Nurses Political Apathy: The Root Of The Nursing Professions Predicament

Nurses are the largest group of professionals in the health sector. As such, Nurses have the potentials to profoundly influence politics and policies on a local, state and federal scale. Unfortunately nurses are not a force to be reckoned with in the political settings of Nigeria. Nurses are yet to understand the concept of politics, power and policy. Politics simply means, exercise of influence .That influence is power. Political activities results in public policy formulation.

 

Nigerian nurses are yet to fully grasp that politics determines the destiny of a profession and can send it to extinction with a single policy backed by law.

 

Times without number, you hear nurses complain about being marginalized, neglected, underpaid etc and I wonder whose fault is it? The fault is definitely ours because we have decided to leave our future in the hands of Medical Doctors,Lawyers, Pharmacist, Administrators and Accountants.

 

The Minister of Labour,Health, Senate president , governor of Delta state just to mention a few are medical doctors and it is expected that those aforementioned people will be more responsive to the demands of their colleagues even if it is detrimental to other health professionals.

 

It is an obvious fact that every decision made by the government is influenced by politics. So why are nurses not actively participating in politics?

 

There are plethora of reasons for this political apathy noted among nurses. They are 

1.
Lack of student Union Government especially in Schools of Nursing:
Even those with unions are often figurehead with no real say in the happening of things. In some schools of nursing, the SUG dare not go against the management even if the management is wrong about some issues. I have seen and heard of students (SUG excos) who were witch-hunted,victimized and demoted because of their activities in the union. Furthermore, school of Nursing training is so rigid and restrictive that it kills any potentials/ ambition students have regarding politics.

 

2.
Mediocrity :
Nurses unlike medical doctors don't aspire for political offices just because they are contented with the peanuts they are earning. Some nurses believe politics is for men. Nurses are so contented with working for 35 years and collecting their pension. Majority of nurses see being a ward manager or chief nursing officer as the peak of their profession. If you ask a nurse what next after RN/RM, most will say getting a government job and "Registered Marriage"! How can "RN/R whatever" compete with professors, Doctors, SAN etc.

 

Nurses in these country cries for lack of so many things, yet only a remnant among us are striving to acquire the knowledge and exposure that makes an intellectually sound, politically wired and economically fulfilled professionals. Therefore many tears come to nothing because you cannot offer what you don’t have.

 

3.
Inferiority Complex:
Some nurses feel so inferior to medical doctors and other health professionals that they are willing to keep their mouth shut no matter the level of provocation. A senior matron once told a younger colleague of mine that "she should always stand up and greet medical doctors". I was told that some senior nurses told a young nurse that " nurses are seen and not heard". If we can't even speak during ward rounds, how do you expect to communicate effectively with the public during campaign or rallies?

 

4.
Deficient Curriculum:
In school of nursing especially, you are only taught pure nursing courses such as FON, Medical Surgical Nursing, Anatomy etc and not courses related to politics e.g political science. The school of Nursing curriculum was designed to make nurses irrelevant in other fields of life except for clinical nursing.

 

5.
Female Domination:
Nursing is a female dominated profession and women are known not to be politically inclined compared to men. Moreover, Nigerian politics is dominated by men and women are hardly given chances. Any profession dominated by females hardly gets noticed because Nigerian laws and customs favour men when it comes to politics. Remember what President Buhari's said about his wife belonging to the "other room".

 

In conclusion, we need to wake from our coma and determine our future by actively involving in politics. Its high time we participated in politics at the local, state and federal level. Its time for us to look away from our FON and read more of polical science, public administration and management science. Its time for us to drop our injections and mount campaign stages/podiums, its time for us to be voted for.

 

All nurses irrespective of age, gender and years of experience must join a political party and vie for positions. We can start from local government councillor and withing 10 years, a nurse will be the governor of a state in Nigeria.

 

"The heaviest penalty for declining to rule is to be ruled by someone inferior to yourself".

Ogunsanwo Babatunde RN