By Ayomide Otitoju
Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has called for urgent federal intervention in the ongoing crisis affecting dental students at the University of Calabar (UNICAL), describing the situation as a consequence of leadership failure.
Obi, in a Saturday post on X, condemned the disruption to students’ academic progress caused by the university’s over-enrolment and the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria’s (MDCN) induction quota.
“No student should suffer due to what I consider a failure of leadership,” Obi said. “Education, especially in critical fields like STEM, is too important to be compromised by bureaucratic lapses.”
Obi acknowledged recent assurances from UNICAL Vice Chancellor, Prof. Florence Obi, who pledged to resolve the matter. The VC has since taken responsibility for the crisis, which she attributed to an over-admission of 60 students—well above the MDCN’s approved limit of 10.
Recalling a similar crisis during his tenure as Anambra State governor, Obi said he resolved accreditation issues at Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University by building a teaching hospital in under 18 months.
“I refused to let those innocent students become victims,” he said. “Leaders must be solution-driven, especially when the lives and futures of young people are at stake.”
Obi urged the federal government to provide institutional and financial support to UNICAL and warned against the continued neglect of critical sectors such as education and healthcare.
