TikTok dance costs Madonna University nursing student her degree, 14 others

A viral TikTok dance video has landed 15 final-year nursing students at Madonna University in deep trouble, resulting in one outright expulsion and 14 suspensions.

The trouble started when the 500-level students joined the trending “Gen Z nurses” social media challenge, filming themselves dancing in a hospital hallway, staircase, and a bus at the university’s Elele campus in Rivers State.

A student identified as Mercy, who appeared in the opening seconds of the clip, received her expulsion letter this week, while,14 other students dancing alongside her were handed suspension letters by the university senate.

Dawn Herald gathered that the video was originally uploaded in August but went viral across social media blogs in September. What made the clip controversial was its Pidgin English caption, which read, “No fall sick o, na Gen Z full hospital now.”

The TikTok account that posted the video has since been set to private, but the clip had already racked up nearly two million views on platforms like X (formerly Twitter).

Stakeholders argued that final-year nursing students should not make videos that mock the healthcare profession or patients, especially in an institution with strict rules and tuition fees as high as N1.8 million per session.

However, professional bodies, student unions and experts felt the punishment was extreme. A medical influencer known as Nurse Girma launched an online appeal begging the school to temper justice with mercy. While the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) and the Nigerian Universities Nursing Students’ Association (NUNSA) have both reached out to the school’s management. NANS President Akinteye Afeez pleaded for the school to issue a strict warning instead, stressing that an expulsion at this final stage could seriously damage the students’ mental health and future careers.

Madonna University’s Director of Communications, Chima Achu, stated that the institution will release an official statement regarding the issue on Monday.