Labour Party presidential candidate and former Anambra State Governor, Mr. Peter Obi, has raised concerns over the current challenges facing dental students at the University of Calabar (UNICAL), describing the situation as a reflection of poor leadership that must not be allowed to destroy students’ futures.
In a statement he shared on his official X (formerly Twitter) handle, Obi said he became more alarmed about the crisis following his recent visit to the Faculty of Dental Studies at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), where he received disturbing reports about UNICAL’s dental faculty.
While the full facts of the issue are still emerging, Obi noted that the core problem centers on the dental students’ graduation and induction quota. He acknowledged a public statement by the UNICAL Vice Chancellor promising to resolve the issue, but insisted that actions must match words.
“No student should suffer due to what I consider a failure of leadership,” Obi wrote. “Education in STEM—Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics—is too vital to be compromised by institutional lapses. Students must remain in school and graduate properly, without standards being lowered or their futures delayed.”
He recalled how, as Governor of Anambra State, he faced a similar crisis when the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria shut down the medical school at Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University due to the absence of a teaching hospital. At the time, students who had already spent years studying medicine were suddenly told they could only graduate in other science disciplines.
“I had just come into office, barely one year in, but I made it clear that the children must not suffer for a system failure. I assured the Council I would take responsibility and build a teaching hospital in two years,” he said.
Obi said the Council initially doubted him, but he delivered the Odumegwu Ojukwu Teaching Hospital in Awka in just 18 months—restoring the school’s accreditation and saving the careers of hundreds of medical students.
Drawing from that experience, Obi called on the Federal Government to act urgently by providing both financial and institutional support to the University of Calabar to end the crisis.
“The Vice Chancellor and her team must be supported to ensure that no student is victimised by a problem they did not cause,” he stated.
Obi also warned against continued neglect of the education and healthcare sectors, especially when public funds are being wasted on non-productive ventures.
“At this critical time in our nation, we cannot afford to continue the downward trend of ignoring education and healthcare. Our children must not continue to lose their future in Nigeria,” he concluded.
“A New Nigeria is POssible,” Obi reaffirmed.
