Fellow Nurses Africa
12 December 2025
“We Never Asked to Be Consultant Physicians” – NANNM Blasts NAMDA and NMA
The National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM) has issued a formal and uncompromising rebuttal to the widely circulated 1 December petition from the Nigerian Association of Medical and Dental Academics (NAMDA), which urged the Head of Civil Service to block the creation of the Consultant Nurse cadre.
In a letter dated 11 December and signed by General Secretary Dr T. A. Shettima, NANNM stated:
“At no point in time has our Association advocated to attain the status of a Consultant Physician, Consulting Psychiatrist, Surgeon, Paediatrician, etc., or any specialty governed by the training of Medical Doctors.”
The Association described the NAMDA document as containing “false content with distortion of facts, aimed at misleading the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation.”
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NANNM highlighted that Nurse Consultant posts have long existed and thrived in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Kenya, Ghana and many other countries — jurisdictions where healthcare outcomes have improved markedly as a result.
“If the healthcare indices in those countries have grown remarkably to the benefit of patients, it sounds irrational, funny and a false claim that granting the Consultant Nurse cadre in Nigeria will negatively affect patient healthcare services.”
The letter also noted that Nigerian-trained doctors who undertake postgraduate training abroad are fully aware of the respected status of Nurse Consultants, yet return home to oppose the same advancement.
NANNM further clarified that the Medical and Dental Practitioners Act cited by NAMDA applies only to medical practice and grants no authority over the career progression of other professions.
In an unusual step, the Association expressed “shock” at what it called a “false attack” on the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, describing her conduct throughout the process as “ethical, sincere and professionally non-biased.”
The statement concluded with a direct appeal to the Office of the Head of Civil Service and the National Council on Establishment:
“We call on the Office … and the general public to disregard the document and its content.”
With the Council’s final decision expected imminently, NANNM’s intervention marks the clearest and most authoritative response yet from organised nursing to the ongoing controversy.
Fellow Nurses Africa will bring you the official outcome as soon as it is announced.
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