From Okey Sampson, Umuahia
The Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria (NMCN)has suspended indefinitely the controversial Preliminary Test Session (PTS) examination taken by Nursing students in Abia State, over students protest.
This was disclosed by the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Ngozi Okoronkwo while briefing newsmen over the protest that marred the recheduled examination.
Dr. Okoronkwo explained that the problem was the overbloated admission of Nursing students conducted by the immediate past administration.
“This admission happened in April, so they were already in school when we came in. The schools were supposed to have taken about 75 students only for the training institution but what we met on ground was 420 students.
“We met that situation on ground, So, this is what we are trying to manage . We didn’t create it but we have to find solution”
The Commissioner revealed that as a result of the students protest, the Nursing Council stepped in, and sent a Director from Abuja.
She explained that after a meeting with the director, they agreed that for the students to take the exams, they must to strictly follow the guidelines.
“The first thing would be to verify if they have correct WAEC result. ”We started the process immediately, we requested the names from the Principals of the two schools; Nursing School Amachara and Nursing School, Umuahia and they provided the names, provided the documents. And have cleared about 500 students out of over 700 of them.
It could be recalled that following earlier protest of some Nursing students few weeks ago over the alleged result and admission racketeering, the State government cancelled the PTS exam and rescheduled it.
However, as the students were about to take the rescheduled exam, those who names were not included began a free protest which led to the indefinite suspension by MNCM.