Some medical students of the University of
Lagos, Akoka, who were given courses
contrary to their choices, have threatened to
take the institution to court if it fails to reverse
its decision within seven days, starting from
Wednesday, February 17. They said they had petitioned the Vice-
Chancellor, Prof. Rahman Bello, the Federal
Ministry of Education, the Senate Committee on
Education, the National Universities
Commission, the Lagos State Governor,
Akinwumi Ambode, among others, on the development, saying they wanted favourable
response before the ultimatum elapsed.
The students had reportedly met the pass mark
set by UNILAG for them to move to 200 level,
but most of them were not admitted into the
College of Medicine in Idi-Araba on the
grounds that the quota given to the school
was not sufficient. Some of the students and their parents on
Thursday protested against the development
at PUNCH Place on the Lagos-Ibadan
Expressway, displaying placards, some of
which read, “JAMB, NUC, please save our
future, save our career, save our destiny, come to our aid,” “This scam must stop, we want our
courses at the college of medicine”, “Prof.
Rahman Bello, you are a Pharaoh, allow our
children to cross to the promised college.”
The petition, which was signed by the principal
solicitor for the aggrieved students, Jiti Ogunye,
read in part, “We are solicitors to the students
of the Faculty of Sciences in the University of
Lagos, Akoka, Yaba, Lagos State. “By their performances in their first year course
work and examinations, they met the
requirements by having a Cumulative Grade
Point Average or cumulative score average of
50 in the groupings of courses for the Medicine
and Surgery, Medical Laboratory, Nursing, and Physiotherapy departments; and a 2.00 CGPA
for students in Pharmacology, Physiology and
Radiography departments to advance to 200
level and first year in the UNILAG College of
Medicine.”
The petition stated further that the school had
raised the requirements from 50 per cent and
2.0 CGPA to between 2.5 and 4.11 CGPA after
the students had met the initial standards. “We demand that the university rescind its
decision by allowing our clients to register for
the various medical programmes in the College
of Medicine and commence attendance of
classes. If the university fails or refuses to accede to our
demand within seven days of the delivery of
this letter, we shall not hesitate to initiate a legal
action against the University of Lagos in the
Federal High Court, Ikoyi, for the judicial review
of the administrative action.”
One of the students, Emmanuel Adebiyi, who
wanted to study medicine, said he could not
settle for pharmacology, which he was given
by the school. He said, “I got 56, 58 and 72 in the three
required courses, but I could not advance to
200 level to further my education as a medical
student. We are being denied our rights. We appealed
to the President to look into this. I was given
Pharmacology, which I did not bargain for.” A Medical Laboratory student, Samuel Sodipe,
said he was eventually offered Botany, “which
I don’t like.”
Evelyn Ajisafe said the decision of the school
had caused “disorientation” of the affected
students, adding that they could not study
what they did not apply for. “At the end of my 100 level, I had 3.9 CGPA,
which is above the 2.00 required by the
school. I had already bought some materials
for the college of medicine. But when the list
came out, 19 out of 49 students were selected.
I was among those that met the requirements, but not shortlisted. The university said there was a specific quota
which we were not told about from the
beginning. I want the school authorities to give
us our normal courses. We are psychologically
disturbed.”
One of the parents, who gave his name simply
as Otunba Afolabi, said the claim by the VC that
the affected students failed “is a blatant lie.” “I have been having sleepless nights since this
issue started. The school is trying to destroy
the destiny of these children. I wanted my
daughter to study Agriculture, but she insisted
that she wanted nursing. She tried her best and
met the criteria – she had 60, 53 and 58. She had been receiving lectures when the list came
out and her name was not there,” he added. The UNILAG spokesperson, Toyin Adebule,
could not be reached for comment as his line
rang out.
A text message sent to his mobile phone had
yet to be replied to as of time of filing this
report.
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UNILAG Students To Sue School Authority For Changing Their CoursesCreated at 2016-02-19
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