Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja
Nurses in the country have spoken out against the federal government’s plan to implement the Revised Nursing Verification Guidelines.
Some aggrieved nurses recently dragged the Minister of Health and Social Welfare Muhammad Ali Pate, the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Lateef Fagbemi, the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria (NMCN) over the implementation of new certificate verification guidelines.
The Nurses and Midwifery Council had published a circular on February 7, 2024 updating the procedures for obtaining certification verification for midwives and nurses.
Under the new regulation, candidates who want their certifications from international nursing boards and councils verified must have two years post-qualification experience from the day the permanent practice license was issued.
The latest campaign against the introduction of the new guidelines came from a group known as ‘The Silent Achievers -Upcoming Association’.
The group in a statement said that although they are fighting the Nurses Midwifery Council of Nigeria (NMCN), the National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwife (NAMNNM), they worried over their silence on the new regulation that violates nurses rights.
The group wondered why NMCN chose to continue with the verification of nursing certificates, despite instructions by the House of Representatives to the contrary.
“Let it be made known that our primary goal is to condemn any policies or guidelines that go against the human rights of those practicing Nursing.
“We are fighting to ensure that the human rights violations and Nigerian constitutional breach which this verification policy is test running with the Nursing and Midwifery profession in Nigeria shouldn’t be enforced in this country.
“We are presently collaborating with all known Nursing professional associates around the world to take lawful measures towards bringing this atrocity against Nigerian trained Nurses to an end,” it noted.
