The Abuja chapter of the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives, on Monday, protested against the new verification certification guidelines released by the Nigeria and Midwifery Council of Nigeria.
The nurses lamented what they described as an attempt to hinder their freedom to pursue career opportunities.
They further asked the council to address nurses’ welfare, salary scale, shortage of staff, and other rights.
The protest which was carried out at the NMCN’s office in Abuja came of the heels of a February 7, 2024 circular by the NMCN announcing the revision of the guidelines for requesting verification of certificates for nurses and midwives.
The circular signed by the Registrar of the NMCN, Dr Faruk Abubakar, read in part:
“A non-refundable fee per application shall be paid for verification to foreign boards of nursing as specified on the portal. This shall cover the cost of courier services to the applicant’s institution(s) of training, place of work, and foreign 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 circular also stated that applicants must have active practicing licences with a minimum of six months to the expiration date, and processing of verification applications would take a minimum of six months, with the implementation of the guidelines to take effect from March 1, 2024.
The nurses and midwives in their reaction to the development were at the NMCN office protesting, singing, and carrying placards around the premises peacefully.
Some of the placards read:
‘Address unemployment among nurses, address quackery, address nurses welfare’.
Others are: ‘#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.’
One of the spokesperson of the nurses, Cynthia Adeyeri urged the government to improve the welfare of nurses, instead of issuing new guidelines on certificate verification.
Adeyeri said:
]“We are to give the Registrar a letter and to say our displeasure over the certificate verification. We are saying no to making us work two years before we can leave (the country), we are saying no to getting a letter of good standing from the CMD from our hospitals, and we are saying no to other things in the circular.
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