Did you know that there are three (3) routes to becoming a
registered nurse and/or midwife in Nigeria.
1) The 3 year Basic General Nursing Programme
2) The 3 year Basic Midwifery Training Programme and
3) The 5 year Generic BNSc Nursing Programme
The cool thing is that these 3 routes share the same entry
requirements of Credits in five subjects (English language,
Maths, Biology, Physics and Chemistry in not more than 2
sittings). The only difference is the JAMB requirement for the
BNSc programme, meaning you have a choice to either go
pick up a form for either the basic nursing/ basic midwifery
program or go the extra mile and sit for JAMB for the BNSc
Program.
The 5 year Generic BNSc Nursing Programme
The 5 year BNSc program is designed to make you a
polyvalent nurse practitioner at the end of which you
graduate with the General Nursing program qualification
(RN), the Midwifery program qualification (RM) and a
Bachelors degree in Nursing (BNSc). Most institution now
put an icing on the cake with an extra qualification in Public
health Nursing. Isn't that cool?. Oh, i forgot to add that with
this qualification, you can seamlessly move on to get your
masters degree in Nursing and then a Ph.D in Nursing.
The 3 year Basic Midwifery Training Programme
An obvious major draw-back to the 3 year basic midwifery
route is the fact that even after qualifying as a Registered
Midwife, most recruiting organizations would always request
for a double qualified practitioner, thus you still have to go
back for another 18 months post basic general nursing
course. The fact that most universities do NOT accept RM
qualification for direct entry purposes is another huge
challenge.
The 3 year Basic General Nursing Programme
For the basic general nursing programme, you'll need to
cough up an average of N250,000 to N300, 000 for
admission fees first of all. You should also know that the 3
year duration isn't inclusive of the 6 months that you would
spend in PTS. This 3 years can within the blink of an eye
extend to 4, 5 years in different guises such as demotion,
pregnancy, flimsy suspensions by our almighty SON
principals, indexing wahala, exceeded admission quota by
schools, accreditation issues, failure in either of the NMCN
Qualifying exams or Hospital finals etc. The list is endless.
Even after writing the NMCN exams, you still get to spend
some extra months working in the wards for "free" in the
training hospital pending when council releases your final
qualifying result. I probably missed out how you cant
immediately apply for Direct entry or go for a post basic
course as there is no definite timeline as to when the council
would release your license and/or notification. Academic
sessions and job opportunities fly by while you wait
endlessly on the council.
An important fact you should know is that the general
nursing and basic midwifery routes are both hospital based
programs with professional licensure and it was only in
october of 2007 that an expert assessors committee
accorded the qualifications obtained therein the same as
HND attracting a grade level08 (step 1) for employment
purposes only and NOT for academic purposes.
A major advantage though, of obtaining an RN qualification
either via route 1,2 or 3 is that it qualifies you to practice as
a nurse abroad. RN qualification is also a valid requirement
for further studies in the Nigerian university system for
direct entry (DE) into degree programs in philosophy,
psychology, social works etc.
The major draw back here is that the profession at the
moment is embroiled in a bitter fight for the soul of Nursing
professionalism. Earning a degree in these previously and
erroneously tagged "degrees allied to Nursing" according to
our statutory regulatory body NMCN does not qualify one to
progress to the directorate Nursing cadre. This stance by the
NMCN reinforced the position of the National council on
establishment (NCE) at its 37th Meeting in Akure where it
stated that "Possession of a first degree in NURSING, not
alllied courses is a sine qua non of running the nursing
officers cadre.
LUTH management also reaffirmed this when it refused
accepting Masters degrees in these "allied course" obtained
by lecturers in its school of Midwifery insisting that
professional progression must be dependent on acquisition
of masters degree in core Nursing courses for holders of
BNSc qualification, not masters in an allied course. Thus the
route may provide an avenue for further degrees in other
professional domains but these degrees outside of Nursing
may count for nothing professionally.
On the long run, the abysmal remuneration of being a
singled qualified (RN) nurse would force you to seek further
post basic qualification which costs an average of another
N250,000 to N300,000 in admission costs. I forgot to add
that most post basic programs would insist that you should
have practiced for at least 2 years before applying; a two
year experience you would gain trolling from one private
hospital to another where you would be overworked and
underpaid.
Remember, this post basic qualification is a prerequisite if
you would want to be employed on GL 08 step 4 instead of
step 1 if you had only an RN. What this means is that you
may never get to the peak as your professional growth
terminates abruptly at grade level 14 and you can only go
beyond this on lateral conversion to the officers cadre
following acquisition of a Nursing degree
By this time, six years or more would have rolled by. You
probably have gotten married with kids and wishing you
went with route 3 (BNSc Nursing). Albeit late, you decide to
start the 4 year university route. If financially buoyant, you
probably enroll in a neighboring country like benin republic,
ghana, niger for a BNSc program or you spend another two
years battling to get a DE admission to a Nigerian university.
Adult education at this time puts your marriage under strain,
your life is put at risk as you make multiple treacherous
travels to the university, the emotional and psychological
torture cannot be quantified not to talk of the financial
burden of university admission. The entire rigmarole is just
time wasting, psychologically demeaning and heart
wrenching.
Globally, the system of education in nursing is changing. I
sincerely hope that this article on NursingworldNigeria.com
enlightens you to make an informed decision on which route
suits you best. I wish you best of luck.
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