DR ANTHONY FAUCI: A LIFETIME APPOINTMENT AT NIAID?

ICHEOKU says occupying a particular position since 1984 as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and nearly 80 years old at 79 years, what will it take for Dr Anthony Fauci to retire or is the position not amenable to the general retirement rules which applies to other public servants. Is the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Disease, of which he is the director for now 36 years not subject to the rules guiding other public institutions on retirement. 

It is a given that the director knows what he is doing at the institute but he will not live forever. There is a need for a seamless leadership succession and continuity at the NIAID, so the government must not wait for him to first succumb to the infirmities of old age before appointing his successor. So in view of his very advanced old age and having since passed the age of retirement, Dr Anthony Fauci ought to have since retired and a new director appointed to head the institute. 

ICHEOKU says short of the then Larry King of CNN's Larry King Live, CBS's 60 Minutes's Andy Rooney and some members of Congress, thought that it was only the Supreme Court Justices that are appointed for life, so what is it with Dr Anthony Stephen Fauci who apparently seems to also be enjoying a life tenure. He was appointed to the position in 1984 when Ronald Reagan was president and since then, four presidents have come and gone and he is still the head of the NIAID. President Donald John Trump is about completing his first term and Dr Fauci is still heading the institute. Something certainly does not look proper and definitely out of place for just one man to be at the headship of the NIAID for such a long time and continuing till date, and now doubles as a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force. 

ICHEOKU is just curious, trying to understand the reason for his longevity at the institute, including the special circumstances that made it possible for his lasting tenure. Why is the NIAID different from any other public institution whose director or president surrenders to retirement at 65 years. But even if as agreed, Dr Fauci is one of the most trusted medical authority in America and recognized internationally as one of the world's leading medical expert on infectious diseases, will this his expertise never be spent. When will his services no longer be required and will any person ever be allowed to fill his shoes at the NIAID. ICHEOKU does not necessarily have anything against Dr Fauci, except that his stay at the NIAID has been for too long that it is about time he retired or is replaced with a successor. 

Nobody lives forever, he has given it his all and his best, it is time to for the institute to move on and away from Dr Anthony Stephen Fauci and make way for a director not named Fauci. It does not matter how good any person is, if they don't make way, there will never be an opportunity for the better and the best to someday emerge through succession. There is always this chance in life that the new will always be better than the old, but first the old has to move away to make way for the new to move in and prove their mettle. This coronavirus period will be one such good opportune time to allow Dr Anthony Stephen Fauci to retire. So once the flattening of the curve is firmly secured and the spread remains in its downward trajectory, Dr Fauci should take his bow and proceed on his leave, prelude to his retirement. 

At almost 80 years old, Dr Fauci has given all there is for him to give and anyone expecting anything more is being unreasonably too optimistic. There is a season for everything under the sun and he has had his moment under the sun.  Now, the sun has begun to set for Anthony Fauci and he needs to go and enjoy whatever remains of his life in peace, without bordering about the nation or the world being infected by one virus or the other. Dr Fauci has done his job and now is for him to relax and bask in the glory without the headaches of sleepless nights, spent worrying about one virus outbreak or another. ICHEOKU says Dr Anthony Fauci should take his bow of retirement or be asked to proceed on a leave and from there into a career sunset.