16th December, 2024
PRESS RELEASE:
NURSING
SCHOOL AUTHORITIES OPPRESSING MUSLIM STUDENTS – MURIC
An Islamic human rights organization, the Muslim
Rights Concern (MURIC), has cried out over what it called the oppression of
Muslim nursing students in Nigerian medical colleges. The group singled out the
University College Hospital (UCH) Ibadan, Oyo State, among other erring nursing
institutions and identified legal action and peaceful demonstrations as options
on the table against such institutions.
In a statement circulated to the media on Monday,
16th December, 2024, the Executive Director of the group, Professor
Ishaq Akintola said:
“Our
headquarters have been inundated with letters, emails, phone calls and text
messages containing bitter complaints on how Muslim student nurses are being
treated in some medical colleges in Nigeria. The University College Hospital
(UCH), Ibadan, has been fingered as the worst culprit.
“The complainants narrate how trousers are not
allowed for Muslim students who desire to use them whereas the council
governing the nursing profession states in one of its rules that students can
use trousers or gowns.
“It is well known that Islamic rules forbid Muslim
females from wearing short skirts or any skimpy dress. The ideal dress for a
Muslim female is a long skirt or a skirt that reaches below the knees together
with trousers and hijab. Therefore, any educational institution or employer
that forces female Muslims to wear short skirts or disallows hijab is
deliberately persecuting them.
“It has also been reported that those nursing
school authorities now prepare new school rules and regulations that female
Muslim nursing students are made to sign or their studentship is revoked.
“The
action of the nursing school authorities who disallow female Muslim nursing
students from wearing trousers is unlawful, illegal, illegitimate and
unconstitutional in so far as it disallows freedom of religion as enshrined in
Section 38(i)&(ii) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria.
“To disallow a female Muslim nursing student from
dressing the way a Muslim nurse should dress is an offence because the law
guarantees her the right to dress like a Muslim. Anything short of that is
religious persecution punishable under the law.
“Even new rules and regulations promulgated by any
institution have to conform with the Nigerian Constitution, otherwise they are null,
void, and ultra vires. Chapter 1, Part 1, Section 1(1) & (3) of the Constitution
stipulates, ‘This Constitution is supreme and its provisions shall have binding
force on all authorities and persons throughout the Federal Republic of
Nigeria.’
“In particular, Section 1(3) says, ‘If any other law is inconsistent
with the provisions of this Constitution, this Constitution shall prevail, and
that other law shall to the extent of the inconsistency be void.’
“Ceteris
paribus, rules and regulations (including dress codes or patterns) in institutions
of learning and workplaces in Nigeria must not place restrictions on religious belief.
They are expected to conform with the complexity of the Nigerian cornucopia
with its diverse cultures and faiths. Anything short of this is an invitation
to bedlam.
“The
current nursing dress code which is being promoted by most nursing school
authorities is the short skirt without hijab. This is a Christian fabrication
as imported by the British colonial masters whereas we should no longer be tied
to the apron strings of the colonialists. It is sheer colonial mentality to
insist that nurses in Nigeria must look like British nurses.
“What is in a uniform? Nurses who wear hijab and
trousers are equally as smart as others in skimpy skirts. What is important is competence.
Afterall hospital wards are not necessarily night clubs for the seduction of
men. The more disciplined a nurse, the more competent she is expected to be.
“What the authorities of schools like UCH have
failed to realize (or pretended not to know) is that forcing female Muslim
nursing students to dress in a manner that conflicts with their faith is justiciable.
Any of the Muslim students can sue the school and press for damages running
into billions of naira. We have no doubt that heads will begin to roll when UCH
realizes its mistakes.
“It
was also reported that female Muslim nursing students are not allowed to attend
Jumu‘ah prayers on Friday and that lectures are fixed around that period in
some nursing schools. Dedicated Muslims sneak out to attend prayers. This is an
indictment of those nursing schools. It is unacceptable. It smacks of high-handedness
and intolerance of the highest order.
“Nursing students are not kindergarten students.
Neither are they slaves to be treated like buffoons. It is even most alarming
to learn that perioperative nursing schools which are postgraduate institutions
are worse in the handling of their Muslim students.
“This
crude, inhuman and despicable treatment of female Muslim nursing students has
led to the conversion of many of them to Christianity due to frustration while
some others have been intimidated into dropping out of nursing schools.
Southern Nigeria in particular has become a wide Siberian field for the forceful
conversion of Muslims to Christianity courtesy of carrot and stick antics.
“Acting in loco parentis and in keeping
with our vow to protect, promote and project Allah-given fundamental human
rights of Nigerian Muslims, MURIC cannot look the other way while a section of
the Nigerian Muslim population suffers in the hands of predators and fishers of
men.
“Knowing that health and education are vital to
development and Muslims need both, Christian officials in Southern Nigeria
weaponize them to compel Muslims to convert to Christianity. While Muslims on
sick beds are cajoled into submission, Muslims seeking admission into nursing
schools are often frustrated in a bid to ensure that the nursing and medical
professions are monopolized by Christians.
“We are wondering what these recalcitrant nursing
authorities are waiting for before complying with laid down rules. Could it be
a general Muslim reaction or official and timely action by the nursing council?
“We
therefore call the attention of the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria to
the excesses, the unlawful and anti-Muslim practices of many of the officials
in nursing schools all over Nigeria. We demand immediate intervention before
Nigerian Muslims are forced to act. This is how religious crisis is initiated. Labelling
Muslim demonstrators ‘fanatics’, ‘fundamentalists’, ‘extremists’, ‘terrorists’,
etc will be of no use because provocation and oppression came first. There is
no smoke without fire just as there is a symbiotic connection between injustice, provocation,
violence and terrorism.
“Those who oppress our daughters, sisters, wives, daughters and
mothers in the nursing schools have no moral right to accuse us of terrorism or
extremism when we hit the streets in peaceful protests. We will no longer keep quiet while nursing school
officials act like demigods over the destinies of our daughters.
“Besides, the nursing schools where those
Christian officials play god are funded and salaries are paid from tax payers’
money. Interestingly enough, Nigerian Muslims are the largest tax payers in
this country. Those schools belong to us all. Therefore, they should not be
used to oppress Muslim nursing students.
“It
is better to intervene now than to wait until the Muslims react. A general
Muslim reaction may entail peaceful nationwide protests by Muslims over the maltreatment
of nursing students and Muslim patients. This may not be quite palatable. There
will be no retreat, no surrender, until we liberate our daughters.
“Another
option on the table is to leverage on the judicability of the intimidation of
Muslim nursing students. Whoever thinks Muslims cannot use either option is
underestimating our reach, testing our will. The truth is that we are
exercising restraint. But we hope the nursing institutions will not force
Nigerian Muslims to that level. Our cause is just, the law is on our side but
above all, Allah is with us.”
#NursingSchools
#SetMuslimStudentsFree
#SetMuslimNursesFree
Professor Ishaq Akintola,
Founder/Executive Director,
Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)
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