|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
In what is fast becoming a crisis of credibility and consequence, the University of Calabar (UNICAL) finds itself at the centre of a quota violation scandal that has left nearly 300 dental students in academic limbo.
By admitting far more students than the quota approved by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN), the university now faces regulatory backlash, and students are bearing the brunt.
Many of them, already years into their studies, are now grappling with the possibility that their academic progress, and ultimately their professional future, may be invalidated.
According to DevReporting findings, Ngim Ngim, the provost of the College of Medical Sciences at UNICAL, Cross River State, allegedly told the institution’s dental students to “go and learn a trade.” his words were said to have cut deeper than any surgical knife the students had been trained to wield.
Read also: UNICAL names registry building after Onofiok Andrew Ufot, pioneer registrar
What began as a path towards a prestigious profession for more than 300 students at the university’s faculty of dentistry has turned into a devastating lesson on institutional failure.
Worst still, some of the students who have spent more than five years in the faculty due to strikes and delays, are now faced with a heartbreaking situation, for a development that is in no way their fault.
As if that is not enough, Florence Obi, vice-chancellor at UNICAL, seems to be playing the hide and seek game over the disturbing development, as she has denied that anybody asked the students to leave or “go and learn trade,” as Ngim was quoted as saying.
According to DevReporting, the crisis began after 60 final-year dental students sat their professional examinations, but only 32 passed and were presented to the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) for verification.
The MDCN, the regulatory body responsible for medical and dental practice in the country, however, failed to process the list after discovering that UNICAL’s approved graduation quota for Dentistry was only 10 students per year under its provisional accreditation.
Alarmed by the university’s continued reckless practice of admitting up to 90 students annually, far exceeding its authorised capacity, the council summoned the vice-chancellor, Ngim, among other officials, to explain the irregularities.
Subsequently, on Tuesday, July 8, the council gave its verdict that the university must comply with the accreditation directive.
Consequently, the university offered affected students options of seeking transfers to other institutions or other programmes. Students were told to go home until further notice, while others said they were told to sit another Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
Read also: Otu appoints Francisca Bassey as substantive VC of UNICROSS
Afolabi Lesi, the chairman of MDCN, who is also a professor at the College of Medicine of the University of Lagos (CMUL), expressed strong disapproval of the university’s actions, confirming that the council was aware of the situation.
“UNICAL was “in serious breach of its approved quota,” Lesi said, describing the disregard for regulatory guidelines as unacceptable.
Charlotte, a 500-level dental student, was cited to have told Lightraymedia that the problem began when the faculty started ignoring this quota.
“They obeyed the directive to stop admitting for only two years, then resumed. That’s why there’s a year one class now,” she explained.
She explained that dentistry is meant to last six years plus a year each for internship and NYSC, but noted that many students have spent eight to nine years due to strike actions.
Charlotte, therefore, appealed to UNICAL to absorb the affected students into the Department of Medicine and Surgery since both faculties study the same courses up until year five. According to her, transferring to another school comes with a lot of psychological and financial stress.
