A final year nursing student of Madonna University, Elele Campus, Rivers State, simply named as Mercy has been expelled while 14 other 500-level students have been suspended over a viral TikTok video.
The video showed a group of nursing students dancing in a hospital waiting room, a stairwell and a bus.
Mercy, who was seen in the opening seconds of the clip dancing in a hospital hallway, reportedly got her expulsion letter during the week, Sunday PUNCH reports.
The routine was taped for a social media trend called the “Gen Z nurses” challenge where healthcare staff dance in clinical settings.
The video was captioned in Pidgin English: ‘No fall sick o, na Gen Z full hospital now’.
The TikTok account that posted the video was made private by yesterday evening, and direct messages to the user were not being delivered.
The clip was uploaded in August and picked up by social media bloggers early last month, it was learnt.
By yesterday the 15-second clip of the video Yabaleftonline posted on September 1 got over 1.7 million views on X.
The video was shot at the university’s Elele campus.
Madonna institution was founded as the first private Catholic institution in West Africa. The university has three campuses located in Elele, Rivers State; Okija, Anambra State; and Akpugo, Enugu State.
The video was brought to the public’s notice by a TikTok content producer and medical influencer, Nurse Girma (@nurse_girma), who started an online petition asking the university to offer clemency to the impacted pupils.
Girma stated in a video posted Friday that the university senate had issued the disciplinary actions.
“We have received information from last nite and this morning that the owner of the account has been expelled and other students involved have been served suspension,” Girma stated.
The video, he said, had gone viral in a negative way and health care experts were asking for more regulation of student behaviour.
Girma said he thought the students were registered nurses at first, but later erased parts of his remarks after realising they were undergraduates.
But the senate of her school last nite handed out an expulsion letter to her and suspension letters to the rest of the people involved.
“I know what has happened has happened but I want to appeal to the school to temper justice with mercy, when it dawned on me that she is a 500 level student, it really melted my heart,” he said.
Social media users were divided about the sanctions imposed by the university authorities.
One X user, Ize (@santaluceya), supported the university’s decision, noting the students broke established institutional rules.
“They value and respect their name and their image, you cannot post anything controversial or silly online if you are their student,” Ize stated.
“The tuition fee for Nursing students in Madonna is between N1.5m to N1.8m per session and when the video was getting views, Mercy was asked to take it down but she blatantly refused,” the user added.
Similarly, a TikTok user named Sharon (@officialsharonbackup) said that the students were laughing at the medical profession.
“These are not 100-level students, these are final-year students about to become registered nurses who made a video mocking patients,” Sharon wrote.
But another user, Her Excellency (her_excellency75), called the dancing a “harmless activity for stress relief” and pressed the institution to be lenient.
“Anything that helps to reduce stress should be adopted, this could be diversionary therapy but there should be a balance in everything we do,” she added.
X user, Nurse Bassey (@nursebassey_) said the expulsion was too much considering the years of education the student put in.
“Do you think that nursing school is a two month course? You can criticise the video if you think it was improper, but expulsion after years of school expenses, clinicals, exams and sacrifice?” Bassey enquired.
TikTok user Cynthia Mordi said the university should have kept their marks for a year or had them do community service instead.
The National Executive Council of the Nigerian Universities Nursing Students’ Association has reacted to the development, expressing concern over the consequences. Shop African Art
In a statement signed by its National President, Madu Valentine and Secretary General, Ogwuche Joy, NUNSA said it had commenced conversations with relevant authorities to seek a review of the judgement.
“High-level discussions are already underway with relevant stakeholders and tangible steps are being taken to formally convey our concerns to the university’s management,” the statement said.
“Our main aim is to seek a fair, just and favourable outcome by adequately representing the interests and welfare of the affected students,” said NUNSA.
Similarly, the National Association of Nigerian Students called on the university management to show mercy in a statement by its President, Akinteye Afeez. Shop African Art
“An expulsion at this stage could have a far-reaching toll on their academics, their future careers and their mental and emotional health.
Students also appealed, “we appeal that students be issued a severe letter of warning instead of expulsion.
The Director of Communications and Public Affairs, Madonna University, Chima Achu, said the institution would publish an official statement on Thursday when reached by our correspondent.
“Achu said the university will issue its official response on this matter on Monday.
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