Ogun State Nursing and Midwifery Committee (SNMC), in collaboration with the state Ministry of Health, has sealed another unregistered nursing training institute in Abeokuta, the state capital.

The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Dr. Kayode Oladehinde, during a routine monitoring exercise, disclosed that the institution, iFaat College of Nursing Sciences, located in Adigbe area of the state, was training nursing students without obtaining accreditation from the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria (NMCN).

Dr. Oladehinde, who was represented by the Acting Director of Nursing Services and Chairman of SNMC, Mrs. Serifat Aminu, observed that the institute lacked adequate personnel and infrastructure required for standard nursing education, adding that it had neither received approval from the regulators.

"We have gone out as part of our routine monitoring exercise to inspect institutions that are offering nursing sciences courses and discovered that this particular school has no accreditation. For a facility to run a nursing programme, whether at college level or at the university, such a facility must reflect the basic requirements of the NMCN.

"That is why we closed down this place. We have advised the owner that once the infrastructure and personnel in his facility have been upgraded to the expected standards, the NMCN would visit the school for inspection and if they are satisfied, it would be accredited", he said.

While advising the public to be circumspect about schools that claim to offer nursing sciences courses, the Permanent Secretary said certificates earned from such institutions would not earn them a license to practice from NMCN, saying such students would eventually become quacks.

Reacting, the proprietor of the institution, Mr. Stephen Fatula, said he had initiated the process of accreditation, pledging to abide by the terms of the regulators.