By Ovasa Ogaga,
...PTS Exam not cancelled, Commissioner for Health assures
Fresh crisis is currently looming in the Delta-owned Colleges of Nursing Science following the alleged cancellation of the Preliminary Training Studies (PTS) Examination by the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria over the manner the exams were conducted in the state.
Meanwhile, Delta State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Joseph Onojaeme has described the report of cancellation of the Preliminary Training Studies (PTS) Examination by the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria as untrue and baseless.
A group of Concerned Parents of Children in College of Nursing Eku, Ethiope East Local Government Area of Delta State, in a save-our-soul letter signed by Mr Paul Erakpobruke and Mr Johnson Ovwile Ejiro addressed to the state governor, Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori called on the governor to urgently step in to arrest the ugly trends in the state colleges of Nursing to safeguard the future of their children.
They alleged that the authorities of the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria (NMCN) decided to cancel the PTS Exam conducted in the state because it was marred by malpractice and corruption after NMCN conducted an independent and thorough investigation into the issues raised against the PTS Exam and allegedly found them to be true.
They frown at the action of the State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Joseph Onojaeme whom they accused of hiding the fact of the cancellation of the PTS Exam from the governor, rather he is window shopping in an attempt to compromise some directors in Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria to get some of the student indexed through the back door.
According to parents, "Good Deltans, we have been vindicated. The Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria has cancelled the PTS Exam and the Commissioner of Health, Dr. Joseph Onojaeme is hiding this fact from the Governor of Delta State.
"The Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria conducted an independent and thorough investigation of the issues raised against the PTS Exam and found them to be true.
"The good people of Delta state are now asking Dr. Joseph Onojaeme who is actually corrupt. This Commissioner and his team can no longer deceive us. We now know the truth that this Commissioner who claims to be fighting corruption is the one aiding and abetting the corruption that is destroying the Nursing profession right now in Delta State.
"One would have expected that with the cancellation of the PTS Examination, the Commissioner would feel remorse and try to amend his ways. On the contrary, he has put in place a wicked agenda to ensure that many candidates who sat for the PTS Exam that has been cancelled will not have the privilege of rewriting it.
"This write-up is aimed at alerting the entire people of Delta State the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria has cancelled the PTS Exam which was carried out without due process and to be on alert so that their children will not be excluded from rewriting the Exam when the Ministry is ready to conduct another one.
"Accordingly, we plead with His Excellency, the Governor, to take urgent steps to avert the impending calamity that will befall the Colleges of Nursing Sciences in the state.
According to their letter over 200 students registered for the PTS Exams at Agbor, Warri about 150 students, Eku about 150 students, Asaba about 100 students; while Sapele about 100 registered students for the examination, and that if nothing is done urgently for them to retake the exam, their hope of acquiring a Nursing education will have been dashed.
They, therefore, appealed that for equity and fairness, students sent home as a result of the poorly conducted PTS Exam be called back to retake the examination.
Delta State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Joseph Onojaeme, in his reaction debunked the allegation that NMCN cancelled the PTS Exam held in Delta, urging Deltans and welling Nigerians to disregard the claim as nothing of such happened.
Dr. Onojaeme who spoke to our correspondent on the phone said, "PTS Exam is not cancelled, they are currently doing Transcript valuation for transcript purposes, nothing more.
"The PTS exam is not an examination that tests the knowledge of the students, it's just an exam to regularise them, that is all. The PTS Exam will stand, they have started their indexing.
"The PTS exam is at no cost to the student and it's not an exam that will cause them to fail and be out of the school, so, I don't know why they are scared of such an exam.
"Take this from me, the PTS Exam has not been cancelled, I was with the Registrar of the Nursing Council, Mr Faruk two weeks ago and we didn't discuss PTS, our discussions were centred on how he could increase the indexing number because of the pressure on admission from Delta State.
"No student was asked to drop out of any of our schools on account of this PTS Exam, because it's just like an aptitude test and not the main Council exams, you can record this call and hold me responsible on this point," he added.
