May 12, 2015: Another International Nurses Day

[Nursekalu]

The international Nurses is a time for indepth analysis of where we are, where we want to be and where we should be. While we must leverage on this day to acknowledge and appreciate the work that we do, we must not fail to determine where we are headed as a profession

I shared this article on Nursing World Nigeria - Nursing Jobs, News and Training in March 2012, Sadly nothing has changed since then so i felt i should share it with a wider professional audience. So here goes....

Another International Nurses Day is around the corner, it is the anniversary of Florence Nightingale's birth celebrated every May 12. This year's theme is ‘closing the gap: from evidence to action”. This presents another opportunity for banquets, parties and lecture series where speaker after speaker would dazzle the nursing audience with beautifully crafted speeches and ‘big grammar!

Sincerely, I don't think we should roll out the red carpet come MAY 12 2012. It is an illusion, and delusional to think that all is fine and dandy with this profession. Instead, May 12 should be a time for sober reflections on how our inaction have left us powerless, how our indifference and ‘do nothing' attitude has left us mentally limited and improvised.

A critical and professional appraisal of the Nigerian nursing profession reveals nothing to write home about. The nursing profession has remained stagnated for decades with the Nigerian nurse being inhumanely underpaid, overworked, unappreciated and under-employed. It is no longer news that on a daily basis, we lose our best nurses to countries like the United States, Europe and even Zambia in search of greener pastures.

There is an urgent need for a complete overhaul of the nursing educational system and curriculum in line with international and global standards of nursing practice and education. While a recruitment craze for BSc nurses in majority of organization is on, the nursing and midwifery council is busy approving new applications to open more schools of nursing with Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu, the minister of health a few weeks ago indicating the federal government's desire to establish schools of oncology and palliative nursing. It would seem there is an unspoken conspiracy to enslave and stagnate nurses at HND level, swarm the country with these nurses, finally sit back and watch as they fight over themselves for 25,000naira job offers. As at the last count there are over 145 schools of nursing/ midwifery and 34 post basic nursing schools.

The department of nursing in the University of Ibadan was established in 1965 and 47 years later we are still mulling over internship for graduate nurses. It is wicked that a nurse would have to spend 3.5 years to get an RN certificate, 1 year for the RM certificate, 1 year of mandatory community service, another 18 months for an RPHN/RPN (post basic course), goes back to the university for another 4 years to earn a bachelors degree, would not be allowed to go for internship which would have ultimately resulted in a higher entry point and career progression, another one year NYSC and then gets a job that pays peanuts.

How are the teeming number of diploma and prospective nurses who wish to obtain their degrees expected to achieve that when there are only 10 accredited universities running degree nursing programs and three universities running the post graduate degrees in nursing. For this profession to move from where we are today there has to be enough placement opportunities for further nursing studies. There is need for a system to be put in place that would ensure adequate man power resources for lecturers and professors who would head the polyvalent nursing programs.

Am tired of hearing that Nurses are not adequately represented in committees and boards of health institutions neither are they involved in health policy formulation because we once had Alhaji Suleiman Bello a nurse as the minister of state for health, we currently have a nurse as the vice president of the almighty NLC. Most commissioners of health in some states of the federation have been nurses, how have they utilized their position to be drivers of change in this profession?

On March 14 2012, one Mallam Musa Walkatu made headlines in the national dailies by climbing and perching on a telecoms mast at the federal high court in Abuja in protest against the slow pace of his court case. If this Mallam could take this extra step to cry wolf, then why can't we.

Come May 12 2012; we shall speak for ourselves since our leaders have suddenly gone mute.From east, west, north and south, we would demand justice and equality in the medical sector, and in unity we shall proclaim ‘enough is enough'

It is high time we demand respect, better pay and working conditions!

It is high time we reclaim our profession from the quacks and so called ‘auxiliary nurses”

It is high time we put pressure on relevant federal government agencies and regulatory bodies to streamline nursing education in line with the national policy on education!

It is high time we call our leaders to accountability and professionalism by series of peaceful and non violent rallies and demonstrations nationwide

It is high time we call our professional bodies and regulatory council to wake up to their responsibilities

Martin Luther king once said ‘our lives begins to end the day we become silent about things that matter'

Great Nigerian nurses! Spread the word by mouth, by social networking sites, by phone call/sms, by emails, by every means possible, that come May 12 2012, we shall be heard! On the TV, on the radio, on the news papers, on internet media sites e.t.c, our pains, tears and cries shall be heard!

Let's make this possible, get involved, no one is going to do it for us, never be satisfied with what you have achieved so far because it all pales in comparison with what you are capable of being as a nurse.

Where there is a will, there is a way!

Great Nigerian nurses!