Gov Otu’s commissioners’ nomination: Nurses in Cross River express concern, disappointment over neglect
The National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), Cross River State Council (CRSC), has expressed neglect in the commissioner’s nominations of his Excellency Sen. Prince Bassey Edet Otu.
Comr. Josephine Bassey, State Chairman of NANNM, CRS Council, disclosed this to newsmen on wednesday at the Comfort Imoke Nurses’ House in Calabar, the Cross River State capital.
Bassey expressed disappointment at the governor’s commissioner nominees, saying there was no single nurse on the list and that the development did not go well with the association.
The Chairman also stated that nurses were relegated to the background, wondered if there were no nurses to represent the profession in the governor’s cabinet.
She, however, appealed to the Governor to look into the issue and redress it by appointing nurses into his administration as commissioners, director generals of agencies and boards.We are not happy with the situation, so we are appealing to Gov Otu to look into the matter. We have so many nurses with good qualifications that can stand the test of time.
Government should be fair in whatever it is doing, all other professionals are accommodated on the list but there’s no single nurse.She further stated that nurses are respected globally, we have nurses who are surgeon general, director general outside Nigeria but in Nigeria nurses have been relegated to the background.
So we are calling on the state government to look at the nurses and elevate us; let us have a voice, let us have our own share, she stressed.
The chairman also called on the government particularly whoever will be appointed commissioner for health, to look into the challenges confronting the nursing profession which include review of nurses’ salary and allowance such as hazard, uniform, rural, shift and call duty.
She also used the medium to call on the state government for the swift revalidation of approval for the waiver of three (3) years of pupillage for our Nurses and Midwives and payment of 30% balance of CONHESS approved by the previous administration.
She said that part of these challenges are the reasons medical workers, particularly the nurses, are leaving the shores of the country.
