The National Association of University Students (NAUS) has said it has concluded a fact-finding mission to the University of Calabar (UNICAL) to investigate the crisis affecting hundreds of Dentistry students.
The association has demanded urgent action to resolve the crisis, which it said was caused by internal administrative politicking and oversight.
The Deputy National President of NAUS, Comrade Meshach Anthony Nwankwo, said in a statement that the crisis had been ongoing for some time, but the current Vice Chancellor had shown a willingness to resolve the issue.
“We discovered that the issue had been in existence before this current VC assumed office,” Nwankwo said.
“She highlighted the verifiable reforms that UNICAL had undergone under her leadership since December 2020 – from academic reforms to cleansing the system of various forms of administrative vices and getting some professional programmes like Engineering and certain medical courses fully accredited.”
NAUS identified several challenges facing the Dentistry programme, including inadequate equipment and understaffing.
“Each student is supposed to have one dental chair to themselves according to MDCN standards,” Nwankwo said. “They had just 26 dental chairs, hence the quota of 10 that was given to the school.”
The association has called on the university to seek alternative temporary funding solutions to acquire additional dental chairs and to leverage its strong relationship with the Minister of Education to apply pressure for immediate approvals and fund releases.
NAUS also urged well-to-do alumni of UNICAL to lend their powerful voices to the matter to ensure a quick resolution.
“We will not stand idly while students suffer,” Nwankwo said. “We are advocating for student progression mechanisms that safeguard the future of those already stuck in the system.”
NAUS also called for a policy shift, urging the National Universities Commission (NUC) and professional regulatory bodies to include student representatives in accreditation monitoring processes.
“If quotas are given, students must know,” Nwankwo said. “Silence and miscommunication must no longer jeopardise academic futures.”
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