Following the intervention of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, the full accreditation status of the School of Nursing Sciences of the College of Medical Sciences of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, has been restored.
The Speaker had mandated the House Committee on Health Care Services chaired by Dr.Tanko Sununu, to intervene and ensure the accreditation, which was withdrawn in May 2019 by the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria (NMCN) was restored.
At the stakeholders’ meeting on Monday at the House of Representatives, Sununu in his opening remarks said Gbajabiamila was worried over the withdrawal of the accreditation of the Nursing School as a result of the negative impact it had on the students’ academic pursuit, manpower and the provision of healthcare service to the Nigerian society.
The controversy that began in 2015 eventually led to the withdrawal of the School’s full accreditation status granted to the Bachelor of Nursing Science (BNSC) programme by the Council on May 27, 2019, following the appointment of the School’s Head of Department, Prof. Hayat Gommaa, an Egyptian.
According to the lawmaker, the committee had reached out to students, the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria (NMCN), the Vice Chancellor and the Provost of the College of Medical Sciences of the Ahmadu Bello University as well as other stakeholders.
In his presentation, NMCN’s Registrar/Secretary General, Faruk Abubakar, said the withdrawal of the accreditation became necessary following the breach of the law that made it mandatory that any person seeking to train nurses in Nigeria should be registered by the council.
The council said despite its repeated observations, ABU and the Head of the Department of the Nursing School, Gommaa, who had been in the employ of the school for about eight years, failed to comply with the law as she refused to register with the council.
Thus, the council said it was left with no option than to withdraw the school’s accreditation, and stop Gommaa from practising nursing in Nigeria in compliance with the law.
On his part, the Provost of the College of Medical Sciences, ABU, Prof Abdulahi Randawa, said the withdrawal of the accreditation was regretted, but that Gommaa, whose appointment was the subject of controversy had resigned and Muhammad Ladan appointed as the new HOD.
Sununu, who was supported by the Deputy Chairman of the Committee, Babatunde Adejare, and other members, commended both parties for their maturity in handling the issue, which he said was what Gbajabiamila had hoped for.
He said: “We are happy that this controversy that has generated so much interest in the social media has been resolved amicably. The withdrawal of the accreditation was as a result of a misunderstanding between the NMCN and the University.
“It was this that got Mr. Speaker worried and he mandated the House Committee on Healthcare Services to summon all major stakeholders involved in the dispute so that we can resolve the issues and allow the training of our undergraduates in the nursing sciences to continue unhindered.
The provost and the registrar also expressed their happiness at the intervention of the speaker, while assuring that the resolution of the meeting would be implemented.
