A group of Nigerian nurses accused of fraud in a UK test center scandal have been ordered to leave the country, despite pending appeals—raising serious concerns about due process and potential racial discrimination.
According to Nursing Times,letters from the UK Home Office have instructed some of the affected nurses to leave as early as next week, after their visas were revoked following allegations made by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). Critics argue that the NMC’s handling of the situation has been deeply flawed, with delays in hearings leading to fears that the regulator is deliberately stalling to enable mass deportations.
Pastor Peters Omoragbon, executive president of Nurses Across The Borders, openly questioned the motives behind the delays. “The NMC could be accused of deliberate delay so that these nurses could lose their rights of abode here in the UK,” he stated.
The scandal traces back to a 2023 NMC investigation into Yunnik Technologies Test Centre in Ibadan, Nigeria, where data anomalies suggested potential fraudulent Computer-Based Test (CBT) results. The NMC claimed that nearly 700 applicants may have obtained their credentials improperly, leading to widespread scrutiny of Nigerian nurses in the UK.
In response, the NMC forced affected individuals to retake their tests and launched hearings to determine their fate. So far, 10 nurses have been struck off the register, while 191 new applicants have been rejected based on “character grounds.” However, some nurses, like “Nurse D,” have successfully appealed, raising questions about the reliability of the NMC’s allegations.
Legal representatives, including Broad Street Solicitors, have threatened judicial review proceedings if the NMC does not act within 14 days. Meanwhile, advocacy groups are calling out what they see as a *systematic purge* of Nigerian nurses, who make up a significant portion of the UK’s healthcare workforce.
As deportation orders loom, the controversy continues: Is this a necessary crackdown on credential fraud, or an unjustified and politically motivated purge of African healthcare workers?
