Africa-Press – Nigeria. Former Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has called on the Nigerian Government to urgently intervene in the ongoing crisis at the University of Calabar (UNICAL) concerning the graduation and induction quota of dental students.
In a statement via X on Saturday, Obi expressed concern over the situation, describing it as a leadership failure and stressing that no student should suffer due to bureaucratic or institutional lapses.
Obi said he had been inundated with reports following his visit to the Faculty of Dental Studies at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), where he was briefed about the ongoing situation at UNICAL.
“Whatever the root cause, one thing is clear: no student should suffer due to what I consider a failure of leadership,” Obi stated. “We must give our youth the necessary education, particularly in critical fields like science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).”
He recalled facing a similar challenge during his tenure as governor of Anambra State when the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria shut down the state’s medical school at Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University over the lack of a teaching hospital.
Obi said students who had already spent several years studying medicine were at risk of graduating in unrelated fields, but he intervened and took full responsibility. Within 18 months, he said, his administration built and commissioned the Odumegwu Ojukwu Teaching Hospital in Awka, restoring the school’s accreditation and saving the students’ futures.
He urged the Federal Government to provide both financial and institutional support to the UNICAL leadership to resolve the matter swiftly.
“The Vice Chancellor of the University of Calabar and her team must be empowered to resolve this issue immediately, to ensure that no student is made to suffer for circumstances that are in no way their fault,” he added.
Obi further warned against the continued neglect of education and healthcare in Nigeria, calling on authorities to prioritise sectors that directly impact the lives and future of young Nigerians.
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