Vice Chancellor of the University of Calabar (Unical), Prof. Florence Obi, has accepted the blame for the ongoing quota crisis in the institution’s Dentistry programme, with a vow that she would resolve the crisis before leaving office.

Reports emerged last week that more than 300 students of the Department of Dentistry in Unical faced uncertain academic future following the department’s consistent admission of students in excess of the quota allotted to it by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN). Whereas the MDCN gave a quota of 10 students, the department has over the years admitted students far exceeding that number per session. Now the MDCN has refused to induct the 2016 Dentistry students of the institution numbering about 60, forcing the students to raise the alarm.

In a press conference on Tuesday in Calabar, Prof. Obi explained that the MDCN frowned at the number of students to be inducted.

The VC said the crisis predated her administration. She explained that the Dentistry programme commenced in 2013/2014 academic session. In November 2019, the MDCN granted it pre-clinical accreditation, followed by full accreditation in 2022. The Council pegged the number of students to be admitted into the programme at 10 per session based on the university’s lack of adequate facilities to train a higher number of students. But the department, following years of over-admission, already had excess number of students. The MDCN thus advised the university to halt further admissions into the programme to enable it work out the modalities for the graduating students already in the programme.

“I know that I still have a few months to go, and I want to resolve this issue within my tenure. 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.

The VC debunked claims circulating on social media that the institution’s Dentistry programme has lost its accreditation and was being shut down. She described the reports as “misinformation and distortion of facts”, clarifying that the programme remained fully accredited and that no students had 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,” she said.

Obi said some of the affected students demanded to be transferred to the Department of Medicine and Surgery, but added it was not the solution as the department they were asking to be transferred to was already saturated. She said adding more students would only create further confusion in a system already under pressure.

She appealed for calm, noting that the university was doing everything possible to resolve the issues before the end of her tenure. She further said the university was working in partnership with the Minister of Education and the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) to upgrade its facilities and increase its quota.

“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.

She assured that the process of retaining and transferring students would be transparent, and all affected students would be given equal opportunities to choose the university they wished to continue with.

Also speaking on Channels Television’s breakfast programme, The Morning Brief, on Wednesday, the Unical VC blamed some of the university’s officials, including the dean, the admission officer and the provost, for the issue of over-admission, promising that all those involved would face consequences.

“We are going to invoke the university’s internal mechanism to handle that, we have to query some people. Definitely, there will be consequences,” she said.

Prof. Obi, however, also accepted responsibility as the head of the institution.

“Of course I am the head, I take responsibility, even the ones I inherited, I take responsibility, I am the head,” she said.

She said though it was not possible to say conclusively that the solution was handy, Unical was working hard to resolve the issue and networking with other programmes within the university and other universities to see where the affected students could be fixed.

“I want to really appeal to the students and to parents because I have read somewhere where students are getting depressed and some of them are threatening suicide. I want to really appeal to my students to hold it, to be calm, that on my honour, we will see how, together, with MDCN (can resolve the problem),” she said.