Pharmacy students at the University of Calabar staged a peaceful protest over the delayed accreditation of their program.
They accused management of neglect, poor facilities, and uncertainty about their graduation.
Students of the Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Calabar on Thursday held a peaceful protest within the school premises over the delayed accreditation of their program.
The students accused the university management of neglecting the faculty for years, resulting in poor infrastructure, inadequate funding, and stalled accreditation by the National Universities Commission (NUC) and the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN).
One of the protesters, Ndifreke Okowo, said the pharmacy program, which started in 2016 under former Vice Chancellor Prof. Zana Akpagu, has continued without full approval. “We reached 400 level before being told the program had no accreditation. Now, at 600 level, we still have no laboratories, seats, or assurance of graduation as licensed pharmacists,” Okowo said.
He acknowledged that the current Vice Chancellor, Prof. Florence Obi, completed the faculty building but noted that it remains empty and unequipped. “Our labs are bare, and we sit on the floor for lectures. We keep hearing that PCN will visit soon, but nothing has happened,” he added.
Another student, Iris Johnson, said the situation has become discouraging, especially as the Vice Chancellor’s tenure nears its end. “We’ve been told many times that PCN will visit between October and November, yet no action has been taken. We fear a repeat of what happened to Dentistry,” she said.
The students also complained about a shortage of academic staff, alleging that some departments have only two or three lecturers handling hundreds of students. They appealed to both the federal and state governments, as well as the PCN, to intervene before the program collapses.
When contacted, the university’s spokesperson, Dr. Effiong Eyo, said he was not aware of the protest but would make inquiries. Calls to the Vice Chancellor’s office were not returned as of press time.
The protest comes months after similar issues rocked the university’s Faculty of Dentistry. At the time, Prof. Obi urged calm as the school worked to resolve concerns raised by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) over excess student admissions.
She explained then that while the dentistry program had full accreditation until 2027, the MDCN withheld the induction of 31 graduates due to what she called “historical over-admission,” a problem she said the university was trying to correct.
