Nigeria needs more nurses for patients’ benefit
By Abubakar Imam
A Professor at the Department of Nursing Sciences, University of Ilorin, Simeon Kayode Olubiyi, has called for a deliberate increase in the production of nurses in the country to ensure adequate nurse-to-patient ratios and allow nurses the time and space to deliver compassionate, attentive, and safe care that would impact positively on the health of the patients.
Prof. Olubiyi made the call last Thursday (April 9, 2026) while delivering the 300th Inaugural Lecture of the University, titled “Care, Compassion and Capability: The Trifecta of Nursing Excellence”, at the University Auditorium.
The Inaugural Lecturer explained that the suggestion would also lead to significant reduction in burnout and errors as well as ensure safe staffing levels and manageable workloads.
The don, whose Inaugural Lecture was the second to be delivered from the Department of Nursing Sciences since its establishment in 2010, said that more resources should be dedicated to the production of more nurses because of their paramount and exceptional position in the health sector.
Prof. Olubiyi reminded nurses that caring is the cornerstone of their profession. He explained that it is the embedded care and compassion in the nursing anthem and naturally flow from them to their patients that distinguishes them from other health professionals.
He, therefore, called for the continuous implementation of the mandatory simulation-based training programmes by the government where nurses can practice and deliver compassionate responses in emotionally charged scenarios, improve trust-building, pain management, and early detection of deterioration for better clinical outcomes.
The Inaugural Lecturer also said that hospitals at all levels should prioritise the supply of protective equipment and other materials required by nurses to effectively deliver the expected care in controlling hospital acquired infections and safe lives.
Prof. Olubiyi, who specialises in Community and Public Health, also encouraged school proprietors, regulators and policy makers to give priority to school health services as he said that nurses must play their roles to ensure that the school health programme is leaner friendly, easily available and accessible to the school community.
He also pointed out that nursing education should incorporate compassion-focused training, which must emphasise theories that enhance patient welfare and reduce dependency.
Prof. Olubiyi, who previously served as the Secretary of the Kwara State Blindness Prevention Control Committee, also explained that structured compassionate communication tools should be introduced by nurses through which they would be able to ask patients about their fears and preferences in fostering openness, and treatment adherence.
He equally urged policymakers to urgently design programmes that would address harmful practices, with nurses leading counseling initiatives to tackle violent behaviours and their societal implications.
Health Institutions, according to Prof. Olubiyi, should embed compassion into performance measurement and quality by incorporating patient experience feedback, compassionate care indicators, and staff well-being metrics into quality dashboards to ensure that compassion is recognised, evaluated, and continuously improved alongside clinical outcomes.
He also encouraged government and other stakeholders to be intentional in creating sustained and improved conditions necessary for caring by addressing productivity pressures, normalising nurse/client ratios, and eliminating unnecessary administrative bottlenecks.
Prof. Olubiyi, who paid glowing tributes to those who assisted him in the cause of choosing nursing as a profession, urged successful professionals and leaders in all sectors to provide adequate quality mentorship to the younger ones for the betterment of our society.
Addressing parents and guardians as well as other stakeholders while drawing from his personal experience, Prof. Olubiyi enjoined them to encourage their children and wards to choose a profession that would require more of them and in which they can express their feelings and be delighted to devote their lives to.
The Inaugural Lecture, which was presided over by the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Wahab Olasupo Egbewole, SAN, represented by the Deputy Vice Chancellor, Research, Technology and Innovation, Prof. Muhtar Etudaiye, was also attended by other Principal Officers, friends, colleagues, relations and students as well as other well-wishers of the Inaugural Lecturer from far and near.
