Nigerian Nurses Trapped As Continued NMCN Portal Closure, Harsh Verification Policies Block Overseas Opportunities

In an adamant show of utter disregard, violation of rights, and a move to professionally imprison and hold Nigerian nurses hostage, the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria, under the leadership of the registrar, Umar Farouq, has indefinitely refused to unlock the verification portal to allow nurses and midwives seeking certificate verification to work abroad.

This has left hundreds of Nigerian nurses stranded, frustrated and unable to pursue their careers, as licence verification is a mandatory requirement for any nurse trained in Nigeria to practice abroad.

Also, nursing boards abroad have released statements notifying that they would not accept Nigerian applicants due to the bureaucratic hurdles and delays surrounding licence verifications.

Recall that the issue started in December 2023  when Farouq, without justification, ordered the portal to be locked. West Africa Weekly reported that the portal was reopened on February 7, with the NMCN releasing new stringent rules for the verification process that not only impose on the autonomy of nurses as a professional body but also hinder their rights to work and choose employment freely.

According to the new guidelines, Nurses seeking verification must pay a non-refundable fee of N300,000. They are also expected to have at least two years post-graduation work experience. By imposing this mandatory two-year post-graduation work experience, the NMCN has mandated that no fresh Nursing graduate can apply for jobs overseas. Bearing in mind that from issuance to expiry date, the working licence of a nurse has only a 3-year lifespan. This means that after the compulsory two years of work service, the license is left with only a year before it expires.

With only a year left to apply for verification, according to the NMCN guidelines, the verification process, which used to take a minimum of two weeks, now takes a minimum of six months with the possibility of further delays. This time extension has been perceived as a direct attempt to frustrate international employers into terminating employment offers and finding alternatives.

Furthermore, in a bid to close all gaps in ensuring that fresh nurses go nowhere, the NMCN, as part of its requirements for the verification process, demands that a letter of good conduct be sent from the nurse’s current Nigerian employer else they would not be considered for verification even after the two years of compulsory service.

Nurses perceive this as a delay tactic as most employers won’t want to let go of any hard-working, experienced personnel. This puts the nurse in a beggarly position, giving their employer more lordship over them, which overrides their autonomy and legal status as a profession.

Lastly, in a case where a nurse meets all these requirements but their licence with a 3-year lifespan expires during the long wait to meet verification requirements, the entire verification process gets cancelled, leaving many nurses unable to proceed with their international job applications, leading to delays and financial losses as they become stuck in a system that offers no room for career growth while they remain underpaid.

Nurses have expressed frustration by opposing and protesting widely against the new guidelines. Nursing associations in the country, including Abuja, Lagos, Zaria, and Oyo States, have also called for reversing the new requirements.

Following the widespread outrage, the House of Representatives, in a memo dated March 13 2024, urged the Council not to implement the revised guidelines for verification pending investigation.

However, the Council took it as a cue to shut down the verification portal again, leaving nurses, particularly new graduates, frustrated, unable to verify their credentials, and uncertain about their plans.

This comes as Nigerian nurses remain grossly overworked, underpaid, overused, under-appreciated and unfulfilled with their work in Nigeria with no move by the government to make it favourable.

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