Women should come out and make use of their talents —Comrade Rukayat Afonja

Comrade Rukayat Adewumi Afonja is the chairman of National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives and Joint Health Workers, Oyo State, the chairperson of Women Committee of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Public Servant Joint Negotiating Committee of Oyo State. In this interview with TAYO GESINDE, she talks about her passion for the nursing profession and how she has been combining unionism with the home front.

What informed your choice of career?

It is all about passion and interest. Initially, I wanted to study Law, but when my elder sister who was in the School of Nursing, heard that the admission form for School of Nursing was out, she bought the form and sent it to my father. When my dad showed me the form, I told him that I wanted to study Law and asked him if he wanted all his children to be nurses. I had an elder brother who was studying Law at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, then, so, my father too asked me whether all of us wanted to be lawyers.  He encouraged me to go for nursing on the condition that if I didn’t like the course, I could change it later. So, that was how I went for the examination and the interview and passed. I started with midwifery. Fortunately for me, I was one of the best three in our first exam and that was how it was throughout my two years of training. I later went for basic nursing and also scaled through. To God be the glory, today, I have no regrets being a nurse.  I developed an interest in the profession and made sure I put in my best. In the process of the training, I realised that if you put in your best, you will get your reward on earth and also in heaven. As a nurse, you are the first person to receive a baby into the world and you are also the one that will be at the bedside of a dying patient nursing him.

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What were the challenges you faced at the beginning of your career?

The first time we were taken around the hospital, we went to the pediatric department and we saw a child who the tutor told us was gasping for breath and was dying. I was shocked. By the time we were through, the child called Jabril was dead. When I saw the nurse packing the corpse, I started crying. On getting home, I told my mother that I was not ready to continue with the job because  I didn’t want to be seeing corpses everyday. My mother told me it was one of those things but advised me to pray that throughout my shift, I would not experience it and that was what happened. Throughout my shift, I never lost any patient. It would either happen before I got on duty or after I had left. God has been faithful. I have been putting in my best and God has been helping me. Another challenge was whenever I was on night duty even when there was no patient, I won’t sleep because I always had it at the back of my mind that I was on duty and when I finished doing  night duty, I still won’t be able to sleep because my body had not adapted to the  change in routine. The other challenge was combining my career with the home front. I had no housemaid, my husband was not around, so, I would lock up my children in the house when going for night duty.  There was a time they brought a burnt case to the children’s ward in Adeoyo, as I was nursing those children, I started praying that God should protect my own children at home so I won’t regret leaving them alone in the house. God has helped me and to His glory, they are all grown up now.

When did you become a unionist?

Right from the time I was in primary school, I had always occupied a leadership position. I was assistant class monitor, in secondary school, I was a room prefect and class captain of the green house. At the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Sokoto, I occupied a leadership post. It had always been like that anywhere I found myself. I always like to fight for people’s cause, I don’t want to see anyone cheated around me even if I don’t know the person.  One day, someone came and asked if I could join the union. Initially, I didn’t want to but he encouraged me and I decided to vie for the post of PRO but I was later asked to vie for vice chairman which I did. I was elected as the vice chairman and later I vied for the post of chairman and was elected into that office.  To the glory of God, during my tenure, we were able to build a hall and offices for the nurses and we have also  been organising training programmes for nurses regularly. We have also been able to have an office of director, nursing services at the hospital management board.

How have you been combining unionism with the home front?

It has not been easy but it is about passion and commitment. Many people feel that as a woman if you become a union leader, it will affect your home, it is not true. It is about commitment. It is about tidying up the home. That is the most important thing. I used to put everything in place before travelling. It is because of this unionism that I put my baby in the boarding house. I left her in school twice when she was in the primary school because I went for meetings that lasted for hours. When you tidy up the home and do what you are supposed to do, it will be easy. And when you are at home, let the family know you are around.

Nurses are said to be promiscuous. What is your take on it?

That has been the view of the society. They call nurses names. It is because of the nature of our job, as a nurse you have to dress well and look attractive for your patient. Also, because we do night duties, people thought that many nurses use that as an excuse to go to their men friends instead. That is not true. If you know what you are doing you won’t go into such. When you go to our university  campuses these days, you will see many men picking up the students for parties and all that, whereas a nurse who dresses like a beauty pageant when you marry her, you will find out that she is a virgin. Some people believe that it is because of our knowledge of drugs that some of us are wayward because we know the drug to use to get rid of unwanted pregnancies. If you marry a nurse, you are marrying a mother, a responsible person and someone who will take care of you and every member of your family. It all boils down to love and trust. If you marry a woman you don’t trust, even if she is not a nurse, your home will not stand

What of the rivalry between doctors and nurses, likewise other health workers, what are you doing to tackle this issue?

I don’t think we have any issue with them. The issue is the way the doctors see the health sector. They see themselves as the head of the health sector and you know that every profession started somewhere. Now, if you look at the health sector, we have so many PhD holders who are nurses, pharmacists, lab scientists, physiotherapists and so on. We also have so many professors in the health sector but it has been the doctors heading the health sector. If a doctor that went to medical school and spent seven years is employed by the government is placed in Grade Level 12, he will say he is in charge of someone who has a PhD. That is what causes problems. We don’t have issues with them, what we are fighting for is that whoever is the most senior should take charge. We don’t have any problem with them, we work together especially nurses and doctors. It is the nurse who spends more time with the patient, so, she should take charge of the ward. She can tell the doctor all he needs to learn about the patient. We are not at loggerheads with them. What we are saying is that a doctor who just came from medical school should not be put in charge of someone who has been in the system for long and has a second and third degree. What we want is for the nurse to be in charge of the wards.

What do you think the government can do to resolve this issue?

We have been discussing with them but because the doctors are the ones in charge of the affairs of the health sector, once we raise the issue, they are there to truncate it. The Minister of Health will be a doctor, the Permanent Secretary will be a doctor, so, anytime we raise a memo that is against them, they will truncate it. We are telling the government that they have to review the issue of the health sector if they want it to be at peace and for things to work as it should be. Look at the health sector, all these years that doctors have been in charge, what improvement have you seen? Everything is going down by the day, the people that are doing the real work within the health system are being choked. These are the issues.  The government should listen to other health workers who have ideas of how to move the sector forward.

What’s your advice for women?

I want to advise women to come out and make use of their talents. As a woman, the sky is your limit if you can come out and put in your best in whatever career you find yourself. I am telling you, you will be able to save so many lives in the society.