History of Cross River State School of Nursing Science
CROSS RIVER STATE COLLEGE OF NURSING AND MIDWIFERY SCIENCES ITIGIDI (CONMSIT) began as “a School of Nursing” through the instrumentality of the Management Committee of Eja Memorial Joint Hospital, Itigidi as a result of the handicap in getting trained nursing personnel to work in the hospital. The Medical Board of the Synod of the Presbyterian Church of Nigeria then wrote to the Ministry of Health, Calabar requesting for permission to build a school of Nursing, and in February, 1976, the Ministry granted approval. The project then commenced through direct voluntary labour from the community. In 1980, the building and equipping of the school were completed.
In May, 1981, the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria (N&MCN) gave provisional approval for commencement of training. The State government then showed full interest, gave subvention to the school and admitted the first fifteen (15) students in June,1981. Since then, the school has been training student nurses on provisional accreditation status until 2012 when the provisional accreditation status was withdrawn and embargo placed on students’ intake.
However, with the support of their Excellencies, Sen. Liyel Imoke and Sir Prof Ben Ayade as well as World Health Organization (WHO), human and material resources were harnessed and in 2016, the N&MCN revisited the school and restored provisional accreditation status to the school while the embargo on admission was lifted for only two years and about fifty students were admitted.
Pursuant to this stride and in order to secure full accreditation status for the first time in the history of the school, His Excellency, Sir Prof Ben Ayade through our indefatigable Commissioner for Health, Dr Betta Edu, facilitated all that was required in partnership with WHO to strengthen human resource for health including infrastructure which were responsible for the grant of full accreditation status to the school in 2018 by N&MCN, a status the school still enjoys till 2022.
However, with the trend in Nursing and Midwifery education and pursuant to the need for quantification of the Nursing certificate, the Cross River State Government under the leadership of Sir Prof Ben Ayade KSJI and in her stride to promote middle level manpower, enacted a law changing the school of Nursing, Itigidi to Cross River State College of Nursing and Midwifery Science, Itigidi.
The College finally took off by 20th April, 2020 following the appointment of members of the Governing Council and Principal Officers of the College by his Excellency, Prof Benedict Ayade. The College was visited by National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) in March, 2021 with grant of interim approval to commence the ND/HND Nursing Programmes.
Source: conmsit.edu.ng
