By Ogar Monday
The Cross River State Government has debunked claims which recently made rounds on social media that the Governor (Ben Ayade) had moved a School of Nursing located in Ogoja to Obudu Local Government Area where he hails from.
In a release made available to CrossRiverWatch and signed by Dr. Pauline Obute, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, the government stated that “there is no college known as College of Nursing Ogoja, rather the regulatory body Nursing and Midwifery Council Of Nigeria (NMCN) gave approval to the Cross River State Government to run two(2) extra colleges to include; College of Nursing Calabar to consist of the School of Nursing Calabar and School of Midwifery Calabar while the College of Nursing Sciences Obudu was beamed to consist of the School of Nursing Ogoja, School of Midwifery Monaiya and School Of Midwifery Obudu. Considering the available resources of Manpower in these schools.”
Dr. Pauline added that the Governor, Sen. Ben Ayade, or the Honourable Commissioner for Health, Dr. Janet Ekpenyong do not have any plans “to relocate the School of Nursing as speculated on social media from Ogoja to Obudu. Rather in a bid to beat the NMCN deadline of closure of schools, the Honourable Commissioner for Health is working assiduously to ensure that no school in the State is lost but that the School of Nursing Ogoja like the other two (2) schools in the Northern Senatorial District operate and coexist as a College of Nursing Obudu following the NMCN assessment and approval of 22nd June 2022 and this is without moving, relocating or closing the school(s) in the North or Ogoja, particularly to Obudu as all existing schools and structures remain.”
The statement further revealed that the government has secured approvals to establish two “additional colleges in the Southern and Northern Senatorial Districts.”