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•Authorities yet to secure accreditation for course after 10 years of admission
From Jude Owuamanam, Jos
The anxiety on his face was palpable. As one of the pioneer students of the Department of Dentistry, University of Jos, Pius Nweke, has spent a great part of his youthful years as a student. Having been admitted into MBBS/Dentistry for a six-year programme in 2015, Nweke, for no fault of his, is still struggling to realise his dream, no thanks to the buck-passing between the authorities of the University of Jos and the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria {MDCN) over whose responsibility it is to get the dentistry programme accredited.
One is bound to ask, what is it with the dentistry department of most universities in Nigeria? Just a few years ago, dentistry students of the University of Calabar and Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, suffered the same problem. The 62 students of UNICAL got relief when they were transferred to the Rivers State University (RSU), while those of ABU, Zaria, were absorbed into the MBBS programme of the university.
For now, none of this is an option for the 29-year-old indigene of Nando in Anambra State, having reached the pinnacle of his programme. In an interview laced with emotion-laden voice, Nweke recalled his frustrations at having to see his mates who were admitted with him in the MBBS class almost finishing their housemanship while he is struggling to finish his clinicals, which is a prerequisite for his graduation.
He said: “I got admitted as a pioneer student in 2015 for a programme that was supposed to terminate in 2022, but because of some delays of the university we started 2016. However, our admission letter read 2015. Because of COVID and ASUU strike, it was extended to 2022. Since then, we have finished our pre-clinicals and are expected to sit for the clinical exam, but they said we cannot because the course has not been accredited by MDCN.
“Since then, we’ve written our pre-clinical exams with our medical colleagues and we are now at the clinical arm. We did pathology and pharmacology and we wrote the exams with our MBBS colleagues and that’s because the medical programme is already accredited. We finished that one and we now came to our own side, they said we can’t write exams until they’re able to get accreditation.
“So, basically, without accreditation, we are not even allowed to write exams, talk more about graduating.
“According to our admission letters, it was to terminate in 2022, but, of course, COVID came, ASUU strikes and all that, and then it moved up until 2024. Our mates in MBBS finished 2024. In fact, yesterday, most of them already completed their one-year compulsory internship as of October 31.
“If everything was going on well, let’s assume that because of the strike and everything, we should be able to say, okay, we finished with our mates in 2024, but now we don’t even know when we are graduating because nothing seems to have been done about it. As it is, some of us are over 30 years old and may not be able to participate in the NYSC programme.
“ABU, Zaria, had the same problem and some of them were converted to MBBS programmes, but for us it is too late now. It will be better to save everyone the problem by doing the right thing.
“As it stands now, I think, for most of the classes involved, like the first, second and even top set, it’s almost too late for us to start converting right now because conversion is not even an option.
“We want them to do the right now by securing the accreditation because we know that MDCN has given them some instructions and things to do. I don’t know why they’ve refused to do it or they are unable to do it or what is stopping them from doing what they’re supposed to do to get that accreditation.
“We want them to do what they were asked to do and secure the accreditation so that we’ll be able to leave this place. It is very frustrating, you know, staying in school for close to 10 years, in the same environment for close to 10 years.
“It’s depressing. All my friends have left, and the ones that even managed to do their internship here in JUTH (Jos University Teaching Hospital) have finished recently. They will leave and I will be like the oldest; yes, the oldest in the community.”
Nweke said all the university authorities had been doing was posting them to clinics to keep them busy. He further lamented: “All they’re doing now is looking for postings to keep you busy. When you finish one posting they tell you to go and repeat it just to keep you busy, doing nothing because, as it stands, those things count for nothing.
“They just tell you to come to the clinic and be observing and come and learn. Now the current posting they’re doing is supposed to finish on December 5 and I can guarantee you that, by January, with or without accreditation, they will bring another posting, which adds nothing to your certificate.”
Last week some of the students visited the Press Centre of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Jos, the capital of Plateau State, to register their grievances, having exhausted all avenues for dialogue with the university authorities. All of them wore gloomy faces, with a future uncertain.
The president, Johnson Titus Bisani, who spoke on their behalf, said, having entered among the third set of students in 2018, he was pleading that he doesn’t suffer the same fate as the pioneer set.
He said: “I am from the third set. I started in 2018. The first set was admitted in 2015 and they were supposed to have graduated two years ago. Now they have spent 10 years. Then we have the second set, also stagnated. They’ve spent nine years. My set is supposed to graduate in six months’ time. That’s if we had to combine with our MBBS colleagues that we entered together.”
The president, who expressed the frustrations of the entire students of the dentistry department, stated: “This programme was launched in 2015 with our pioneer class brimming with enthusiasm. Unfortunately, year after year, students paid fees, attended lectures, and completed postings with little advancement toward writing our dental examinations. We raised our concerns through meetings and appeal letters, but responses were limited, until after the first major protest that took place on April 25, 2024.
“That day, we peacefully took to the streets, not out of rebellion, but out of frustration, highlighting how nine years had passed without a single graduate and without a single professional dental exam written. The protest caught the attention of many well-meaning Nigerians, who came to our rescue, particularly through the intervention by Gov. Caleb Manasseh Mutfwang of Plateau State, which enabled the faculty to secure the first phase of accreditation, which is the preclinical accreditation, in June 2024.
“During the period of our agitation, the school management met with us, and together we rolled out a timeline that had us expecting we would get the clinical phase of accreditation within six months of getting the first phase of accreditation, allowing the first set to write their clinical exams and be inducted as dentists by 2025. But now, in October 2025, more than a year later, those promises and timelines have evaporated into thin air. The second phase of accreditation, which is the clinical phase, seems elusive; we are still stuck, and the stagnation has sparked this current agitation.
“We have had multiple engagements with the university management to try to understand why we are still stuck, but we keep receiving the same assurances and promises that have kept us waiting for 10 years now.”
Provost of the College of Health Sciences, Prof. Aboi Madaki, told our correspondent that he had been away from the university for sometime now and so would not be able to give a correct update on the situation. He directed our correspondent to his deputy, Prof. Musa Audu. However, all efforts to contact him were fruitless as his phone was unreachable.
Dean of the Faculty of Dentistry, Prof. Roland Agbara, when contacted, said he was not authorised to speak on the issue, and directed our correspondent to the university’s spokesperson, Mrs. Tongyen Dachung. But she, too, was unavailable. However, a source close to her said she had recently assumed the position after the former spokesperson left and might not be conversant with the issues.
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Meanwhile, a senior consultant in the college, who spoke to our correspondent on the condition of anonymity because he’s not authorised to speak, said that the problems emanated from Nigeria’s culture of planlessness. According to him, the problems had been lingering for a long time because the university refused to do the needful.
He said: “The problem has been there for a long time and it’s because of the Nigerian mentality of failing to plan very well before we embark on any project.
“When these students were admitted, they were admitted along with their mates in the MBBS programme and that was with the understanding that they would take the preclinicals and then the programme would have been accredited before they got to the clinicals.
“But, unfortunately, many problems cropped up. Before they were admitted, they were given certain numbers to be admitted for the programme, but the numbers that were given admission were twice or more thatn that number and so they over-admitted. That’s problem number one.
“And the regulatory body frowns at that. They accredit you for a certain number. You go beyond that, you lose the accreditation and they will never graduate those students.
“Problem number two: when they go to the clinical years, there are no dental chairs. And then, worst of all, no requisite staffing. At the time Gov. Mutfwang came to their rescue and immediately we set up a dental clinic or OPD so they have like 10 or more chairs there now to carry out their procedures.
“But you also have the human resources component. You have to have professors and senior lecturers and lecturers in different fields or sub-specialties of dentistry. We don’t have those ones and I think it’s just now that the VC has been able to get approval for some of those very important staff.
“So once they have those staff on ground, they can get accreditation for the clinical years. These are some of the problems. The same thing happened in Calabar and UNICAL has moved their dental students to other faculties because they too haven’t met the requirements.
“Nobody is going to bend the requirements. In the University where I graduated, from day one, we had accreditation for dentistry. Dentistry never had more than 15 or 20 students. But now you will see 45, admitted in one set. When you look at these numbers, between 100 level to 500 or 600 level now, they are almost in their hundreds and do not have the required facilities.
“So you see, one of our biggest problems is our colleagues who are vice chancellors or who head the universities, who are not medical doctors. They don’t listen to the dean or provost of the College of Health Sciences. When they are telling you, don’t over-admit, you remove them and look for somebody who will do your bidding.
“There was a time it was happening in our medical school too. At some point, they had to do a weeding exam and say, okay, if you are going to move to 300 level, it’s not about whether you pass or fail. It’s about those who are at the bottom that will be moved out or will repeat.
“So, slowly they are beginning to respect the medical profession. They think it’s the National Universities Commission that regulates us. Who is this MDCN?
“These are some of the problems. But I think we should be getting out of the wood very soon. The VC has gotten approval to recruit some of the professionals. But I have been advising the students, you cannot do all this agitation because somebody would all wake up one day like in Calabar and say okay all of you go to 200 level medicine and start from there or someone that close. Basically these are the issues.”
As the back and forth between the university and regulatory authorities, students and parents have continued to bear the brunt of this inertia.
When our correspondent contacted some of the parents, they preferred to speak anonymously, fearing that their children may be penalized.
One of the parents said that the whole problem was caused by the school authorities who refused to adhere to the admission quota given to them by MDCN and by not providing the required facilities.
He said: “By the time the pioneer students were admitted in 2015, they were 31, but we learnt that the quota given to them was 25. Now, there are only nine of them remaining and I learnt that one has left, remaining eight.
“Since this problem started, we, the parents of the first set, have been engaging with the management of the school. We have met them two times and pleaded with them to do something about it. We spoke with the DVC and they assured us of accreditation. We even suggested that they should move them to MBBS because they take the same courses with them or take them, to where dentistry is approved. But the VC said it’s going to be difficult but assured us that the problem would be resolved. We accepted his assurances.
“Two years down the line, we went back, they told us that they have even paid money for accreditation and it remained for the MDCN to give them a date for the accreditation. But later we started discovering that they have exceeded the quota given them. The quota given to them was 25 but they are admitting over 100, not minding that the facilities were not adequate
“There’s this facility that they’re supposed to have. It’s called phantom head (a phantom head in dentistry is a simulator used for training dental students. It mimics the human mouth and teeth, allowing students to practice various dental procedures in a realistic way without risking patient safety.) They’re supposed to have one each, including the lecturer. But they don’t have enough. It was the governor that intervened through the former provost. They just know they cannot share phantom heads. The governor provided those things.
“But the problem now, which I know, which the university is refusing to do, is to do indexing for the students as required by MDCN.
“MDCN is telling them, they must do indexing. Indexing means they have to prune down the number of students. That 25 must be maintained.
“We have equipment for 25 people. We are admitting 100. No university in Nigeria for dentistry can even give you a guarantee to admit even that number. I think that’s where the problem is. They over-admitted.
“My child has spent 10 years. She got admission in 2015 and for the last 10 years I have been paying for accommodation. I don’t stay in Jos. We have paid school fees for the six years they’re supposed to stay, but the VC said he will wave the sixth year, but we have already paid for it.”
The parents expressed frustration at seeing the future of their children being jeopardised. They pleaded with the school authority to do everything possible and meet the requirements of MDCN.
