Nigerians call out nursing council over refusal to verify licence to practise abroad

Some Nigerians have taken to social media to call out the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria (NMCN) for refusing to verify the licences of nurses who want to travel abroad.

This escalated on Monday after a Nigerian doctor based in the United Kingdom, Olufunmilayo Ogunsanya popularly known as OurFavOnlineDoctor made a long post on X platform accusing the NMCN of thwarting the plans of Nigerian nurses to practise abroad.

Mr Ogunsanya’s posts have sparked reactions among Nigerians, especially health workers who corroborated the posts with stories of frustrations and deliberate delays from the nursing council as they tag handles of the Nigerian government on X.

“Canada has confirmed it. Saudi has confirmed it. Texas/USA has also confirmed it. Today it is the nurses being held hostage. It could be doctors tomorrow. Or dentists. Or pharmacists. Or dietitians. Or opticians. Or optometrists. Or engineers. Or physiotherapists,” he said.

The X user also added screenshots of an official response from the Texas Board of Nursing in the US to an applicant stating that NMCN had stopped verifications indefinitely.

The board in the notification said it has halted the application process for all Nigerian applicants whose Verification of Licensure from the Nigeria NMC is missing or expired until further notice.

“The Nigeria NMC has notified us that they have stopped sending verifications indefinitely. The Board of Nursing requires that Nigerian applicants have a current, unexpired verification of licensure from Nigeria NMC on file in order to move forward with their application for licensure,” the notification read.

“There is no waiver for the Nigerian verification, nor is there any alternative to having the verification sent to us. The Board hopes to inform all applicants when this situation changes. “

Also, another notification from the College of Registered Nurses of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada told an applicant that they are “unable to log in to your account to verify licensure. We understand that NMC Nigeria is not issuing verifications at present.”

“We do require a verification of registration in order to assess your application, so we will hold your application until this process resumes and you are able to obtain your verification from NMC Nigeria,” it noted.

Reactions

The NMCN licence verification is a mandatory requirement for any Nigeria-trained nurse to relocate abroad.

Mr Ogunsanya noted that the NMCN disapproval means that “any licensed nurse who is in Nigeria now cannot relocate abroad for work. So, they can’t move from Nigeria to the UK, USA, Saudi or anywhere else.

“Any licensed nurse who trained in Nigeria but already abroad cannot leave where they are for anywhere else. So, they can’t move from the UK to USA, Canada or anywhere. They are stuck where they are.”

In their reaction to this development, X user identified as Timothy, said: “I have a younger sister who’s going through this trouble. To be frank, I wish she was a hairstylist than a nurse in Nigeria.”

I want to raise an alarm about a horrible injustice being carried out against nigerian nurses.

Many of them don’t have the voice, the reach, or the platform for their pain to be heard or seen so I will gladly do it for them.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria (NMcN)… pic.twitter.com/KgSbcyEM2U

— #OurFavOnlineDoc 🩺 🇬🇧 (@OurFavOnlineDoc) August 18, 2024

Another user, identified as Benedict, said “Provide an enabling work environment that guarantees good pay and regards for medical practitioners, they said NO. Allow them go look for an environment where their skills are appreciated, they said NO. This country just pisses me off. May the wrath of God be on everyone behind this.”

On his part, another user Gress, said: “The decision by the NMCN is in bad taste. Aside from the immediate negative impact it is having, it would also force many potential students seeking a nursing degree to start avoiding Nigerian universities, which is not good for the educational system.”

Anthonia, another user, said: “Is NMCN even aware that their nurses cannot further their education abroad without this verification? Nurses cannot pursue any postgraduate study ( Masters or PhD) in USA without verification because most universities require you to be a registered nurse in their country.”

NMCN speaks

Speaking to PREMIUM TIMES Monday morning, the Secretary-General/ Registrar of NMCN, Faruk Abubakar, acknowledged there were issues with the verification process while he also blamed applying nurses for not following due process.

He assured that the council was striving to resolve the issues in a matter of days, especially with the newly approved health workforce migration policy now in force.

“The president has approved the first migration policy and it was released. I believe very soon within a couple of days all issues of verification will be resolved,” Mr Abubakar told PREMIUM TIMES.

Mr Abubakar accused some nurses of not following the due process and guidelines of the council.

“We are a responsible institution; we have our guidelines. I see people formulate lies and then post them to deceive people. You cannot travel without following the due process and want the council to answer your request when you are out of the country,” he said.

He added, “We need to ensure checks and balances in the institutions. There are a lot of illegal activities like cloning licences. We have to address them to protect the integrity of Nigeria.

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“I give you my word, very soon all these will be resolved.”

The National Policy on Health Workforce Migration was approved last week by President Bola Tinubu as a strategy to manage the migration of Nigerian healthcare professionals.

Mr Abubakar confirmed that as of February, 42,000 nurses had left the country within three years.