Jay Douglas, MSM, RN, CSAC, FRE.
The President,
National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN),
111 East Wacker Drive, Suite 2900,
Chicago, IL 60601-4277.
ATTENTION:
Phyllis Polk Johnson, DNP, RN, FNP-BC,
President-Elect,
National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN),
111 East Wacker Drive, Suite 2900,
Chicago, IL 60601-4277.
A REQUEST FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A NATIONAL COUNCIL LICENSURE EXAMINATION (NCLEX) CENTER IN NIGERIA.
The University Graduates of Nursing Science Association (UGONSA), also known as the Graduate Nurses Association of Nigeria (GNAN), is a professional association of nurses in Nigeria with a minimum qualification of first degree in nursing science (B.N.Sc./B.S.N/ or B.Sc. Nursing), with a membership strength of over ten thousand (10,000) nurses.
2. We write to inform you of the excruciating pain and heavy financial burden Nigerian nurses intending to migrate and practice in the U.S. endure in an attempt to write the NCLEX exam.
3. The incessant devaluation of the Nigerian currency (naira), which makes it to exchange at about 720 naira to a dollar in the parallel market, has sent millions of Nigerians, including Nurses, into poverty as the average nurses' salary crashed from about $700 to $200 per month.
4. Despite their high proficiency, those that intend to migrate to the U.S. are further stripped of the paltry savings they made from their meager income vide the requirement that they have to seek visas to travel to countries that have NCLEX centers such as India, United Kingdom, South Africa, and the Philippines. Because visa application is not a guaranteed process, most nurses that apply for a visitor visa to those countries with NCLEX centers are denied their application without a refund of the costly application fee. Those that manage to get a visa are further burdened by flight tickets to and fro the destination of the foreign test centers. The unlucky ones who could not pass the exam in the first sitting have to go through the excruciating process over again.
5. A factsheet check from the NCLEX Quarterly Examination Statistics for the past five (5) years (2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022) shows that nurses from Nigeria constitute the highest NCLEX exam takers in Africa with the highest cumulative pass rates in the entire African continent. The proficiency of Nigerian nurses has also been alluded to by Canada. Just recently, the Nova Scotia College of Nursing and the College of Registered Nurses of Alberta included Nigeria amongst the seven selected countries that meet Canadian standards and entry-to-practice competencies, with NCLEX passing as a prerequisite to full licensing. This means that among all the African countries, Nigerian nurses should be prioritized for the NCLEX exam with the citing of an NCLEX center in Nigeria to ease the sufferings of the West Africa Nurses.
6. Citing an NCLEX test center in Nigeria will be an easy process since the country already has authorized Prometric and Pearson Vue Testing centers offering Computer Based Test (CBT) for the United Kingdom Nursing and Midwifery Council and on all IT international examinations for vendors like Microsoft, Oracle, Cisco, CompTIA, Adobe, etc.
7. As a critical stakeholder in the nursing profession in Nigeria, UGONSA is willing to offer any assistance to facilitate the process in terms of meeting with any government agency necessary to make the establishment of the NCLEX center possible. UGONSA is an association whose core value, among others, is to maintain excellence in nursing education and practice, improve the quality of nursing care rendered to clients and patients through research, and uphold the ethical tenets of nursing. Over the years, the association has helped prepare most of its members for writing NCLEX through its monthly scientific sessions organized in almost all the states in Nigeria. This undoubtedly contributed significantly to the good pass rates recorded by Nigerian nurses in NCLEX examinations over the years. The association therefore, considers it imperative to write to you for your consideration in establishing an NCLEX center in Nigeria in the spirit of equity and fairness.
8. For correspondence, please contact the association through her official email: gnan2ugonsa@gmail.com.
Please accept the assurances of our highest regards.
Signed:
Nurse Ojo Opeyemi Nurse Philip O. Eteng
National President National Secretary
Cc:
Adrian Guerrero, CPM. (The Treasurer, NCSBN Board)
Susan VanBeuge, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC, FAANP. (Area I Director, NCSBN Board)
Lori Scheidt, MBA-HCM. ( Area II Director, NCSBN Board)
Karen C. Lyon, PhD, MBA, APRN, NEA-BC. (Area III Director, NCSBN Board)
Karen E. B. Evans, MSN, RN-BC, SD-CLTC, CLC. (Area IV Director, NCSBN Board)
Lori Glenn, DNP, CNM,C-EFM, RN. (Director-at-large, NCSBN Board).
Sue A. Tedford, MNSc, APRN. (Director-at-large, NCSBN Board)
Carol Timmings, RN, MEd. (Director-at-large, NCSBN Board)
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