By Obike Ukoh
The University of Calabar ( UNICAL) is in the news. The over 300 students of the Department of Dentistry, are alleged to be at the risk of not graduating. Not because they failed, but because of alleged system breach.
The students that brought their plight to public attention, lamented that they were at the verge of being sent away from the university, after spending many years.
It was even alleged that one of the lecturers even told them that they have come to the end of the road, that should go and learn a trade.
In separate interviews, the students said that the authorities claimed that the crisis stemmed from admitting more students than the number officially approved by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN).
The students wondered why they should be punished for offence they did not commit.
The affected students, some of whom are in their fourth and fifth years of study, said they were recently issued letters summoning them for a meeting regarding what school authorities described as “non-regular” admissions.
One of the affected students wrote inter alia:
“I’m a 5th year dental student. I’ve written 3MB exams, passed all. Now in pre-clinical dentistry, hoping to graduate in less than 2 years, only to now hear we have lost accreditation because we don’t have the facilities.
“They kept on promising and feeding us with lies that facilities would be available before we graduate. Here we are in year 5, inside this struggle, and we are now told to transfer to other schools, which wouldn’t solve this issue.”
Another student lamented: “This is our fourth year in this programme. We’ve paid fees, done clinicals, passed courses, and now they’re telling us we shouldn’t have been admitted?
The students felt scammed by the university and what they described asinstitutional greed and negligence.
The students also gave summary of the fees paid by the students, if put together run into millions of naira.
They said that it is disrespectful to be told to go and learn a trade, after many years of academic struggle and financial investments by their sponsors.
The Vice Chancellor of UNICAL, Prof. Florence Obi, in her reaction, pledged to resolve the on going crisis in the institution’s Department of Dentistry.
Obi, who addressed journalists in Calabar, recently, promised to resolve the crisis before leaving office.
Obi explained that the problem predates her administration and pledged to intensify efforts to solve the problem once and for all.
She traced the problem to the refusal of Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria to induct the 2016 dentistry students of the institution.
She also debunked claims circulating on social media, that the institution’s dentistry programme has lost its accreditation, describing the reports as “misinformation and distortion of facts.”
She affirmed that the programmeremains fully accredited and no students have been directed to transfer to other universities.
“At no point did the university ask dentistry students to seek transfers to other institutions, nor were they advised to ‘go and learn a trade’ as falsely alleged online.”
“I will feel very bad if I leave without solving this problem and the students are left hanging without knowing their fate. I won’t be fulfilled,” she said.
She reaffirmed the university’s commitment to ensuring all dentistry students graduate and are duly licensed as dental surgeons.
She noted that the dentistry programme commenced in the 2013/2014 academic session, and in November 2019, the university secured pre-clinical accreditation from the MDCN, and full clinical accreditation was subsequently granted in December 2022.
The vice chancellor added that the university is partnering with the Ministry of Education and the Tertiary Education Trust Fund to upgrade facilities of the Dentistry Department.
“All we asked for is time to engage with other institutions, update the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN), and follow through on due processes,” she noted.
Obi also added that some of the affected students demanded to be transferred to the Department of Medicine and Surgery, but said it was not the solution as the department was already saturated.
She urged the affected students to remain calm, noting that the university was doing everything possible to resolve the issues before the end of her tenure.
The University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) Department of Dentistry is also in the news, in an issue more similar than different with that of UNICAL.
Mr Peter Obi, the Presidential Candidate of Labour Party, in the 2023 election, recently donated N15million to the UNN Dental Students Association.
The money is to assist the university to upgrade dentistry laboratory in order to scale up the department’s graduation and induction quota.
Obi also said that the donation would boost their re-accreditation process.
Peter Obi said: Earlier this week, I received a letter from UNN Dental Students Association, appealing for urgent intervention and support of about N40 million, to upgrade their laboratory and scale up the department’s graduation and induction quota as part of their re-accreditation process.
Out of respect for the national mourning, following the passing of former President Muhammadu Buhari, I refrained from making any public statement during that period.
Now that the mourning has ended, I felt it was important to act without delay, because we cannot in good conscience, continue to allow our young people to suffer because of leadership failure.
As part of my commitment to advance education and health care, I made a modest donation of N15 million to the Dentistry Association, to assist in continuous education.’’
Peter Obi lamented that civil servants and political leaders spend millions of naira on purchase of luxury cars, and ignore critical areas of development, health, education and pulling people out of poverty, which he described as tragedy of misplaced priority.
He noted that “when we fail to prioritise education, healthcare and poverty alleviation, but invest billions in conference centres, and bus parks, we betray the youths and undermine the future of the nation.’’
Expectedly, the Peter Obi’s gesture and other anticipated favourable responses from other critical stakeholders, will hopefully avert the UNICAL-like experience at UNN.
The UNICAL issue, as development at UNN has not reached a crisis point, is regular occurrence in the Nigerian university system.
Universities will admit students over their approval limits, especially in the highly sought courses, on anticipatory accreditation.
They will commence collection of outrageous fees, and when they run foul of the law and regulations and sanctioned, the students become the guinea pigs.
The millions of naira already collected are not refunded.
This is a dubious practice that the Federal Ministry of Education and the regulatory bodies should check.
It is very painful to unnecessarily elongate graduation period in this hard times.
Obike Ukoh, ex-Deputy Editor-In-Chief, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
