The Honourable
Minister for Health,
Federal Ministry
of Health (FMOH),
Federal
Secretariat Phase III, Ahmadu Bellow Way,
Central Business
District Abuja,
P.M.B.083 Garki,
Abuja
Nigeria.
Attention:
Director, Human
Resources FMOH
Sir,
SELECTIVE
IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CIRCULAR ON ENHANCED ENTRY POINT FOR BACHELOR OF NURSING
SCIENCE (B.N.Sc.) GRADUATES: AN APPEAL FOR YOUR INTERVENTION
The
National Executive Council (NEC) of University Graduates of Nursing Science
Association (UGONSA), a professional association of nurses with a minimum first
degree in Nursing (B.N.Sc./B.Sc. Nursing), conveys the fraternal greetings and
the appreciation of her members to you and all your staff.
2. It
could be recalled that the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation
(HCSF) in a Circular Ref. No. HCSF/SPSO/ODD/NCE/CND.100/S.8/72 (Please refer to
Annexure A) conveyed the approval of Enhanced Entry Point for B.N.Sc/B.Sc. Nursing
holders by the National Council on Establishment (NCE) at its 43rd
meeting held at Abuja, FCT, from 24th to 28th January,
2022. With the development, the entry point into the Nursing Officers’ cadre in
the civil service for nurses with B.N.Sc/B.Sc. Nursing degree became Grade
Level (GL) 10 (. i.e., CONHESS 09) effective from 28th January, 2022.
3. Kindly
also recall that in an earlier Circular from the Office of the Head of the
Civil Service of the Federation Ref.No.B.63279/S.7/II/T/273 dated 24th
April, 2002, (Please refer Annexure B) on “Adjustment of Salary Grade Level as
a Result of Enhanced Entry Point (Base Grade level Adjustment) to a Cadre in
the Civil Service" unambiguously
stated that "in order to stem the spate of agitation over adjustment of
grades any time the base grade of any cadre in the Civil Service of the
Federation is enhanced, Government has decided that adjustments should
affect only the officers within the cadre whose positions fall below the new
entry point; but such officers should retain the date of the adjustment as
their date of seniority on the new grade, while serving officers who attained
the new base grade and other grades above it by promotion or direct appointment
will retain their original date of seniority on their respective grades”.
4. The
provision of the referenced circulars implies that while a fresh graduate of
B.N.Sc/B.Sc. Nursing is appointed on GL10 (.i.e. CONHESS 09) post-NYSC
(National Youth Service Corps) following the completion of an internship, those
that are already in service but are still below the new entry point of CONHESS
09 should be adjusted to the new base grade effective from 28th
January 2022 (. i.e., the approval date by the NCE) to maintain their seniority
over other graduate nurses that were newly employed into the service after the
release of the circular.
5. Some
worrisome development in the implementation of the circular compelled us to
bring the issue to your esteemed attention. While many heads of institutions
and facilities bluntly refused to implement the new circular, others are
selectively implementing it with no regard to the provisions of the referenced
extant circulars. Some heads of facilities strangely assert that
"B.N.Sc./B.Sc. Nursing" nurses who were employed before the effective
date of the circular (.i.e., 28th January, 2022) are not eligible
for the adjustment to the new base grade because they are already in service,
while others, argues that the adjustment will only affect "B.N.Sc./B.Sc. Nursing"
nurses who show evidence of completion of an internship.
6. While
we advocate for the active participation of young graduates of B.N.Sc./B.Sc. Nursing
degree in the internship programme, especially those that graduated after
2016/2017 when internship for nurses was approved; we make a strong case for
those that had graduated years before the approval of the one-year internship
programme for nurses in 2016. They were already out of the school system or
employed and so were not eligible to participate in the internship and should
not be denied their due promotion/upgrade because of an internship program that
was non-existent for nurses at the time they left school or when they were
employed.
7. An
example of a hospital that blatantly refused to implement the circular is the
Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Aro, Abeokuta, Ogun State. This they displayed by
refusing to implement the said circular for the new nursing officers they
employed after the circular had been released (please refer to Annexure C
I&II herewith attached). This is despite bringing the attention of its
management to the extant circulars.
8. Also,
it may interest you to note with displeasure that the management of the
under-listed health institutions/facilities and many more have decided to
selectively implement the circular as it seems comfortable for them. This
selective implementation ranges from either refusal to implement the circular
at all or refusal to upgrade those nurses with B.N.Sc. degree holders who have
completed their internship and NYSC schemes, and were employed before the
effective date of the circular (28th January, 2022) but are still
below the new base grade (SGL10), to refusal to adjust nurses with B.N.Sc.
degree who were employed before the approval of internship for nurses, and as
such, could not participate in the scheme, but have completed one-year NYSC
service as at the time of their employment but are still below the new base
grade (SGL10).
These
include:
i.
Neuropsychiatirc
Hospital, Aro, Abeokuta, Ogun State
ii. Federal
Teaching Hospital, Ido-Ekiti (FETHI), Ekiti State
iii. Obafemi
Awolowo Teaching Hospital (OAUTH), Ile-Ife, Osun State.
iv. University
of Uyo Teaching Hospital (UUTH) Uyo, Akwa Ibom State
v. Specialist
Hospital, Yola, Adamawa State
vi. Fedreal
Medical Center, Abeokuta, Ogun State.
vii.
University of Abuja
Teaching Hospital Gwagwalada , Federal Capital Territory (FCT),
viii. Modibbo
Adama University Teaching Hospital, Yola, Adamawa State
ix. University
of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Ilorin, Kwara State.
x. Federal
Medical Center (FMC), Makurdi, Benue State,
xi. Lagos
University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba, Surulere, Lagos State
xii.
University of Nigeria
Teaching Hospital (UNTH), Enugu, Enugu State. Etc.
PRAYERS:
We
passionately request that you use your good office to intervene by
1. Releasing
a memo/circular to all heads of health institutions/facilities under your
ministry which engages the services of nurses (B.N.Sc. nurses and Midwives) to
commence full implementation of the circular as approved by NCE by placing
eligible nurses on SGL.10 (CONHESS 9) without further delay or objection.
2. Mandating
heads of health institutions/facilities under your ministry to upgrade the
"B.N.Sc./B.Sc.Nursing" degree holders who are still below GL 10 (.i.e.,
CONHESS 09) to the new base. This category of nurses were employed and had been
in service before the approval of the internship scheme for nurses and so could
not participate in the one internship programme, but have completed their
one-year NYSC scheme before employment.
3. Specifically
mandating the management of the Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Aro, Abeokuta, Ogun
State, to commence full implementation of the Enhanced Entry Point Circular on
all deserving nurses with "B.N.Sc./B.Sc. Nursing" degree and
adjustment of the grade level of those already in service that are still below
the newly approved entry grade of SGL 10.
Please,
accept the assurances of our highest regards.
Signed:
National
President National Secretary
Cc:
The
Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF), Abuja,
Director
of Nursing Services (DNS), Federal Ministry of Health, Abuja
No comments:
Post a Comment