Posted on: Sat 01-07-2017

The activities towards the selection of the most intelligent Nurse among Nurses working in the 57LGAs/LCDAs of Lagos State came to a close yesterday in Epe LGA with the emergence of Staff Nurse Midwife Chioma Okeke.

The written examination which was held in Badagry LGA produced 41 Nurses out of which the best eight were selected to face the open quiz competition in which questions and options were projected on a flip chart in four rounds of each subject. The questions were drafted from ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY, NURSING PRACTICE, GENERAL QUESTIONS AND NUTRITION.

 

The three promising candidates were those who scored highest marks in the written examination which were projected to likely emerge as the winners but by the end of the second round, the tables were turned and those that were not even given any consideration emerged as clear leaders and possible winners, which was somehow surprising.

At the end of the exercise, a clear winner emerged and two other contestants were in a draw, thus a five minute oral questions in critical thinking was organized for them out of which the candidate for the second position, Senior Nursing Officer Adewumi Ibironke, with better articulation and reasoning skills was chosen and of course the last candidate Senior Nursing Officer Dupe Majebi Alabi took the third position!

All in all, it was a beautiful and simulating experience through which Nursing skills were harnessed for better productivity!

THE CANDIDATE : SNM CHIOMA OKEKE

Chioma Okeke was selected by her Directorate Apex Nurse, Honorable Odudolapo Stella Odufisan-Oladunjoye to represent Epe LGA but because she felt she wouldn't pass, she told her boss to please choose another better candidate.

She tried very hard to convince her Apex Nurse to drop her for another because she felt she wouldn't pass the written examination since a colleague told her that the questions are always tough and that since she was yet to attend the included courses of Integrated Management of Childhood Illnesses, Essential New Born Care, Helping Babies Breathe and Public Health Nursing, she was somehow not qualified.

Her Apex told her that she is the representative of the the LGA and thus she must participate so that her LGA is not indicted. She left and went back again to tell her Apex that she needed the transport allowance before she can attend.

Her Apex directed her to go first with her money and come back for a refund. She grudgingly went for the examination and surprisingly scored 61% and that was how she became one of the first eight to sit for the quiz competition!

She was so apprehensive of the quiz competition exercise and a day to the examination, she told a colleague her fears, which was that she was still not sure if she can make it since she has never attended the quiz competition before.

Her friend told her she had better attend as her Apex Nurse won't forgive her, besides FOLGONM Chairman is said to be one tough woman who will never tolerate absence from the exercise, haven gone so far.

With apprehension and resignation to fate, she joined the others to participate and eventually, against all odds, she became the most intelligent Nurse for year 2017!

LESSON FOR THE FUTURE

Often times there are Goliaths in the way of David and all you need is to act. David flung the stone before it hit the target, just like the Nurse participated in the exercise. Most did not reach their Canaan because they never left Egypt!

Special thanks go to an achiever and our role model, Honourable Oladunjoye who never took her word for it but insisted she must attend. She did this because she believed in what we are doing at the forum's level and supported the cause.

The participants may not be a large crowd as expected, but it was a serene environment and the tension was so palpable each time a question is missed. At a point the spectators began to identify with those perceived to be winning because they gave a kind of resounding clap each time the answered questions were correct.

It behooves on us as today's leaders to show the right path to our younger Nurses so as to believe in themselves and improve their skills for the patients' satisfaction ; so many of them really need the push to develop that confidence and assertion which is needed in Nursing practices.

I am grateful to all contestants for being there and the independent Nurses who willingly participated on their own without coercion, the reason we have this result.

We must collectively pay our dues through laying down of the right legacy ; through which the young ones of today will remember the adults of today, tomorrow : which is what our founder, Nurse Nightingale did!

Congratulations to all the winners and to all the other contestants I say, do not be daunted in your quest to excel, your day of glory too will arrive sooner than you think.

I must also appreciate Apex Anne Adebajo Oyesanya, Apex Adeola Morolake Omotola, Apex Roseline Daramola; all of FOLGONM Education committee for their support and of course my scintillating FOLGONM executive members : CNO Abisola Badejo, Apex Nurse Josephine Ajayi, CNO Akinsiku Tawakalitu, CNO Animashaun Mary, CNO Omoluwa Ejiro, CNO Finnih Oluwatoyin and of course the only male among us, SNO Afolabi Olanrewaju.

I am grateful to you all including others who came from far and near to be part of the event.

Congratulations once again.

FOLGONM will continue to march on!

Thank you.

Lateef-Yusuf, M.M.
FOLGONM Chairman,
Lagos State Council.

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