AN OPEN LETTER TO THE REGISTRAR NURSING AND MIDWIFERY COUNCIL OF NIGERIA by Olabanji Joel. 08/03/2020

Alhaji Faruk Umah Abubakar Secretary-General/Registrar Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria. I humbly greet you and appreciate your for good works and the development you have brought to Nursing since your appointment on 3rd October 2016. You have been praised by many and I join them to appreciate you today. More strength I pray sir. Amen. I have read about many reactions to my write up and I am glad at the reactions because it shows something is really wrong with Nursing and many are beginning to see it. I believe the main focus of Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria (NMCN) should be working on the reasons why people are leaving the country and planning on means which will make people want to stay in the country. There's no way we will talk about the abnormal wave in the Nursing profession without a comparison to the normal wave surrounding the profession. Olabanji Joel As Nurses, many in the society look at us as one of the highest paid persons in the country but we are not even part of the first 5 in the hospital not to talk of the nation. We are not in any way close to our co Heath care givers in terms of pay and positions held. It has been noticed that Many Nursing leaders across our nation make more noise on issues such as discipline, humility and work; leaving behind the welfare of their people. Just imagine sir, a clinic having over 100 patients daily being managed by 3 Nurses, please how can they effectively work without being frustrated? Despite being under paid due to the silence of our leaders, we are being over used again and also get blame of any wrong thing in the hospital by the patients and Nursing heads. I decided early last year to forget about the issues in Nursing and focus on my personal career but the truth is that the table can turnaround anytime and if the house is destroyed where will I fall back to? There are so many issues in Nursing to be sorted out so that we can get back our honour because the honour has been lost a long time ago and also encourage people to stay and work in the country, instead, NMCN keep on introducing things that will totally relegate the profession in this country. At this point, we the young Nurses are not ready to be the kind of humble and peace making professionals which has not benefitted us, instead, we get cheated in various ways and get worked out unnecessarily. Sometimes last year, In a federal hospital in this country, when the CMD of the institution was complained to about the shortage of Nurses by one of the ward leaders, he answered by saying "with the present economy of the country, they can only employ more Nurses if the Nurses are ready to take half salary". Please how much is a Nurse earning? A newly employed medical officer will earn far more than a Nurse who has been working for 10years and a House Officer (part 7 medical student)will earn more than a Nurse who has been working for 8years. So the question is what is wrong with Nurses??!! Why can't our leaders speak for us? Why can't our leaders fight for a better Nursing? Is it a crime for Nurses to go on strike? If yes, why do we have other professionals going on strike to demand for what is theirs? Or is it that Nurses don't deserve better welfarism? Let me quickly add this sir, the bad structure in Nursing has been the major contributory factor to our backwardness, Schools of Nursing Graduate and University Graduates, we demand a unified structure. There can be School of Nursing program for 3years and a top up for 2years not the kind of top up we do for 4years since integration or amalgamation into the University setting isn't possible, we don't want the HND format that was introduced, it's demeaning to the profession too. All these are contributory factors to the gap in the profession sir. One one hand, Imagine a Nurse spending 3 years in school of Nursing, 18months in post graduate school and 4 years in the university to get a degree = 8years, 6months, before such an individual can go further with Masters and PhD. On the other hand, imagine a Nurse spending 5years in the University, 1year for internship and 18months for PST basic = 7years 6months before such individual can go for Masters and PhD. Why can't we have a particular structure and have our post basic programs at the masters level? What is post basic in this era where it's regarded as another diploma? Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria is the regulatory body for Nursing in Nigeria Sir but they are not doing well and they have not been representing us well, I have never heard of their personal request from the Government, or is it that we don't need anything in the profession? It seems they have lost their voices to other professions. Let's just imagine what will happen if the number of Nurses in this country react, let's think about what the effect will be on the health sector and country at large, but because our leaders have lost their voices, our large number has been to our disadvantage and it's frustrating and killing us slowly. I have taken time to explain the reason behind my words so that everyone reading this post will understand. It's not selfishness, it's our right, we need to keep and maintain our heritage and with the way the present leaders are handling it, the sinking Nursing in Nigeria is totally at the verge of destruction. Licensed community Nursing as introduced by Nursing and Midwifery council of Nigeria is not accepted, we know it's because of a region in this country but let's wait for other health professions to create a lower form of their department {e.g Licensed community Doctor (3years program), Licensed Community Pharmacist (2years program), Licensed Community Physiotherapy and Med Lab (2years)} since the same factor affecting Nursing in that region affects all other Professions. In fact, Nigeria is one, Nursing is one in the country too, NMCN should not demean the profession because of a region, they should not devalue the profession further because of money they will get from the program. The profession needs liberation. Nursing is our own, we have been trained to be Nurses and we stand to represent Nursing everywhere. Thanks sir. Olabanji Joel..... A Nurse, A Writer and A Socialist.

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