Speaking during the event, with the theme, ? 200 years of Nursing:
Achievements, Challenges and prospects?, the Vice Chancellor, Distinguished
Professor E. Uche Ikonne, represented by the Deputy Vice Chancellor,
Administration, Professor O. M Ogbulu, stated that the occasion marks the end
of a 5 years academic program in nursing sciences of the Abia state University,
and congratulated the inductees for making it to this point, despite the
huddles and challenges associated with learning, especially the nursing
profession.
He noted that the theme for the event was very appropriate in the present
dispensation, and explained that the University is contributing its quota to
ensure that the challenges associated with the development of the Profession is
mitigated through the graduating of good quality nurses into the Healthcare
system.
While commending the Governor and visitor to the University, Okezie Victor
Ikpeazu, PhD, and the Vice Chancellor, Distinguished Professor E. Uche Ikonne
for their commitment to the development of the University, Professor Ogbulu
thanked the parents /guardians of the inductees as well as the lecturers for
their sacrifices and efforts to nurture and produce the brand new nurses from
the University, and admonished them to be good ambassadors of the profession
and the Abia State University.
In their separate remarks, the provost of the college of medicine and health
sciences, Professor S. N Onwere, and the Dean, Faculty of health sciences,
Professor O. C Ahuama eulogized the sterling qualities of the Vice Chancellor,
especially for always making the yearly induction possible, and charged the
inductees to practice within the scope and in line with the ethics of the
profession.
Also speaking, the Head of Department, Nursing Sciences, Mrs S. A. K Kanu,
commended the Vice Chancellor for what she described as his ?unrelenting
spiritual moral and financial support, and his uncommon passion for the
sustenance and growth of the Department of Nursing Sciences of the University?.
She said that the Institution has an unbeatable standard in the areas of
teaching and learning, assuring of their determination to raise global leaders
and change agents who would make transformative impacts in the society
In his own address, the registrar, Nursing and Midwifery council of Nigeria
(NMCN), Alhaji Faruk Umar Abubakar represented by Mr Alex Eze of the Enugu
branch of the council said that ?The Bachelor of Nursing Sciences (BNSC) degree
program is a professional and academic program aimed at improving the quality
of nursing services in the country by empowering nurses to make sound
diagnosis, design appropriate nursing care, implement and evaluate nursing care
holistically and comprehensively?
He implored the inductees to adhere to the code of ethics of the
Profession and be good ambassadors of the University that trained them.
High point of the event was the searing in/oath taking of the 100 graduating
nurses by the registrar of NMCN, as represented, and presentation of awards to
the best graduating student and others, while a special award was also
presented to the Vice Chancellor by the immediate past President of the
Nigerian Universities Nursing Students Association (NUNSA) Sochima Nwokeke.
The best graduating student, Chukwu Francisca Uchechi, in her valedictory
speech, thanked the Vice Chancellor, for creating an excellent environment for
study, the lecturers and parents, for instilling character, learning and
excellence in them, and expressed gratitude to God, for seeing them through a
successful program in the University.
Source: Abia State
University
