Individuals will now spend five years in the college of nursing ( formerly school of nursing )

Interview with the Director, Nursing Education/ Principal of SON LUTH ( Mrs Adetunji Julienne Aderonke ) by Adejorin A.O ( part 1) .

Adejorin Adetayo Oluwadunni

Mrs Adetunji A. J

• Ma, could you tell us about yourself ?

Mrs Adetunji Aderonke is my name, and I graduated as an RN, RM, RPHN, and BNSC nurse in 1985 from the University of Ife, now known as OAU.

I completed my youth service in the School of Nursing in Katsina for 6 months before I redeployed to 3 MRS Depot, Nigeria Army Zaria because of my flair for clinical nursing.

After NYSC, I resided in Zaria for a bit and worked in Saint Luke Anglican Hospital in Zaria before i relocated to start working at LUTH in 1990. I am currently the Director, Nursing Education / Principal of SON LUTH, and I have held this post since 2015.

• What’s your speciality and why did you choose to specialize in this area?

My field of expertise is public health, and I consider education to be a happy coincidence.

• Did you wish you were doing something different from nursing since you started your professional journey?

In all honesty, no. Being a nurse is something I regard to be divine.

I really wanted to study home economics after Secondary School but my father insisted that I go to University of Ife to study something more advanced.

I got admitted to the nursing department, and it was really tough but, I am grateful I did not quit.

• What were the challenges you faced in this career path?

Well, I didn’t have much of a difficulty because Miss Kujore, the nurse who established the BNSC generic program in Ife, presented nursing to us in such a way that it appeared to be the best course we could ever pursue.

We were nicknamed kujore’s angels as we raised our shoulders high at school.

The challenges we faced then in Nursing were :

Dichotomy , stigmatization and an unclear career path.

On the basis of professional cadre, nursing was divided into two categories. A degree nurse and a registered nurse. Rivalry between degree holders and non-degree holders, single qualified and non-qualified individuals.

We were ridiculed on the ward, and even during NYSC.

Our abilities were questioned because we graduated as Bachelor of Nursing Science graduates.

However, I am optimistic that we will overcome these obstacles if the career cut of nursing profession in Nigeria is clearly defined .

• How does it seem like merging the school of Nursing with College of Nursing ( since all school of Nursing would be scraped soon).

We were given two options during the nursing leaders meeting in 2005, when it came to establishing a definite career path for the nursing profession.

Either we were incorporated into a university as a department, similar to the school of nursing in Ado Ekiti and the school of nursing in Benue, or we became a college of nursing, which was a more practical choice for us.

Although , we would have loved the BNSc program, but the management feels that since there is a degree program in the CMUL we can as well have the collegiate program.

The college of nursing curriculum will run for five years, and graduates will be certified as RN(RM/RPHN), ND, and HND.

Since the federal government already considers an HND to be equivalent to a BSC, Then, after graduating from nursing school, nurses can pursue master’s degrees, Ph.D.s, and other advanced degrees.
The five-year program will consist of a four-year program followed by a one-year internship and then NYSC.

Jamb will be necessary for admission to the college of nursing, and the subjects for Jamb include Mathematics, English, Physics, Chemistry, and Biology.

In addition, a year PGD program would be done for SON graduates to proceed for Masters program

• How would this decision impact the nursing profession in Nigeria?

Nursing education in Nigeria will now be academically quantified as a result of this decision. Graduates will no longer face obstacles in furthering their studies, and the dichotomized system based on professional cadres will be resolved.

What do you think about this decision ?