Eighteen nurses from Nigeria resident in Texas, the United States have been reportedly charged to court for obtaining educational credentials through fraudulent means.
They are part of the 23 nurses practicing in the US alleged to have engaged in certificates forgery by the Texas Board of Nursing.
In a statement on its website, the Board published the names of the accused nurses of which not less than 18 are suspected to be of Nigerian descent.
According to the Texas Board of Nurses, all the suspects were caught in a grand fraudulent diploma/transcript scheme as revealed by ongoing investigations.
The multi-state coordinated law enforcement action code-named ‘Operation Nightingale,’ involving the US Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG), was inaugurated on January 25, 2023, to arrest individuals involved in a scheme to sell false and fraudulent nursing degree diplomas and transcripts.
The Nigerians involved are; Abiodun, Yetunde Felicia; Adelakun, Abiodun Aveez; Adelekan, Joseph Adewale; Adeoye, Vivien Temitope; Adewale, Modinat Abidemi; Afolabi, Olufemi Toun; Afolabi, Omowunmi F; Agbo, Odumegwu Steve; and Ajibade, Charlot Omotayo.
Others are; Akande, Olabisi Christiana; Akhigbe, Catherine; Akinrolabu, Folasade Margaret; Ako, Esiri Rachael; Akpan, Rosemary Moses; Alimi, Bukola A; Ani, Ndirika Justina; Aroh, Nchekwube C.; and Ayodeji, Sherifat Olubunmi.