The Ogun state government has closed the Nursing Department of Harvarde College of Science Business and Management Studies in Abeokuta as it operated without accreditation from the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria (NMCN).
The enforcement team, comprising officials from the Ogun Ministry of Health’s enforcement team and members of the State Nursing and Midwifery Committee (SNMC), sealed the department on Tuesday.
The shutdown
Dr Kayode Oladehinde, the Permanent Secretary of the Ogun Ministry of Health, revealed during the enforcement exercise that the private institution had been offering a degree program in Nursing Sciences for approximately six years without the required accreditation.
- Represented by the Acting Director of Nursing Services, Mrs. Serifat Aminu, Oladehinde stressed that such unauthorized programs contribute to quackery in nursing, posing a threat to public health.
- The nursing department will remain sealed until it obtains full accreditation, as emphasized by Oladehinde.
- He denounced the value of a Nursing degree obtained from Harvarde College and similar unaccredited institutions, stating that graduates would be unable to obtain a valid license to practice in Nigeria and other parts of the world.
He expressed concern about the proliferation of institutions offering nursing degrees without accreditation, leading to the production of quacks in the nursing profession, which poses a danger to society.
Oladehinde urged parents and candidates interested in nursing programs to conduct due diligence by checking the NMCN website for a list of accredited institutions, cautioning against wasting time and resources on unaccredited programs.
The permanent secretary warned parents to be wary of institutions making false claims and assured that the Ogun government would continue its efforts to combat quackery in both the education and practice of the nursing profession in the state.
In response to the closure, a 300-level student, who preferred to remain anonymous, expressed shock at the lack of accreditation, regretting the financial investment her parents had made on her behalf in the unaccredited program.