Mass failure in Nigeria’s public health nursing exams linked to major technical glitch

FNA News
23 November 2025

Mass failure in Nigeria’s public health nursing exams linked to major technical glitch

Software engineer and CEO of Educare, Alex Onyia, has accused the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria (NMCN) of gross negligence after only 9% of candidates passed the November Public Health Nursing (RPHN) professional examination.

In a strongly worded statement posted on X and widely shared across the nursing community, Mr Onyia declared:

“The Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria (NMCN) experienced a major glitch in their last CBT exam they held, which terribly affected the just released Public Health Nursing (RPHN) exam results, and only 9% (179 out of about 2000) candidates passed.
This is the height of irresponsibility. Even though most were resitting from similar mass failure in the same exam that held in May.
This result will not hold!”

The post, which has attracted tens of thousands of views and hundreds of reposts, has become the focal point of growing outrage among nursing students and professionals.

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Figures circulating online show that several prominent universities recorded pass rates below 5%, while institutions including Delta State University, Bingham University and the Department of Nursing at the College of Nursing Sciences recorded 0% success.

Candidates and lecturers maintain that persistent technical failures during the computer-based test – including system crashes, time loss and question-loading errors – severely disadvantaged examinees.

Many of those affected were already resitting the paper after a comparable mass failure in May, prompting accusations that the NMCN has failed to resolve long-standing problems with its examination platform.

The frustration has spilled over into social media, with nursing students voicing their dismay in real-time posts under #ReviewRPHNResults. Registered nurse Cynthia Anyika, posting multiple times on Sunday, demanded immediate action: “We’re calling out Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria to review the November Public Health Exam. 9% pass doesn’t reflect the academic excellence we have strived to maintain for our RN and RM exams! We’ll not accept this result!!! #ReviewPHNresult #Massfailure #NMCN.”

Data analyst and author ABỌ́BAJÍRÒ shared a stark breakdown of the results from top schools, highlighting the scale of the failure: “#ReviewRPHNResults #NMCN ABU 1.92% 2/104 AAU 3.35% 6/179 UNN 19% 11/56 BOWEN 18.75% 3/16 UNILORIN 12.5% 11/86 NOVENA UNIVERSITY 2.3% 3/127 DELSU 0% 0/32 TAU % 3/16 CONSIT PUBLIC DEPARTMENT 0% 0/45 LAUTECH – 24.19 15/62 Bingham – 0% 0/10.”

Similarly, nursing student Mine Philip reposted the damning statistics: “#ReviewRPHNResults #NMCN ABU 1.92% (2/104) AAU 3.35% (6/179) UNN 19% (11/56) BOWEN 18.75% (3/16) UNILORIN 12.5% (11/86) NOVENA UNIVERSITY 2.3% (3/127) DELSU 0% (0/32) TAU % (3/16) LAUTECH – 24.19 (15/62) Bingham – 0% (0/10) Unizik – 21.13% (13/61).”

Tech innovator Justin decried the situation as “so disheartening,” adding: “#REVIEWRPHNRESULTS #INVESTIGATENOW #NMCN #Nursingcouncil.”

As of Sunday evening, the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria had not responded publicly to the allegations or announced any plans to review the results.

The Chief Executive Officer, Fellow Nurses Africa had released an open letter to the leadership of the NMCN last week, urging them to take responsibility and handle the situation with caution to protect the integrity and sanctity of the profession.

Fellow Nurses Africa is continuing to follow developments and has called on the NMCN to issue an urgent statement addressing the reported technical failures and the way forward for the affected candidates.

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Fellow Nurses Africa is the independent voice of African nursing, we educate, inform and support nurses across Africa