The Federal Government has promised to officially publish the long-awaited Nurses’ Scheme of Service within four weeks.
It also promised to direct the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria to arrange a system for centrally placing graduate nurses for their internship training.
These steps are meant to address important demands from the National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), especially those concerning career progression, welfare, and internship placements.
This decision was part of an agreement reached after a meeting on Friday. The meeting was called by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Maigari Dingyadi, and attended by the Coordinating Minister of Health, Prof Muhammad Pate, along with NANNM leaders.
Nurses and midwives had started a seven-day warning strike on Wednesday to demand things like the official publication of their Scheme of Service and an increase in shift allowances.
However, the strike was suspended on Saturday after the Federal Government and the union reached an agreement.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) seen by Reporters was signed by NANNM President, Haruna Mamman, General Secretary T. A. Shettima, and top officials from the Ministries of Health and Labour.
The Nurses’ Scheme of Service, which was approved in 2016, outlines the career paths, qualifications, and job descriptions for nurses in public service. But it has yet to be officially published (gazetted).
According to the MoU, “The association was assured that the Scheme of Service will be gazetted.”
The Ministry of Health has already written to the Office of the Head of the Civil Service to get this gazetting process started.
The Director of Nursing at the Ministry and the NANNM leadership are expected to follow up with the relevant offices to ensure the document is gazetted within four weeks.
The MoU also mentioned other agreements, including carrying out a court ruling to create a Department of Nursing in the Federal Ministry of Health.
This particular issue will be sent to the Ministry of Justice for legal interpretation and compliance with the court judgment.
Regarding allowances, the union had demanded several improvements. These include a 30% shift duty allowance, a 20% specialist allowance per year for specialist nurses, a uniform allowance increase to N300,000 per year, a 4% call duty allowance, a 35% teaching allowance, burnout and excess workload allowance, and a retention allowance to prevent brain drain.
It was agreed that the Ministry of Health would meet with each health professional union separately within two weeks to discuss these proposals.
On the central placement of nursing interns, it was agreed that the Ministry of Health would instruct the Nursing Council to put in place a system similar to what is done for other professional groups.
The Nursing and Midwifery Council will ensure this placement process considers the needs of all states, so interns are not only posted to Abuja and Lagos.
On the issue of fair representation of NANNM on the boards of tertiary health institutions, the minister assured that appointments will be fair and follow the rules set by the laws establishing these institutions.
He also promised that the governing board of the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria will be constituted as soon as possible.
Prof Pate added that the Ministry has approved the hiring of over 14,000 health workers in 2024, and nurses make up about 60% of this number.
He confirmed that recruitment for 2024 has been completed, and the process to issue waivers for 2025 has already started.
