The Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria (NMCN) has sought the establishment of a full Faculty of Nursing in Nigerian universities.
Chairman of the Council, Bola Ofi made this call during a visit to the National Universities Commission (NUC) headquarters recently in Abuja.
According to her, the Council was saddled with the responsibility of ensuring quality practice of Nursing and Midwifery in line with current practices.
The NMCN chief also solicited for the inclusion of the council in the NUC Curriculum development committee.
Dr Ofi advocated that the schools and colleges of Nursing being run currently by some Universities in the Nigerian University System should be merged to a faculty of Nursing in those existing universities, otherwise it should remain as a college awarding Higher National Diploma (HND) under the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE).
She submitted that the employment of non-Nigerians as teaching staff for Nursing programmes in Nigerian Universities should be premised on their registration with the NMCN.
In addition, the government should consider that non-Nigerians who intend to lecture in the Nursing programmes in the country should possess the relevant academic qualifications in line with the BMAS and register with the NMCN before engagement in line with existing laws.
In her response on behalf of the NUC, Director, Directorate of Open Distance and e-Learning at the NUC, Dr Esther Adesina observed the need for collaboration between all professional bodies in the health sub-Sector and stated that all the issues raised by the Council would be deliberated upon by the NUC Management.
She assured the NMCN of the NUC management’s willingness to put in place a process that would address all their concerns.
Among those present were the NUC Executive Secretary, Professor Abubakar Rasheed; the Executive Secretary, Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Professor Suleiman Bogoro and officials from both the NUC and the NMCN.
