WAMAC Mobilizes Stakeholders Against Proliferation of Colleges of Health, Nursing in Niger

WAMAC Mobilizes Stakeholders Against Proliferation of Colleges of Health, Nursing in Niger

The Wadata Media and Advocacy Centre (WAMAC), an NGO with the support of MacArthur Foundation, has organized a Town Hall Meeting to amplify the fight against corruption in Niger State’s health sector.

The meeting, with the theme: “Corruption in the Health Sector: Addressing Proliferations of Colleges of Health and Nursing Schools in Niger State,” took place on Sunday, in Minna, the state capital.

According to a communique signed by WAMAC’s Executive Director, Zubair Abdurrauf Idris, participants at the meeting were drawn from the Media, Civil Society Organizations, People with Disabilities (PWDs), Traditional Rulers, Community-Based Organizations, Faith-Based Organizations, students, tertiary educations lecturers and proprietors, as well as anti-corruption agencies, Public Complain Commission, National Orientation Agency (NOA), and the representative of Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), among others.

At the end of the town hall meeting, the following resolutions were made to fast-tract the fight against corruption through community participation:

1. The Town Hall meeting has identified maladministration, policies manipulations and inconsistency by governments for the proliferations of colleges of Health and Nursing in Niger State.

2. Participants of the Town Hall Meeting, called on the Niger state Ministry of Tertiary Education to desist from permitting or recognizing any Colleges of Health and Nursing that were not licensed by the relevant Medical Regulatory Authorities. Also the participants advocated for a stop the politicization of the issues of Health and Education through issuance of certificate of business without building permits by Urban Development Board.

3. The Meeting advised communities, religious and Community leaders to be vanguards of anti-corruption through advocacy and reportage of corruption issues and wrongdoings on both conventional and Social Media platforms.

4. The Town Hall Meeting urged Niger state government to close down any Private Health institution that lacks personnel and facilities to curtail the emergence of half-baked graduates and menace of quackery in health centres.

5. Participants also called on the traditional and community leaders to always place a due diligence check on individuals before honoring them with traditional titles to avoid corruptly exposed persons adorning with traditional titles.

6. The Town hall identified behavioural change as a core necessity to fight corruption, by calling on individuals to look inwards at their attitudes in their everyday lives that may encourage corruption. Citizens were called to change their tendency towards corrupt practices as well. The town hall identified value reorientation as a requirement for a less corrupt society.

7. The meeting also called on the Niger State government to address the deficit of National Health Coverage for effective access to quality healthcare.

8. The Town Hall Meeting commends individuals and organizations fighting corruption and calls for an intensification of efforts all stakeholders to curtail the menace, using local languages.

9. The Town Hall meeting commends Wadata Media and Advocacy Centre (WAMAC) and McArthur Foundation for their efforts in the fight against corruption.

By PRNigeria