Senate Mulls Passing Law to Establish FCT College of Nursing and Midwifery

Olawale Ajimotokan

The Senate Committee on Federal Capital Territory(FCT), has considered a bill for an Act for the establishment of the Federal Capital Territory College of Nursing and Midwifery and other related matters 40 years after the College of Nursing and Midwifery Gwagwalada, has been operating without an enabling Act.

Senate President, Ahmed Lawan stated this at the public hearing on the bill for an Act to provide for the establishment of the FCT College of Nursing and Midwifery and other related matters.

He described the bill as crucial for the development of the FCT.

He was represented at the hearing by Senate Minority Whip, Senator Philip Aduda.

He expressed confidence that the public hearing will allow stakeholders and the general public to make inputs and comments on the bill.

The FCT College of Nursing and Midwifery started in 1981 at a temporary site in Suleja, Niger State and has since been functioning without legal backing.

Stating some of the derivable benefits of the bill, Chairman, Senate Committee on FCT, Senator Abubakar Kyari said the bill will provide training and research in nursing and midwifery and other specialties of nursing, leading to the award of professional certificates, diplomas and other post basic certificates and such other courses as may be approved by the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria and National Board of Technical Education.

In reaction, FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello described as a great day for FCT residents the historic move to provide the needed legislation for the age long health institution.

Bello was represented by the FCT Permanent Secretary, Mr. Olusade Adesola.

He expressed his delight over the proposed bill during his presentation to the Committee on the bill for an Act to provide for the establishment of the FCT College of Nursing and Midwifery and other related matters and the bill for an Act to establish the Abuja Geographic Information Systems(AGIS) and for related matters.

Canvassing reasons for members to see the need to enact enabling law for the College, the minister explained that apart from bringing efficiency and effectiveness in the management of the College, giving the School legal framework will also open up the institution to access financial support from multilateral institutions as well as boost man power development for the health sector of the Territory.

He proposed some recommendations to the bill, such as making provision prohibiting exclusion or discrimination based on race, religion, gender, among others.

On the bill for an Act to establish AGIS and for related matters, he said the core function of the AGIS is to record, store and manage geospatial data on land and attributes generated by core stakeholders in land administration in digital form and therefore a passage of the bill in its present form will clash the responsibilities of existing statutory departments of the administration.