By Evelyn Usman 

The Federal Government and stakeholders in the health sector have been urged to enhance the nursing profession by creating policies that would benefit nurses as well as  address the migration of registered nurses. 

This call was made by Dr Nnenna Eugene-Okorie, of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, while delivering  a lecture themed ‘Impact of Insurgency on Nursing Care Delivery in Nigeria ,  at the convocation ceremony of set 44 General Nursing gradaunds, held at the auditorium of the Nigerian College of Nursing , Yaba , Lagos. 

Describing the rate of  migration of  Nigerian nurses as alarming, she lamented  that , “After training these nurses, you will see them migrating to other countries   where they will be usefully engaged and adequately absorbed. This is a worrisome  situation. 

“We’ve asked  ourselves  what is the essence of giving the best and instead of internalizing the usage, they are serving in other countries. Yet , Nigerian men and women  will go out there to  spend money on medicare provided by   our nurses  who migrated .  This   raises a question that has not received any answer.

“ It is against this backdrop that I urge all  stakeholders to  come up with  policies that  will be of  benefit to  mankind and the  nursing profession in Nigeria”.

On his part, Acting Corps Commander ,   Medical,  Col. Idris Solebo,  who was Special Guest of Honour,  informed that  half of the  students admitted into  the college were  civilians. He  attributed the college’s acceptance of civilians  as  part of the Corporate Social Responsibility  the Nigerian Army had  carried out over the years.

He explained that at the completion of the three years course, Military nurses would be sent  to the Nigerian Army hospitals  for an orientation  programme that would last for some weeks and thereafter, deployed to  institutions.

He noted that  “ With the new policy on ground , they will be deployed to our Reference hospitals, where they will learn health care delivery at the highest level, unlike previously, when they were sent to the lower Unit within the Nigerian Army. Our Reference hospitals are equivalent to teaching hospitals. 

 “On the other hand, the  civilian graduands  will proceed for their nursing internship before they will be  deployed to hospitals  across the country”. 

He described the registered   nurses as the best the country could offer, attributing their outstanding performance  to the installation  of modern facilities in the college, procured by the Chief of Army Staff , Lt. Gen. Farouk Yahaya.

 He said: “ There are electronic lecture apparels and standby  power generating set that enabled them study throughout the duration . There are also international electronic libraries, among others.  

“We are currently  collaborating with the University of Lagos. That means   we will now be  offering  Bachelor of Nursing degree. So,  there is so much  to be proud of , in terms of what  this college is churning out.

“We are delighted  to note  that the college has a pass rate of 95.18 percent which is one of the best in the country. Just last year, we graduated the best overall student in the country”, he stated .

In her remark,  Commandant , Nigerian Army College of Nursing, Col. Juliana Awuto, highlighted the courses undertaken to include : Foundation of Nursing,  Human Anatomy, Human Physiology, Microbiology, Medical Surgical Nursing, among others. 

She added that apart from the theoretical aspect, students  were sent to  hospitals as well as Public  and Primary health care centres to  acquire  more knowledge and  experience.

She said, : “ Students  went  to the   Neuropsychiatric hospital ,Yaba, the  National Orthopedic hospital , the  68 Nigerian Army Reference hospital for accident and Emergency experience  and the  Primary health care centre at Pakoto, Ogun State.

” We have a Memorandum of Understanding with  these hospitals , including  the General Hospital Shomolu.  

“Our students  also took tutorial at the  Planned  Parenting Federation of Nigeria(PPFN) for their family planning course  and experience.

 “ They offered several courses from year one to year three before we presented  them for qualifying exams that was  conducted  by the Nursing  and Midwifery Council of Nigeria”.

Advising the gradaunds to build on the   knowledge acquired , she said, ” do not relax with this Registered Nurse Certificate . There are about 150 different branches of nursing  you can explore to become   specialists”.

 The ceremony was also used to honour the Acting Corps  Commander, Medical , Col. Idris Solebo, as the father of Modern Nursing in the Nigerian Army.