Outrage As UNICAL Sends Dental Students Home Over Illegal Admissions

A major crisis has erupted at the University of Calabar (UNICAL) after the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Florence Banku Obi, ordered hundreds of students in the Faculty of Dentistry and Dental Surgery—from 200 to 600 level—to vacate the campus over issues of over-admission.

The decision, which affects even final-year students, followed a revelation that the university had admitted far more students than the quota approved by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN), which allows only 10 dental students to graduate per year.

The drastic move was communicated during a meeting between the Vice Chancellor, the affected students, and their parents on Thursday, July 10, following an official invitation via a memo dated July 7 from the Provost of the College of Medical Sciences.

After the closed-door meeting, the students were instructed to go home with their parents until the university resolves the regulatory violations surrounding their admission.

Many students, who said they had already spent millions of naira on tuition, housing, textbooks, and other expenses, described the situation as a betrayal and accused the university of exploiting them.

“This is fraud,” one of the students told reporters. “The university knowingly admitted over 300 students in a department that is only allowed to graduate 10 each year. Now we are being punished for their greed.”

Another student said, “After years of stress and financial sacrifice, we are being sent home like criminals. The VC has even banned us from protesting.”

Sources say the Vice Chancellor blamed the development on regulatory constraints and insisted that the school had no choice but to send the students home while it works to rectify the problem with the MDCN.

The university has yet to issue an official statement, and repeated efforts to reach top management for comments were unsuccessful.

Meanwhile, outrage is growing within the student community, with many calling for government intervention, a reversal of the decision, and punishment for those who approved the illegal admissions in the first place.

The affected students say they will continue to seek justice and are urging the Medical Council, the Ministry of Education, and the National Assembly to intervene to prevent their dreams from being permanently derailed.