Reps ask medical council, JAMB, others to consider returnee students

The House of Representatives has urged the relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government to apply a ‘doctrine of necessity’ in the reintegration of Nigerian students evacuated from Ukraine following the invasion of the Eastern European country by Russia.

At the plenary on Tuesday, the House particularly urged the Federal Ministry of Education, National Universities Commission, Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board and the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria to ensure a seamless continuation of their education in Nigeria.

The call is based on a report by the Joint House Committees on Tertiary Education and Services, Health Institutions and Foreign Affairs, which the lawmakers unanimously considered and adopted.

It was titled ‘Report of the Committees on Tertiary Education and Services, Health Institutions, and Foreign Affairs on the Need to Safeguard the Academic Pursuit of Nigerian Youths in Ukrainian Medical Universities.’

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In the report, the committee recommended, “For final year students (Year 6), (i) a doctrine of necessity should be applied and any measure to be taken should be done with a human face that cannot be injurious to the students or the system in considering students in higher levels and other levels, so as to reduce time and resources lost;

“(ii) The Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria should in the spirit of nation-building, reconsider its position and allow the Ukrainian Medical Graduates of 2022 in the sixth and final year to write the MDCN assessment examination just like Ghana and India did for their graduates;

“(iii) On the other hand, the MDCN is of the view that the graduates have a deficit as a result of non-completion of the remaining two months before the war, remedial course(s) for three to four months or for a short period of time, be organised as was the practice for all the returning foreign-trained medical graduates before it was cancelled in 2017 by the Council.”

The committee also recommended that, for other levels (levels one to five), the Federal Ministry of Education, JAMB and the NUC “are to ensure the students are accommodated in the appropriate levels,” while the students should approach universities of their choice and apply to be absorbed.

The House had on June 28, 2022, called on the MDCN to allow the evacuees to complete their studies in Nigerian universities.

The House had particularly called on the Council to “allow students in the sixth and final year of their programmes, who have completed their final exams, to register for the MDCN in Nigeria and allow them prove themselves.”

Also, the House urged the MDCN to “allow students in the fifth year of their medical programmes in Ukraine to be absorbed into medical schools in Nigerian universities to complete their sixth year.”

In addition, the parliament called on the Federal Government, through relevant ministries, departments and agencies, to discuss with Ukrainian authorities for universities in the country to release the transcripts of years completed, for Nigerian students willing to transfer to medical schools in Nigeria or other nations.

Furthermore, the lawmakers mandated the House Committees on Tertiary Education, Health Institutions, and Foreign Affairs to engage with the leadership of the MDCN, Concerned Ukrainian Students’ Parents Forum Nigeria and other relevant MDAs to find lasting solutions to the challenge.

These resolutions were sequel to the unanimous adoption of a motion of urgent public importance moved by a member of the House, Tajudeen Yusuf, titled ‘Need to Safeguard the Academic Pursuit of Nigerian Youths in Ukrainian Medical Universities.’