The Ogun State Government has shut down Havarde College of Science, Business and Management Studies, a polytechnic offering law, pharmacy, nursing, among other professional programmes to students.
The government said it elected to close the department for offering a degree programme in nursing sciences for six years without accreditation from the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria (NMCN).
The Daily Crucible reports that the state government pulled its big stick on the controversial institution after a female student of the nursing department, reportedly ended her life the hostel.
Controversy rocked the school in 2023 following alleged defiance in offering law, pharmacy, nursing and over a score of other courses without due accreditation by relevant agencies.
The National University Commission (NUC) and National Board of Technical Education (NBTE) websites revealed that the school has yet to be accredited as a first degree awarding university.
In a 2021 directory of the NBTE, Harvard College was listed among specialised institutions offering accredited programmes.
The college got the approval to offer four courses – accountancy, business administration, mass communication and computer science – all for National Diploma (ND) only.
According to the NBTE, the accreditation should have lapsed in October, 2022 but the management of the institution has continued to churn out students in hundreds as graduates yearly.
According to the Daily Post, after the sketchy death of the female student, an enforcement team comprising Ogun State Ministry of Health and members of the State Nursing and Midwifery Committee (SNMC), stormed the school and shut the nursing department over lack of accreditation.
The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, Dr Kayode Oladehinde, said that such unauthorised programmes contributed to the emergence of quackery in the profession which posed a threat to the public health.
He also said that the nursing department of the institution would remain closed until fully accredited.
Oladehinde, represented by the Acting Director of Nursing Services, Mrs. Serifat Aminu, described a degree in Nursing obtained from Harvarde College and similar institutions without NMCN accreditation as worthless, explaining that graduates from such schools would be denied licence to practise in Nigeria and other parts of the world.
“We have discovered that many institutions, including Harvarde College, offer nursing degrees to unsuspecting students. Our mission is to clamp down on such institutions because they end up producing quacks in the nursing profession. This is dangerous for society. Unfortunately, most students are unaware that their time is being wasted,” she said.
The Permanent Secretary, however, warned parents and candidates desiring to pursue nursing or related programmes to be wary of institutions making false claims by checking the NMCN website for an updated list of accredited institutions, insisting that the government would continue to checkmate quackery in the nursing profession.
