Nursing, Midwifery Council Moves Against Quackery, Illegal Training Institutions

The newly appointed registrar of the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria (NMCN), Alhaji Ndagi Alhassan, has taken measures to curb the menace of quackery and illegal training institutions in the country.

In an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Minna, Niger State, he said the council’s 21 zonal offices will oversee nursing and midwifery activities in the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

President Bola Tinubu recently appointed Alhassan as the substantive registrar of NMCN. This was contained in a letter dated 2nd July, 2025 and signed by the coordinating minister of health and social welfare, Prof. Ali Pate.

The letter indicated that the substantive appointment is for four years, effective 19th May, 2025.

On the measures he has adopted to sanitise the system, Alhassan said, “At the state level, we have Nursing and Midwifery Committees which supervise activities in both education and practice. To that effect, should there be anything happening in the states, they report back to the headquarters in Abuja.

“Now, with illegal training institutions and quackery activities, the two arms are empowered to work with the commissioners for health in the states concerned to take action. This is by swiftly closing down the illegal training institution or getting the quacks arrested for possible protection,” he said.

The registrar said the council has a robust legal unit headed by a legal adviser, adding that “the unit is diligently handling all likely litigations. They prosecute such suspects in any available courts in the 36 states and Abuja.”

Alhassan explained that the council has anti-corruption and transparency units responsible for checking the activities of training institutions in service delivery.

He said, “Illegal activities are reported to them from the states to the zonal offices and the headquarters, which eventually report them to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) for diligent prosecution.

“Happily, this has greatly minimised the activities of quacks and illegal training institutions in the country. We are also actively collaborating with the Office of the Inspector-General of Police to strengthen these measures to stem the tide of quackery and illegal training institutions.

“There is even a nurse who has been appointed as a commissioner of police, and we report such infractions and cases to him for necessary actions,” Alhassan said.

The NMCN boss added that the organisation has established an X-ray Council, stressing that, “we are striving to immediately provide all the needed logistics for it.”

Alhassan also said that the council had taken measures to strengthen nursing and midwifery education in the country.

He said, “Hence, we have taken measures like reviewing our curricula and working with related educational regulatory bodies such as the National Universities Commission (NUC) and the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE).

We are working with them to perfect our curricula to form the basis of training Nurses and Midwives in the clinical field.”

The registrar added that the council and the states’ committees organised a biennial conference, saying that plans were in top gear to organise the 2026 edition.

“At the last conference, we brainstormed and identified the gaps as well as strategised on how to handle them.

“Also, information on new methods was duly conveyed to the delegates from across Nigeria.

“This is for them to go back to their respective states, cascade them and take action on them,” Alhassan disclosed. (NAN)