The killing of Nurse Chinemerem Pascalina Chukwumeziem, a staff nurse at the Federal Medical Centre Abuja, on the 3rd of January 2026, while returning home after closing late from work, is a tragedy that should shake the conscience of Nigeria because nurses are not just ordinary caregivers; their jobs come with huge sacrifices to preserve human life.
Therefore, the killing of Nurse Chinemerem is not merely a criminal incident; it is an indictment of institutional indifference to the safety of female workers on night duty.
Nigeria’s insecurity is no secret. In Abuja and other major cities in Nigeria, women, especially those closing late, are disproportionately targeted by criminal syndicates, including the notorious “one-chance” taxis. Employers know this. They see it daily in the news. They hear it in staff complaints. Yet many continue to schedule female workers for night duties without providing any safe transportation or reasonable alternatives.
That failure is not neutral; it amounts to negligence.
Under applicable labour laws and established principles of employer liability, organizations owe their employees a duty of care to provide a safe system of work. This duty does not end at the hospital gate or newsroom door at media houses when the shift closes at night.
Where harm is foreseeable, employers must take reasonable steps to prevent it. In today’s Nigeria, the risk to female workers closing late is not hypothetical. Such nightly risks facing women are a clear, present and ongoing danger.
Therefore, the Federal Medical Centre, where Nurse Chinemerem worked, cannot possibly claim ignorance of these risks faced by female workers. The hospital operates in Abuja, and it knows the security environment so well.
The hospital is aware that nurses often work late shifts and that women are particularly vulnerable. Failing to provide dedicated transport or carry out shift redesign as part of its safety policy becomes a deliberate exposure of nurses to predictable danger. That amounts to promoting an unsafe working environment, which grounds negligence, and where it leads to death, such must attract accountability. The Federal Medical Centre must therefore be held liable for the death of Nurse Chinemerem.
It is most insufficient and amounts to the usual Nigerian lip service for the National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives (FCT Council) to merely urge investigations by the Nigeria Police Force and the State Security Service, or to call on the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, to “strengthen security.” Justice after death is not enough. Prevention before death is the real test of responsibility.
The Nurses Association must take a more serious approach and go beyond merely issuing a statement. It should insist as a condition for night duty that safe transportation from home to work and back is provided for all female nurses who work at night. Where such transportation is unavailable, female nurses must be removed from night shifts. Anything less is an abdication of the union’s protective role.
Hospitals and other employer organizations, including media houses and NGOs do have practical options. They can provide dedicated staff buses for night shifts. They can implement transport allowances tied to verified safe services. They can even offer car-loan schemes to enable female staff acquire personal vehicles, enhancing safety and punctuality. What they cannot do, legally or morally speaking, is to expose female workers to known dangers and then plead sympathy when tragedy strikes.
This standard must not be limited to hospitals. Female workers in media houses, NGOs, and other organizations where female workers who routinely close late face the same risks, deserve the same protections. Equal opportunity in employment must come with equal commitment to safety.
Nurse Chinemerem’s death should be a turning point. We must move from condolences to compliance; from statements to systems; from mourning to meaningful reform. Employers who ignore foreseeable risks should be held liable for the consequences that arise therefrom. Anything less tells Nigerian women that their labour is valued, but their lives are optional and replaceable.
Frank Tietie, a
Lawyer and Executive Director
Citizens Advocacy for Social & Economic Rights (CASER), writes from Abuja.
