Several Nigerians who have applied for registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), the regulator for nursing and midwifery professions in the United Kingdom (UK), are currently being investigated for fraudulent activities.

The investigation is being carried out by the council itself.

The NMC maintains a register of professionals eligible to practise as nurses, nursing associates and midwives in the UK.

To join the register, international professionals are required to take two tests, which include a Computer-Based Test (CBT) typically taken in their home country and a practical test in the UK.

Following an investigation into the activities of Yunnik Technologies, an Oyo State-based test centre, evidence of extensive fraudulent activity was uncovered in connection with its CBT services.

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The investigation was initiated after the NMC was alerted to incidents of manipulated results at the test centre in May.

According to the report published by the Nursing Standard, a UK journal, the NMC later discovered that hundreds of Nigerian applicants had fraudulently obtained results from Yunnik Technologies.

Following the discovery, more than 1,950 candidates who carry results obtained from the Ibadan-based test centre are expected to re-take the test.

The NMC also found evidence of proxy testers at the test centre. It was also suspected that 48 out of the 515 professionals who took the test at the centre were 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.”

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The report also disclosed that individuals who decline to retake the CBT or do not pass after three retake attempts will be referred to an investigating committee.