A 3rd year student of Basic Medical Science of Havarde College of Science, Business and Management Studies, Obada-Oko, Abeokuta, simply identified as Ajoke has reportedly committed suicide on Monday evening.
The deceased was said to have drank a poisonous substance, suspected to be a sniper.Her lifeless body, believed to be pregnant, was discovered in her off-campus hostel room.
An unconfirmed report has it that the depressed lady killed herself as soon as she found out that she was expecting a child.
One of the deceased colleagues, who spoke under the condition of anonymity, said the deceased’s condition was worsened after finding out that the school had failed to meet up with the accreditation requirements of the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria and could not be accredited for nursing, despite spending three years studying the course.
“For more than four months now, she (deceased) had been depressed because of the fact that the course she was studying was not accredited.
“She used to think and complain because she claimed her parents used all the money they have to send her to the school.
“Things now got worse when she discovered she was pregnant and she could not even have a certificate for the course she had done for years”, the source said.
Meanwhile, the Ogun State government has sealed the Nursing Department of the institution for offering a degree program in Nursing Sciences without accreditation from the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria (NMCN).
An enforcement team comprising officials from the State Ministry of Health and members of the State Nursing and Midwifery Committee (SNMC), carried out the operation on Tuesday.
Speaking during the enforcement exercise, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, Dr. Kayode Oladehinde, said such unauthorized programs contributed to quackery in the profession, which posed a threat to the health of the populace, maintaining that the Nursing Department of the institution would remain closed until fully accredited.
Dr. Oladehinde, who was represented by the Acting Director of Nursing Services, Mrs. Serifat Aminu, described a degree in Nursing obtained from Harvarde College and similar institutions without NMCN accreditation as worthless, explaining that graduates from such schools would be denied license to practice in Nigeria and other parts of the world.
“We have discovered that many institutions, including Harvarde College, offer Nursing degrees to unsuspecting students. Our mission is to clamp down on such institutions because they end up producing quacks in the Nursing profession. This is dangerous for society. Unfortunately, most students are unaware that their time is being wasted”, he said.
Ugochi Olivia Ubah is an Educator and a Writer
