NDU Inducts 106 New Nurses, Charges Them To Embrace Emerging Opportunities

NDU Inducts 106 New Nurses, Charges Them To Embrace Emerging Opportunities
The Niger Delta University (NDU), Wilberforce Island, Bayelsa, has inducted 106 newly qualified nurses into the nursing profession.
Prof. Khadijat Toyin Musah, Dean, Faculty of Nursing Sciences, Federal University Otuoke, charged the nurses to embrace emerging opportunities and contribute to healthcare transformation.
Musah gave the charge on Thursday at the university’s auditorium during the induction and oath-taking ceremony of the new nurses.
She spoke on the theme, “Empowering Nurses: Exploring New Horizons and Transforming Healthcare.”
Musah, also Founder and Executive Director, Global Institute of Nurses, Midwives and Allied Health Professionals, described the induction as a transition from student life to professional responsibility.
She said nursing involved responsibility for human vulnerability, dignity and, at critical moments, human life.
According to her, the professional oath taken by the nurses should not be treated as ceremonial language but as a covenant guiding their careers.
She defined empowerment in nursing as “capacity plus opportunity plus responsibility,” stressing that knowledge and skills must be matched with ethical professional conduct.
The professor urged the new nurses to explore opportunities in specialised practice, digital health, data and informatics, research, health policy and advocacy.
She also encouraged them to consider health-system leadership, entrepreneurship, consultancy, global health and humanitarian practice.
Musah, however, cautioned that technology should support nursing practice rather than redefine the profession around technology.
She urged the nurses to develop digital competence and data literacy while remaining conscious of privacy, equity, safety, bias and human needs.
The keynote speaker stressed that technological advancement must not displace compassion, dignity, respect, communication, trust, integrity and accountability in nursing practice.
She challenged the nurses to move from competence to excellence through continuous learning, reflection, feedback and learning from professional errors.
Musah also urged them to become change agents by identifying healthcare challenges, developing evidence-based solutions and documenting outcomes.
She described interprofessional collaboration as a professional competency, rather than a courtesy, urging nurses to respect other health professionals and communicate clearly.
She encouraged the nurses to become consumers, users and producers of evidence by asking relevant questions and translating research into practice.
According to her, research becomes meaningful when knowledge improves healthcare decisions and patient outcomes.
Musah said leadership began long before formal appointment, urging the nurses to demonstrate responsibility, reliability, initiative and integrity in their workplaces.
She advised them to protect the integrity of nursing through confidentiality, accurate documentation, professional boundaries and responsible use of social media.
She also urged them to practise within their competence and scope while remaining accountable for their decisions, actions and omissions.
Musah reminded the nurses that communities remained central to nursing practice, particularly in prevention, health promotion, primary healthcare and community resilience.
She urged them to recognise social determinants of health and contribute to strengthening families, schools, workplaces and communities.
She said healthcare transformation could begin from the bedside, classroom, research environment, community, organisation, leadership or policy space.
The Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria (NMCN) was represented by Dr Gbonjubola Owolabi, Provost, College of Nursing Sciences, Eleyele, Ibadan.
Owolabi is also a member of the NMCN Council.
The Vice-Chancellor of NDU, Prof. Allen Aziba-Odumosi Agih, was represented by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Academics, Prof. Jonah Akerere.
Prof. Jeremiah Israel, Provost, College of Health Sciences, NDU, urged the new nurses to make compassion a defining attribute of their professional practice.
He reminded them of the human responsibility involved in caring for patients.
Dr Helen I. Wankasi, Acting Dean, Faculty of Nursing Sciences, expressed gratitude over the successful induction and described it as a milestone for the faculty.
Musah urged the inductees to be clinically excellent, compassionate, curious and evidence-informed, while remaining digitally capable without becoming technology-dependent.
She also challenged them to advocate courageously, remain humble enough to learn and mentor others.
The professor reminded the nurses that their professional oath would be tested by heavy workloads, limited resources and difficult decisions.
She urged them to allow the oath to guide their treatment of patients, colleagues, students and communities throughout their careers.
“Today, you become nurses. Tomorrow, become the nurses your patients, your communities and your country need,” Musah told the inductees.
The ceremony culminated in the formal induction and oath-taking of the 106 nurses into professional nursing practice.