An Islamic human rights organization, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), has cried out over what it described as the oppression of Muslim nursing students in Nigerian medical colleges.

The group singled out the University College Hospital (UCH) Ibadan, Oyo State, among other erring nursing institutions and identified legal action and peaceful demonstrations as options on the table against such institutions.

In a statement on Monday, the Executive Director of the group, Professor Ishaq Akintola said: ?Our headquarters have been inundated with letters, emails, phone calls and text messages containing bitter complaints on how Muslim student nurses are being treated in some medical colleges in Nigeria. The University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, has been fingered as the worst culprit.

?The complainants narrate how trousers are not allowed for Muslim students who desire to use them whereas the council governing the nursing profession states in one of its rules that students can use trousers or gowns.

?It is well known that Islamic rules forbid Muslim females from wearing short skirts or any skimpy dress. The ideal dress for a Muslim female is a long skirt or a skirt that reaches below the knees together with trousers and hijab. Therefore, any educational institution or employer that forces female Muslims to wear short skirts or disallows hijab is deliberately persecuting them.

?It has also been reported that those nursing school authorities now prepare new school rules and regulations that female Muslim nursing students are made to sign or their studentship is revoked.?

Akintola said the action of the nursing school authorities who disallow female Muslim nursing students from wearing trousers is unlawful, illegal, illegitimate and unconstitutional in so far as it disallows freedom of religion as enshrined in Section 38(i)&(ii) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The MURIC boss said to disallow a female Muslim nursing student from dressing the way a Muslim nurse should dress is an offence because the law guarantees her the right to dress like a Muslim, adding that anything short of that is religious persecution punishable under the law.

?Even new rules and regulations promulgated by any institution have to conform with the Nigerian Constitution, otherwise they are null, void, and ultra vires. Chapter 1, Part 1, Section 1(1) & (3) of the Constitution stipulates, ?This Constitution is supreme and its provisions shall have binding force on all authorities and persons throughout the Federal Republic of Nigeria.?

?The current nursing dress code which is being promoted by most nursing school authorities is the short skirt without hijab. This is a Christian fabrication as imported by the British colonial masters whereas we should no longer be tied to the apron strings of the colonialists. It is sheer colonial mentality to insist that nurses in Nigeria must look like British nurses?, Akintola said. (Daily Trust)

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