The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), the regulatory body overseeing nursing and midwifery professions in the United Kingdom, is set to probe hundreds of Nigerian applicants seeking registration with the council after it was revealed that they might have been engaged in exam fraud in Ibadan, the capital city of Oyo State, Nigeria.
The NMC maintains a registry of eligible professionals who can practice as nurses, nursing associates, and midwives in the UK.
To gain entry into this registry, international professionals must complete two assessments, including a Computer-Based Test (CBT) typically administered in their home country and a practical test in the UK.
Subsequent to an investigation into the operations of Yunnik Technologies, a test center based in Oyo State, it was discovered that there was substantial fraudulent activity associated with its CBT services.
The investigation was initiated after the NMC received reports of manipulated results at the test center in May.
A report published by the UK journal Nursing Standard revealed that the NMC subsequently uncovered that a significant number of Nigerian applicants had fraudulently acquired results from Yunnik Technologies.
As a result of this revelation, over 1,950 candidates who presented results from the Ibadan-based test center are now required to retake the test.
Furthermore, the NMC identified evidence of proxy testers at the test center, with suspicions that 48 out of the 515 professionals who took the test at the center had fraudulently registered.
“Each of them will now be referred to an investigating committee to determine if they gained fraudulent entry to the register,” revealed the Nursing Standard.
“They will be offered three chances to take and pass a new CBT and will be given the opportunity to provide the investigating committee with information about the circumstances in which they took the initial test at Yunnik.
“If they are found to have fraudulently gained registration, they will be removed from the register. All other CBT results are being treated as invalid. The remaining 467 professionals on the register who took the test at the centre will need to resit the test.”
The report also revealed that individuals who refuse to retake the CBT or do not pass after three retake attempts will be referred to an investigative committee.
