quest to unravel the mysteries of Creation itself. On return to Bauchi, he was interviewed by Dr Bello Katagum and Dr Danjuma Sulai and got employed at a time he was not formally trained in Medical Laboratory Science. That was in 1982. By then, only Bukar Mailafiya, Shehu Yakubu, and Hassan Yahaya were the only qualified Medical Laboratory Technologists in Bauchi State.

Between 1982 and 1988 Manason headed the Clinical Chemistry Laboratory at the Specialist Hospital Bauchi. In between those years, he returned to Zaria for his Associate Course at the School of Medical Laboratory Science. That time, the Associate programme lasted a year, therefore he was in Zaria between 1985 and 1986, and qualified at first sitting, thereby becoming the first graduate from ABU Zaria to pass the Institute’s Associate exams at the first sitting.

In 1988, Manason was transferred to Gombe to take over from Hassan Yahaya as the Head of the Laboratory at General Hospital. His passion for the profession immensely helped in moving the laboratory forward. He was instrumental in many innovations at the hospital, including the onset of clinical meetings with private practitioners within the town.

In 1994 Manason left Bauchi State for Abuja to begin a brand new adventure at Gwagwalada Specialist Hospital (now University of Abuja Teaching Hospital). At that time the hospital was the most advanced in Abuja. After his employment, he began in the role of Chief Medical Laboratory Scientist, in 2008 he became the Assistant Director and was promoted to Deputy Director in 2012. In 2015 he became the first Director of Medical Laboratory Services at the facility.

Before his retirement in 2017, he was involved in setting up a robust Quality Assurance Programme in the laboratory. He was also involved in the Quality Control of sentinel surveillance from 19 states for the Federal Ministry of Health. In 2005 he headed a team of the Federal Ministry of Health charged with the task of evaluating Determine Syphilis test kit for possible use in Nigeria. The Federal Ministry of Health also made him a consultant for the National consultation of public-private partnership in health. He was also involved in several clinical trials of drugs and supervision of laboratory activities for testing HIV infection and monitoring patients on ARV treatment. All these projects were financed by international organisations.

After his retirement, he continued his consultancy services. He is currently the Chairman, of the Evaluation of HIV test kits in Nigeria and chaired the National Medical Laboratory Equipment Harmonisation and Standardisation. He was the pioneer Chairman of the National Medical Laboratory Technical Working Group. He is a Faculty Member of the Foundation of Laboratory Leadership and Management (FLLM) of the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL). He is also an African Society of Laboratory Medicine (ASLM) certified Auditor of the World Health Organisation’s Strengthening Laboratory Improvement Programme Towards Accreditation (SLIPTA) for the African Region.

In 1996 he was elected as the National Public Relations Officer of the Association, and between 2004 and 2006 he was the First National Vice President of the Association. During the 2007 Annual Scientific Conference of AMLSN in Ilorin, Kwara State, he unveiled his plan and structure to take a shot at the Presidency, and in 2008 during the Scientific Conference in Bauchi, he emerged as the elected National President of the Association in a landslide victory, a position he held until 2011.

I would like to congratulate the mentor of mentors, an exemplary Medical Laboratory Scientist, and a leader per excellence, for taking over as the National President of the prestigious APBN.

 

-Tanimu Umar, Gombe.

With notes from Chronicles of Medical Laboratory Science in Gombe State