Nurses and midwives under the aegis of the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), Abuja chapter have protested against the recently issued certificate verification guidelines by the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria (NMCN).
The peaceful protest was carried out yesterday at the NMCN office in Abuja, with the nurses and midwives calling on the council to withdraw the certificate verification circular and address the issues effecting nursing practice in the country.
The NMCN in a memo dated February 7, 2024, had outlined the revised guidelines and requirements to be met by all applicants seeking the verification of certificate(s) to foreign nursing boards/councils.
The circular signed by NMCN registrar, Faruk Abubakar, instructed that “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 outrightly.
“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.”
“Applicants must have an active practicing licence with a minimum of six months to the expiration date, and processing of verification application takes a minimum of six months.”
The NANNM, Lagos chapter, had earlier called on the NMCN to fully digitalise the verification process, including the transmission of decisions to other regulatory councils while also asking the council to provide the verification service at no extra cost while optimizing and automating its key processes for a 48-hour turnaround.
