UNIABUJA Crisis: NMA Blasts Gross Insensitivity of University Management, Under-staffing, Ineptitude

UNIABUJA Students protesting

The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has described the ongoing crisis of non-accreditation in the Department of Medicine at the University of Abuja as the outcome of under-staffing, laxity, ineptitude and lack of sensitivity on the part of the university’s management.

The association has therefore called on the Governing Council of the institution, led by Chief Samuel Ogbemudia, to take immediate steps to speed up accreditation of the affected courses in the institution, warning that the management of the institution does not grasp the peculiar requirements of medical training.

In a statement signed by its President, Dr. Osahon Enabulele, the NMA drew attention to the poor relationship between the designated Teaching Hospitals and the university.  It described that situation as a potential set-back in the later stage of recruitment of clinical lecturers/consultants even if preclinical issues in the department were resolved.

Students of the medical programme took to the streets on June 8 as they protested neglect by the institution. They complained about having spent eight years in the institution, without progressing beyond the 300-level stage, due to the non-accreditation of their course at the institution.  They also expressed regret that successive Ministers of Education have made stacks of promises about the issue but failed to redeem them.

In addition to the medical students, students of Engineering and Veterinary Medicine departments of the university have no idea when, if ever, they will graduate, as they are beset by the same problem.

“We pay our tuition as regularly as required, but we did not know that the university had no accreditation when we were enrolling and registering in 2005”, the students said during their protest.

The NMA underlines the gravity of the problem, pointing out that the most senior medical class at the institution, in its eighth year, has yet to take even  1 of the MBBS exams.

As a result of the long-existing impasse, the medical students have now demanded compensation of N10M for each student whose years have been wasted, citing the mental torture they have been subjected to.

It may also be noted that several years ago, the students opted to be transferred to other institutions which have accreditation for the various courses.  Although the university promised to implement the transfer as far back as 2009, however, that has yet to be done.  

“The problems of the medical students are multifaceted; the first hurdle is the securing of accreditation for preclinical training, after this, there would be the challenges of clinical training vis-a-vis hospitals to be used,” Dr. Enabulele pointed out.

He stressed that in order for these stages to be satisfactorily undertaken, great efforts must be made to address the poor management of the institution as well as the bickering and diverse interests from various quarters.

The NMA also called for appropriate sanctions upon any individual or group of persons that has contributed in the stagnation of the innocent students, stressing that they are bona fide citizens of Nigeria with a right to quality education, noting that public confidence must be restored.

“It is in the light of this that we request the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) to ensure that no institution ever admits a student into its approved medical programme until it has secured the first accreditation,” the association said, adding that any institution caught violating this rule must be sanctioned appropriately, along with its principal officers.