On Monday, nurses from the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives, Abuja chapter, protested the new verification certification rules issued by the Nigeria and Midwifery Council of Nigeria.
The nurses voiced concern with what they regarded as an attempt to limit their ability to seek career prospects, and asked the council to address nurses’ welfare, compensation scale, staff shortage, and other rights.
Our correspondent observed the protest at the NMCN office in Abuja.
On February 7, 2024, the NMCN released a circular amending the procedures for requesting verification of credentials for nurses and midwives.
The council issued the circular after The PUNCH discovered that the verification gateway on the NMCN website had been deactivated since December 2023.
The circular, signed by the council’s Registrar, Dr Faruk Abubakar, stated in part: “A non-refundable fee per application shall be paid for verification to foreign boards of nursing as specified on the portal.” This will pay the cost of courier services to the applicant’s educational institution(s), place of employment, and overseas board.
“Eligible applicants must have a minimum of two years post qualification experience from the date of issuance of the permanent practicing licence. Any application with a provisional licence shall be rejected outright.
“The council shall request a letter of good standing from the chief executive officer of the applicant’s place(s) of work and the last nursing training institution attended and responses on these shall be addressed directly to the Registrar/CEO, NMCN. Please note that the council shall not accept such letter(s) through the applicant.”
The council also stated that applicants must have active practising licences with a minimum of six months to the expiration date, and processing of verification applications would take a minimum of six months.
It added that the implementation of the guidelines takes effect from March 1, 2024
Meanwhile, on Monday, the nurses and midwives were at the NMCN office singing and wielding placards around the premises .
Some of the inscriptions on the placards read,
“Address unemployment among nurses, address quakery, address nurses welfare, and “#No to verification rules. Stop frustrating the Nigerian nurses, we are going through a lot already, Protect nurses, protect healthcare, NMCN, we say no to the verification rules, NMCN, don’t reduce nurses” among others.
Details later.