“UNILAG Promised Us Medicine But Gave Us Botany” – Candidates

Fresh admission controversy has hit the University of Lagos as some
candidates are accusing the authorities of high-handedness, CHARLES ABAH
writes For no fewer than 57 candidates, who participated in
the 2015/2016 Foundation programmes that would enable them to study
Medicine and Surgery at the University of Lagos, this September seems to
be the longest month that they have ever witnessed in life. In fact,
since September 9, these candidates have not known peace, considering
what they called high- handedness of the authorities of the university.

According to them, having passed all the necessary qualifying
examinations that would enable them to proceed to the medical school,
having spent hundreds of naira
in terms of tuition and other sundry fees – undergoing a foundation
programme – the authorities of the university are now scheming to abort
their dreams. Already, they have written to the Vice-Chancellor, Prof.
Rahamon Bello, demanding that the authorities should urgently look into
their case. In the letter dated September 20, 2016, the candidates,
under the auspices of 2015/2016 Foundation MBBS, noted that denying them
admission to study medicine in the ivory tower would be akin to a
miscarriage of justice.

They copied the registrar of the university, director, School of
Foundation Studies, provost, College of Medicine, as well as the Joint
University Preliminary Examination Board in the petition. Parts of their
letter read, “The School of Foundation Studies admitted over 800
students into its programme with a promise that those who scored AAA (16
points) in all their courses shall be admitted to 200 level to study
Medicine. We were asked to pay a huge sum of money
– about half a million naira. “The university tested us with a
curriculum and at the end of the exercise, 87 of us obtained the
required A’s. As if the management was happy about the le$$ than 10 per
cent pass, it came out with another fresh directive, which seems to call
a ball that went over the bar a goal.

The university said that it could only admit 30 students. “Are we now
being told that the university is nothing but a business centre and the
JUPEB programme is nothing but a fraud? We hereby demand justice. This
is but a r.pe on the collective intelligence of Nigerian students and an
attempt to reduce the citadel of learning to a mere business venture.
No sane society will let this go unchallenged. The university should
provide reasons why, despite the recession in the country, parents will
be made to cough out such whopping sums on empty promises.” Our
correspondent gathered that each of the candidates paid non-refundable
acceptance fees of N25,000; N350,000 tuition; N7,500 medical insurance;
N25,000 for examinations; N700 for syllabus, and N850 for biometric
identity card.

Besides, the candidates made personal arrangements for their
accommodation for the one year that the programme lasted. Beyond the
fees, the narratives by some of the affected candidates and their
guardians are the type some people will describe as touching. “I have a
B.Sc in Nursing from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun
State. I graduated in 2009. No fewer than 800 of us enrolled for this
programme last year and only 87 of us obtained the required three A’s to
study medicine. With this, admission to the college of medicine would
ordinarily be automatic but the authorities are changing the rules mid
way into the game. This is not so in other universities. “To study
medicine in many other universities, one requires only 13 points, but
here we all obtained 16 points. Yet, the authorities of UNILAG say they
do not have space for us.

I know how I struggled to make these grades. I know the psychological
stress that I passed through to enable me to achieve this success. This
programme nearly cost me my marriage as I struggled daily to cater to
my husband and two teenage children. “Why would I suffer the
consequences of lack of space when they admitted so many candidates in
the first place? The Federal Government needs to intervene in this
matter; otherwise, we shall spend another year at home due to no fault
of ours. Today, the authorities are asking us to go for such courses as
fishery, botany, cell biology, psychology.

Please, when has it become a crime to pass an examination? After
having a degree in nursing, they expect me to start another course in
fishery,” the candidate, who craved anonymity for fear of victimisation,
said. For another candidate, Adesewa, the decision of the university
management will cut short her dream of becoming a medical doctor. The
young lady, who said she obtained her WASSCE in 2013, noted that she had
forfeited other admission placements just for her to study medicine.
She said, “I abandoned the admission I got to study Bio- Chemistry at
the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State in 2013 just to
study medicine. In 2014, I sat for another UTME and obtained 68.75
aggregate marks. The cut off that year at UNILAG was 70 marks. In 2015, I
enrolled for this foundation programme. Now, see the frustration I am
facing again.” But the Director, School of Foundation Studies, Prof.
Oluwole Familoni, said the university did not promise any candidate
automatic admission for medicine.

According to him, both the candidates and their parents knew ab initio
that the university had limited spaces for medical students. He added,
“There was no assurance of automatic admission for any candidate. Of
course, we could not have done that because the regulators, the Medical
and Dental Council of Nigeria, would not allow us to admit more than 100
students. “Agreed, the 87 candidates did well, they cannot force the
authorities to admit them all to the College of Medicine and that is why
we have given them the option to enrol for other programmes.” On why
the institution enrolled hundreds of candidates for the programme
knowing that it had limited spaces, Familoni said it was a competition
thrown open for all interested candidates. He noted, “We could not have
enrolled only 30 candidates for the foundation courses because we have
only 30 spaces for them. It is akin to seeking employment in an
organisation. Every firm has the right to select from the millions of
applicants, those it considers suitable.

“We did not force them to purchase the forms. It’s a pity that they
want to destroy the image of the university. They can go to court if
they feel so aggrieved. Some persons tried it recently and they lost the
case in the court. You cannot force any university to offer you
admission.” But a retiree, Mr. Joseph Taiwo, who said that he sold some
of his personal effects, including his car, to ensure that his son sail
through the foundation programme, noted that his family had not been in
lively spirits since the news got to them. He added, “When we initially
received a report that he was among the few that obtained three straight
A’s, we went for thanksgiving in our church. But that bubbling
situation has died down in my home. We have all been wearing a mournful
look since September 9 when news filtered that only 30 of them would be
offered admission. Ordinarily, I would have sent him overseas to pursue
the same course but I do not have the wherewithal.” Appraising the
development, the Coordinator, Education Rights Campaign, Mr. Taiwo
Hassan, said the handling of the situation by the university was wrong.
“What UNILAG has done is very wrong and unacceptable. It amounts to
changing the rules in the middle of the game. What the university has
done is a violation of the rights of the students and I urge the
affected foundation students not to take this lying low.

They should stand up and organise themselves to challenge this
injustice legally and politically. No one should accept that nothing
could be done about this.

“As far as the ERC is concerned, we believe that this routine
violation of students’ rights by UNILAG is one too many. Early in the
year, about 102 undergraduates, who came into the university through the
UTME for Medicine and Surgery were treated in the same way. Now is the
time to say enough is enough to the impunity of the authorities,” the
ERC helmsman said.