Ogun nursing students protest non-accreditation

Abiodun Onafuye/Abeokuta

Hundreds of students from the Ogun state-owned School of Nursing and Midwifery, Ijebu Ode on Thursday staged a peaceful protest to ground the assessment tour of Governor Ibikunle Amosun to Ijebu Ode in Itoro against the non-accreditation of their programmes.

The aggrieved students numbering about 100 declared that the development is putting their future in danger.

The students who made their presence felt at the assessment tour of the state governor to the council area said the non-accreditation would not allow them to be fully registered as a professional nurse and midwifery practitioners within and outside Nigeria.

Speaking with newsmen, the Students’ Union Government President, Adebola Karunwi disclosed that the school which had stopped admission of new students faces the risk of being closed down permanently.

“We are appealing to the government to look passionately at our case and give us hope and our future. The government should please come to our aid as we are fast getting anxious and confused. We believe that the governor will listen to us and take a second look at our plight. Imagine, now me and my colleagues are in 300 levels, where do we go from here? We are just appealing,” Karunwi stated.

Amosun in response said that the present administration should not be blamed for the school predicament, noting that, “these are part of the issues we are having with the past government. When you know you are not ready to ensure successful implementation of the school, why set it up?

“The same situation applies to other schools established by the past government. There are no money to fund as much as they established; look at TASCE for instance, they have been on strike for three days over unpaid salaries, which was increased by the past government in 2009, yet they could not pay.

“We are going to look at all these issues gradually. We should not bite more than we can chew, that is what has happened. The students have to bear with us, till we have money,” Amosun posited.