The Secretary-General/Registrar of Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria, NMCN, Faruk Umar Abubakar has said that the Council was ready to restore the accreditation of Ahmadu Bello University’s School of Nursing Sciences which was withdrawn in May this year.
In an exclusive interview with DAILY POST in Abuja on Tuesday, he said the development followed the intervention of the House of Representatives and compliance by the School authority.
He said, NMCN is a regulatory body which ensures standard of Nursing Sciences education in the nation’s tertiary institutions, hence, when the Ahmadu Bello University failed to comply with the Council’s laws, despite warning by the Council, its accreditation was withdrawn.
He explained…
“The whole thing is centred on Ahmadu Bello University’s laws which made them to appoint a non-registered member of Nigeria’s Nursing and Midwifery Council in the last eight years.
“The appointment of Hayat Gommaa, an Egyptian who is not a registered member of the Council by ABU in the last eight years made us to withdraw accreditation after series of letters to the School authority on the implications of their action.
“The Council wrote ABU to direct this woman to forward her credentials for us to ensure that her certificates and proficiency is in line with our expectations.
“However, the National Assembly has intervened and the ABU on their part has appointed a qualified person who is a registered member of NMCN.
“On our own part, we are going to restore their accreditation so that normal academic activities can continue. This is after we have gotten a letter from ABU informing us officially that another qualified person has been appointed, we will restore their accreditation.
“They have already pronounced that they have appointed a registered nurse who is also a Nigerian. We don’t have problems with that, but one must be qualified and a registered member of the Council.
The Secretary-General/Registrar further stressed that graduates of Ahmadu Bello University with Bachelors of Nursing Sciences (BNSc) in the last eight years when the crisis lingered have been inducted into the council.
He said, it wasn’t their fault and the NMCN wouldn’t allow them to suffer, hence, they were inducted, revealing that the last batch of Nursing graduates would be inducted in November preparatory for their internship.
