Final-year students of the Delta State School of Nursing in Warri, Eku and Agbor, numbering over three hundred on Tuesday protested their exclusion from the November 2022 final National Nursing and Midwifery Council Examination.
NewsNet Nigeria gathered that the students who were supposed to begin the examination Tuesday morning were told they were not registered for the examination by the Director of School of Nursing in the state, Mrs Gloria Igumbor, when she visited them at the Delta State School Midwifery, Asaba.
The aggrieved students took their protest to the Delta State Library headquarters in Asaba, the venue for the examination.
They accused Mrs Gloria Igumbor of not enrolling them despite each of them paying N98,000 for the National Nursing Council Examination and another N15,000 for CBT training.
Meanwhile, in swift response to the development, the Delta State Government also on Tuesday had to put on hold the November 2022 Nursing and Midwifery Council Examination for the final year nursing students in various state schools of Nursing and Delta State University, Abraka, pending when all contending issues are sorted out
Delta State Commissioner for Health, Dr Mordi Ononye, disclosed this when he addressed aggrieved students at the CBT Center, Delta State Library Board, Mariam Babaginda way, venue of the examination.
According to the health Commissioner, a new date will be communicated to the students in the next couple of days.
Ononye revealed that the decision was reached after the intervention of the Federal Minister of Health, Registrar and Deputy Registrar of the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria and the Delta State Ministry of Health.
He disclosed that he is in touch with the Registrar and the Deputy Registrar of the Nursing and Midwifery Council and by the coming week every issue concerning the indexing and enrollment would be fully resolved and a new date will be given for Delta State.
The Commissioner said Governor Ifeanyi Okowa has directed him to personally intervene in the matter and a Team from the State Ministry of Health would be in Abuja next week to meet with the Registrar with a view to resolving the issue.
Explaining the processes that lead to the writing of the final examination, Ononye said after six months into the programme, the students would write the PTS Examination and those successful ones are indexed and given an index number by the Nursing and Midwifery Council through the Focal Persons who are Staff of the Schools and appointed by the Nursing Council.
He noted that the State Focal persons, Mr Ivwighren Lucky and Mr Johnson Odoyevuli, stated that they had paid the indexing fees to the Council using the approved Remitta Platform in 2020 and brought receipt of the payment generated from the Remitta platform as evidence.
Ononye stated that having paid the indexing fee, the Focal Persons would enrol the students for the examination as this enrollment cannot be done without the index number.
He said that evidence made available to the Ministry of Health by Mr Ivwighren Lucky, the Indexing Officer indicated that the Indexing fees were paid to the Nursing and Midwifery Council, but for reasons yet to be determined, not all the students were given index numbers, without which they cannot be enrolled for the examination.
The Commissioner used the medium to apologise to the students for the discomfort and inconveniences the change of the examination date has caused them and charged them to conduct themselves properly and not to take laws into their hands but go home as a new date will be communicated to them shortly.
He also appreciated the Honourable Minister of State for Health, the Council Registrar and his Deputy for their understanding and cooperation.
