Report coming in has that nurses under the auspices of the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives, Abuja chapter, has on Monday 12 February 2024, stormed the streets in protest against the new certificate verification guidelines released by the Nigeria and Midwifery Council of Nigeria.
Expressing their displeasure over what they described as an attempt to impede on their freedom to pursue career opportunities, the nurses urged the council to address nurses’ welfare, salary scale, shortage of staff, and other rights.
Recalled that the NMCN had on February 7, 2024, issued a circular revising the guidelines for requesting verification of certificates for nurses and midwives. The council’s circular was released after media sources reported the deactivation of the verification portal on NMCN’s website since December 2023.
Endorsed by the Registrar of the council, Dr Faruk Abubakar, the circular 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 license. Any application with a provisional license 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.”
It was gathered that the council also revealed that applicants must have active practicing licenses with a minimum of six months to the expiration date, and processing of verification applications would take a minimum of six months, adding that the execution of the guidelines begins from March 1, 2024
However, on Monday, the nurses and midwives flooded the NMCN office chanting and wielding placards carrying different inscriptions ranging from “Address unemployment among nurses, address quackery, 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” and more.
