A few days ago (March 11), Nursing Times revealed that some Nigerian nurses in the UK, awaiting the outcome of their appeals following allegations of widespread fraud at a Nigerian test centre, have been notified to leave the country by the Home Office.
The notices demanded their departure as early as March 17 (four days ago) despite their pending appeals against visa revocations and registration issues. As of this writing, the authorities have not provided updates on the situation.
The situation stems from a 2023 investigation by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) into Yunnik Technologies Test Centre in Ibadan, Nigeria, where anomalous data suggested fraudulent activity during computer-based tests (CBT) required for international nurse registration in the United Kingdom.
The NMC concluded that many registrants and applicants likely obtained their test results fraudulently, possibly through proxy testing. Almost 2,000 internationally educated Nigerian nurses have been impacted by this investigation.
Pastor Peters Omoragbon, executive president of Nurses Across The Borders, accused the NMC of “deliberately delaying” appeal hearings, allegedly to facilitate the Home Office issuing removal notices.
This accusation has been refuted by the NMC, which states it is working to schedule the remaining hearings as soon as possible and that there have been no deliberate delays. The NMC maintains its priority of upholding the integrity of the register.
In response to the visa cancellations and deportations, a group of 50 nurses, supported by Nurses Across The Borders and represented by Broad Street Solicitors, served the NMC with a “pre-action protocol letter” in February, demanding the regulator liaise with the Home Office to ensure the nurses can remain in the UK until their appeals are concluded.
This letter also called for a complete reconsideration of all cases after one nurse successfully appealed against the Assistant Registrar’s (AR) decision to refuse her application based on alleged fraudulent CBT results.
The NMC reportedly failed to respond to this letter by the deadline, leading to the nurses pursuing legal action.
The successful appeal of the nurse hinged on her ability to provide a credible explanation for her quick test completion time, citing extensive preparation, extensive clinical experience (12 years), low complexity of test questions, and 70% of the questions were exact (duplicates) to the ones used for preparation.
The appeal panel accepted that the test may not have been as difficult as expected and that some questions were identical to her study materials.
Broad Street Solicitors has argued that the findings of the successful nurses’ case should be consistently applied to the other nurses affected.
However, the NMC has stated that while it considers all panel decisions, the outcome of one hearing does not negate the underlying evidence of widespread fraud. The NMC insists that independent panels will continue to assess cases individually.
Broad Street Solicitors’ demands in the pre-action letter included expediting the appeal process, reinstating nurses to the register pending appeals, and preventing premature deportations.
The NMC has confirmed it has requested further information from the Home Office and aims to resolve cases swiftly and safely.
This situation highlights the significant distress and uncertainty faced by Nigerian nurses in the UK whose careers and immigration status are now in jeopardy due to the alleged fraud and the subsequent regulatory and legal actions.
- The NMC has to quickly schedule the remaining hearings to determine the faith of the nurses involved.
- Can the successful nurses’ case be applied to other nurses?
- Affected nurses should stay in the UK to seek swift resolutions instead of facing deportation.
This developing report will be updated as fresh information becomes available.
