The school of basic midwifery Saki has called on the general public who are interested in investing in accommodation for her students to join the train of investment in the ongoing public and private partnership relating to housing and accommodation in the school following the increase in numbers of courses accredited to the school and rise in number of students of the institution.
This is contained in a press release sent to our outlet by the institution which reads ;
Saki School of Basic Midwifery Gets Approval to Begin New Courses, Seeks Partnership in Expanding Accommodation Capacity
Muslim Hospital, Saki, opened for service in August 1987 as the first of its kind in Nigeria. It came into being thanks to the efforts of the Saki Muslim Community. Going further, the Muslim community conceived the idea of establishing a school of nursing in 2001. The financier of this initiative, Baytul-Mal, Saki, otherwise known as the Saki Muslim Treasury, which pools resources from weekly contributions made by Muslims in Saki, applied to the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria.
However, as the Saki Muslim community made preparations to start the proposed school, the Nursing and Midwifery Council moved from approving hospital-based nursing schools to tertiary institution-based nursing institutions. Thus, the Saki Muslim Community revisited its plans and opted for a Muslim Hospital, Saki college of nursing, as an affiliate of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, and Oyo State. Unfortunately, the move failed as the National Universities Commission also began closing down satellite campuses to favour integrated tuition in universities.
In 2008, the Saki Muslim Community changed their approach and reapplied for the School of Basic Midwifery, Muslim Hospital, Saki. Consequently, the Saki Muslim Community focused and directed all its energy toward pursuing the cause to fruition. Praise be to Allah (SWT) that their efforts yielded desirable results as the community got a nod to start the school on April 26th, 2010.
This school has been producing well-trained and qualified midwives since its inception. Lately, after assessing the credibility, the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria approved the start of Nursing and Public health as new programmes to supplement the only existing program (Midwifery) at the Saki School of Basic Midwifery.
While this is a significant achievement for the school and the Muslim Community, it comes with additional responsibilities. It births a need for more hostels to meet the accommodation needs of the prospective students for the new programmes. Therefore, the school management seeks the intervention of the public to achieve this end.
The school’s secretary, Alhaji Abdulfatai Olayiwola, revealed that the said approval necessitates the construction of more hostels, an undertaking the school is not financially buoyant enough to do on its own, despite having enough expanse of land within the school grounds for the purpose. He disclosed that, as a result, they have resorted to private-public partnerships (PPPs).
The secretary also noted that the partnership agreement would be in either of two ways. He explained that, on the one hand, anyone who wants to collaborate with the school can come forth to singlehandedly erect the hostels whilst keeping an accurate record of the total cost. Consequently, the school will reimburse the money in yearly instalments, depending on the builder’s preference. Under this agreement, the school will not only restore the complete sum but will also reimburse profits per the preexisting agreements.
On the other hand, one may partner with the school by giving a certain percentage that he can contribute to building the hostel with the school. After finishing the building, the school will make annual refunds plus a mark-up for profits per the preexisting agreements. Without any doubt, these are acts that are rewardable by Allah, notwithstanding the reimbursement.
Thus, this is a Clarion call to the Muslim Ummah in Saki town to help take our School of Basic Midwifery to the next level. The unavailability of hostels should not impede our plan to launch Nursing and Public health as additional courses to the existing program at the college. We have always been doing it together, and we can do this and much more.
