Olufunke Adegbenro, who has been practicing as a nurse at the Isolo General Hospital, Lagos, has been arrested for certificate forgery.

Ms Adegbenro was employed by the Lagos State Health Service Commission in July 2021, having claimed to have obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Nursing from Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomosho, Punch Newspaper reported.

She also presented a National Youth Service Corps discharge certificate, and a registered nurse certificate from the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria to get the job as a professional nurse, the outlet revealed.

But luck ran out on her during a verification exercise by the National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwifery (NANNM).

Olurotimi Awojide, the Lagos chapter chairman of NANNM said an official from the organisation discovered that the suspect’s practising licence was different from others so they crosschecked and confirmed it to be fake.  

“About two weeks ago, we started our verification of practising licence in all our hospitals and the major reason was that we wanted to know those who had yet to renew their licence and that was when someone saw the licence and saw that it was different and not like others,” Mr Awojide said.

“Our attention was brought to it and as the chairman of the association, the licence was forwarded to me for scrutiny and I also confirmed that it was fake.”

The NANNM chairman also mentioned that the suspect has confessed to forgery after  was confronted and grilled by the police. 

“I went to meet her to answer questions and get her documents.

We invited policemen, who arrested her and took her to a police station.

She did not deny any of the allegations; she confirmed that all the certificates with her were fake and the person that helped her to produce them was based in Ibadan,” he added.

A member of Lagos State Health Service Commission, Olaide Animashaun, confirmed that the suspect was taken into police custody.

The state police authority is yet to comment on the matter.