By  Matthias Ogbagah, Warri

LAGOS MAY 30TH (URHOBOTODAY)-Nearly three months after the supposed closure of admission process of new students into the four Colleges of Nursing Sciences in Delta State for the 2024/2025 academic session,  illegal backdoor admissions continue unabated allegedly facilitated by some dubious officials from the Commissioner of Health’s Office and aided by a few of unscrupulous administrative staff in the Colleges.

It would be recalled that the entrance examination into the four Colleges of Nursing Sciences in Asaba, Agbor, Warri and Sapele took place about four months ago. Expectedly, each of the Colleges was expected to offer admission to a maximum 250 students per College. 

It was however gathered that while 800 applicants wrote the entrance examination in each of the Colleges, the process which was allegedly hijacked by a PA to the Commissioner of Health and some ‘selected’ past and present officials of the National Association of Nurses and Midwives (NAN&M), Delta State chapter, deliberately denied admission to over 90% of the applicants in order to pave way for extortion of humongous amount from desperate candidates for a place as students.

A breakdown of figures independently obtained from the office of the Directorate of Nursing Services in Asaba showed that in College of Nursing Science, Agbor, 800 candidates wrote the entrance exam, but only 36 passed on merit.

In the same vein, in the College of Nursing Sciences, Warri, 800 candidates also sat for the entrance exam but only 40 passed with merit, while in the College of Nursing Sciences, Eku, 700 sat for the exam and only 41 passed with merit.

It was further gathered that to make up for the number of students required for each College, the gang of racketeers  who hijacked the admission process from the administrative departments of the Colleges, grabbed the opportunity to coerce candidates to part with between N500,000 and N1 million naira from each applicant to give admissions to the over 90% of candidates who were classified  to have failed the exam, through the back door.

As at the time of this report, our correspondent gathered, Agbor has admitted 200 students; Warri, 150 while Eku, having admitted about a100 students, are still admitting more who can afford the illegal offer.

“Admission to Delta State Colleges of Nursing Sciences is now for the highest bidder. It is now cash and carry.  It has been so politicized such that even those who did not write the exam were given admission as long as their parents can afford to cough out millions of naira.

“Our fear is that in the nearest future, with the caliber of students who have been given admission now and the level of corruption being perpetrated by administrative officials of the Colleges and aided by some Ministry officials, Delta State will be turning out half-baked Nurses and Midwives.  This is a threat to the Health Care Delivery policy of the Delta State government”, an anonymous group of frustrated administrative staff of one of the Colleges stated.

When contacted on phone about the development in the State Colleges of Nursing Sciences, the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Joseph Onojaeme expressed surprise, saying “I would investigate.”

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