The Ondo State Schools of Nursing and Midwifery, Akure have been officially handed-over to the University of Medical Sciences, UNIMED, Ondo.
The event was held at the office of the Ondo State Commissioner for Health, Alagbaka, Akure on Tuesday September 4, 2018.
The Commissioner for Health, Dr. Wahab Adegbenro said ‘Ondo State was the first to comply with the directive of Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria (NMCN) that all Schools of Nursing and Midwifery should get absorbed to either an existing University or a Polytechnic’.
He explained that there has been confusion about the status of staff nurse and staff midwife vis-à-vis their career progression in civil service, hence the decision of the NMCN.
The Commissioner for Education, Pastor Femi Agagu described the Ondo State Governor, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu as a visionary leader, saying he had already suggested the affiliation of the schools to UNIMED before the recommendation of the Council.
“To me, I see this as an inspiration from God much more than the directive from the Council and I believe what God has done can only be perfect. I congratulate Mr. Governor for this very unequivocal feat and by extension congratulate every one of us, the State Executive Council, members of staff of both ministry of health and education that we are part of this history that has just been made”, Agagu said.
In his remarks, the Vice-Chancellor, University of Medical Sciences, UNIMED, Ondo Prof. Friday Okonofua FAS praised staff of the two schools for the maturity they showed during the negotiation process as they choose to put the State first ahead of personal interest.
“I want to assure you Honourable Commissioners that we are fully ready and within the next few weeks you will see positive action. We established a Faculty of Nursing Science for this purpose and we have started the process of internationalizing the Faculty. We are already in contact with several international universities in the United States of America and the United Kingdom as many of them are going to join us in building this Faculty”, Okonofua said.
“We know that we have some students who are doing Diploma courses before now. We are going to give them a very seamless type of transition to enable them complete what they are currently doing”, he added.
High point of the event was the signing and hand over of necessary documents signaling the pass of baton to the University of Medical Sciences, Unimed Ondo
Temitope Oluwatayo
Public Relations Department,
University of Medical Sciences, Ondo.
