The Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria has approved the establishment of the Edo State College of Nursing Sciences, Benin, to commence the training of nurses and midwives in the state from October 2021.

On Monday, the state government announced the approval in a statement by Governor Godwin Obaseki’s media aide Crusoe Osagie.

The statement said the approval followed the weekend visit of the NMCN accreditation team to the re-modelled state-owned tertiary institution, which lost its accreditation in 2012.

It said the upgrade of the school’s facilities was in furtherance of its efforts at ending medical tourism in the state.

It added that it was also to improve the health sector to meet global standards and build the right human capital to drive the change in the health sector through the promotion of health education.

Conveying the approval in a letter, the secretary-general/registrar of the council, Faruk Umar Abubakar, said the college got “provisional accreditation for the General Nursing and Basic Midwifery programmes, with effect from October 2021.”

“The board of the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria pursuant to section 14 (sub-section 1 and 2) of Act 143, Laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (2004), has approved the establishment of the Edo State College of Nursing Sciences, Benin City, Edo State,” said the letter. “In the light of that, I wish to convey the board’s approval to commence training of Nurses and Midwives at the Edo State College of Nursing Sciences, Benin City, Edo State.”

The approval covers “General Nursing Programme-Provisional Accreditation Status of one hundred (100) Students’ intake with effect from October 2021 and Basic Midwifery Programme-Provisional Accreditation Status of one hundred (100) Students’ intake with effect from October 2021.”

(NAN)