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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/oct/18/nigerian-nurse-accused-of-cheating-after-arriving-in-uk-says-i-feel-like-i-have-failed-everyone
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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
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| ‘My dream has been shattered,’ says Nigerian nurse accused of cheating after arriving in UK | ‘My dream has been shattered,’ says Nigerian nurse accused of cheating after arriving in UK |
| (14 days later) | |
| Nurse says she has lost ‘my name, my integrity’ after being accused of using proxy to sit tests to work in Britain | Nurse says she has lost ‘my name, my integrity’ after being accused of using proxy to sit tests to work in Britain |
| When I was a little girl in my village in Nigeria going to school was something I could not even dream of because we did not have money. Then my mother sold everything we owned to pay for me to go to school. | When I was a little girl in my village in Nigeria going to school was something I could not even dream of because we did not have money. Then my mother sold everything we owned to pay for me to go to school. |
| I knew this was my only ticket to make something worthwhile out of my life and my family’s life. | I knew this was my only ticket to make something worthwhile out of my life and my family’s life. |
| My father had abandoned my mother because she gave birth to girls not boys and he said “girls were worth nothing”. That put a lot of pressure on my little self but made me determined to strive. I felt I had something to prove to my father and that education was the way I could do that. | My father had abandoned my mother because she gave birth to girls not boys and he said “girls were worth nothing”. That put a lot of pressure on my little self but made me determined to strive. I felt I had something to prove to my father and that education was the way I could do that. |
| Eventually I was able to study nursing at university and became the best student in some of my exams, graduating with a degree in nursing science. | Eventually I was able to study nursing at university and became the best student in some of my exams, graduating with a degree in nursing science. |
| I worked in two different hospitals in Nigeria and passed the exams I needed to do to work in the UK, including the CBT – computer-based test – which I did at Yunnik. I studied hard for this test. | I worked in two different hospitals in Nigeria and passed the exams I needed to do to work in the UK, including the CBT – computer-based test – which I did at Yunnik. I studied hard for this test. |
| No concerns were raised about my performance in the CBT by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) while I was in Nigeria and I travelled to the UK after undergoing a series of interviews, criminal checks, health checks, work and school tests. | No concerns were raised about my performance in the CBT by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) while I was in Nigeria and I travelled to the UK after undergoing a series of interviews, criminal checks, health checks, work and school tests. |
| I sat and passed the OSCE – objective structured clinical examination – after arriving in the UK. This is another requirement needed to practise as a nurse here. In the autumn of last year, NMC contacted me raising concerns about fraud at Yunnik test centre, which they said they were going to investigate. I was accused of using a proxy to sit the test there because of the quick time I completed the test in. I deny this. I believe that what is happening to us is a witch-hunt. | I sat and passed the OSCE – objective structured clinical examination – after arriving in the UK. This is another requirement needed to practise as a nurse here. In the autumn of last year, NMC contacted me raising concerns about fraud at Yunnik test centre, which they said they were going to investigate. I was accused of using a proxy to sit the test there because of the quick time I completed the test in. I deny this. I believe that what is happening to us is a witch-hunt. |
| I sat the test again in the UK and passed it in a similar time but NMC said they are questioning my integrity even though I completed the test in similar times in Nigeria and UK. Nobody from NMC has ever worked with me and I have provided good character references from my line manager and university lecturers in Nigeria. | I sat the test again in the UK and passed it in a similar time but NMC said they are questioning my integrity even though I completed the test in similar times in Nigeria and UK. Nobody from NMC has ever worked with me and I have provided good character references from my line manager and university lecturers in Nigeria. |
| I have always been a studious person and am very self-motivated. But now I have lost my name, my integrity, my dreams and I feel like I have failed everyone who believed in me and the little girls back in my village who believed in themselves and their dreams because of me. | I have always been a studious person and am very self-motivated. But now I have lost my name, my integrity, my dreams and I feel like I have failed everyone who believed in me and the little girls back in my village who believed in themselves and their dreams because of me. |
| I don’t sleep at night. My pillows are always wet with crying. This feels like the end of my world because I have had to give up on all my dreams I worked so hard to achieve to get a better life for myself and my family. I am now a miserable person with a broken spirit and I am about to have the word “criminal” added to my name. My dream of being an international nurse able to work anywhere in the world has been shattered. | I don’t sleep at night. My pillows are always wet with crying. This feels like the end of my world because I have had to give up on all my dreams I worked so hard to achieve to get a better life for myself and my family. I am now a miserable person with a broken spirit and I am about to have the word “criminal” added to my name. My dream of being an international nurse able to work anywhere in the world has been shattered. |
| This article accompanies a news story about action taken by a group of Nigerian nurses to clear their names, which includes response from the National Midwifery Council. | |
| This article was amended on 30 October 2024 to make it clear that the nurse, who was speaking on condition of anonymity, told her story to Diane Taylor. |