Sequel to the staged protests of Nigerian nurses on Monday in Lagos and Abuja over the new certificate verification guidelines released by the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria (NMCN) which states that nurses must work for two years post-qualification before they can travel abroad, the National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives (NANNM) has pledged a timely intervention on the matter.
Aside the new guidelines, the nurses during their protests demanded from the council other things relating to good working condition, such as nurses’ welfare, salary scale, staff shortage, respect for nurses, rights of nurses, among others.
NANNM, the umbrella body of professional nurses and midwives in Nigeria, in a circular titled “Re: Revised guidelines for verification of certificate(s), dated 13 February, 2024”, acknowledged the statewide agitations of the aggrieved nurses and promised to act on their demands.
The circular, signed by NANNM General Secretary, Thomas Ahmed Shettima, was addressed to the state secretaries/PROs of the association, NANNM State Councils and FCT Abuja, NANNM Secretaries, and NANNM Specialty Groups.
Shettima disclosed that the NANNM Secretariat is in receipt of letters of complaints from some state councils of the association against certain provisions of the revised guidelines.
“Arising from the foregoing, the national leadership of NANNM had engaged the Registrar/CEO of the NMCN on a series of meetings on 12 February, 2024, and is in consultation with relevant government agencies on the subject matter.
“We want to assure all our members nationwide and indeed the entire Nigerian Nurses and Midwives that the Association (NANNM) will stop at nothing to ensure that the concerns raised are properly and promptly addressed”, he promised.
The NANNM’s Secretary General further revealed that the Board of the NMCN like most Statutory Boards has been dissolved by the Federal Government, but the association won’t rest on its oars until the policy is addressed.
Shettima expressed optimism in the speedy resolution of the matter by all relevant agencies of government involved with the matter before the implementation of the revised guidelines on 1 March, 2024.
He said, “While we appreciate the commitment of the Nigerian Nurses to the promotion and maintenance of excellence in Nursing training, practice, verifications, and respect for the dignity of labour of nurses in Nigeria with the best global practice, we urged you to remain calm and be in the state of indestructible vigilance”.
