They urged the court to declare the Senate decision as a nullity.Medical students of the University of Lagos,
UNILAG, have pleaded with the Federal High Court to prevent the
university senate from going ahead with its plans to change the academic
requirement needed by them to proceed to 200-level.
The 100 level students described the decision taken by the school as “an attempt to weed them out of the university.”
The
aggrieved students complained that they were admitted to study
dentistry, nursing, pharmacology and medicine but they have been asked
to study other courses like botany and microbiology, Punch reports.
They
accused the authorities of introducing new entry requirements at the
point of their moving to 200 level, despite scoring more than the 50
per cent.
The
students accused the university of raising the academic requirement in
order to accommodate diploma students, who allegedly paid N500,000 to
the institution’s College of Medicine.
The aggrieved students, through their lawyer, Mr. Jiti Ogunye, therefore, urged the court to declare the Senate decision as a nullity.
They
claimed that upon being admitted to the university, the academic
requirements they needed to proceed to the second year were clearly
stated in the Faculty of Science pre-Medical and Pharmacy Programmes
2014-2016 Information Handbook made available to them.
They added, “The
said revision was not carried out with noble and genuine intentions to
enhance academic standards in the MBBS and other medical programmes in
the College of Medicine.
“It was also not
for the reason of adherence to the admission quota of either the
National Universities Commission or of the Medical and Dental Council of
Nigeria for the MBBS in the College of Medicine, (which is 150 for the
College of Medicine).
“It was for the
purpose of creating admission spaces for foundational course students
who are given (or more appropriately sold) admission into the MBBS and
other medical programmes upon participating in a one-year programme
organised by a Joint Unified Preliminary Examination Board for which
they paid to the university a minimum total fee of N400,000 per
session.
“The said payment is part of the
internally generated revenue of the university, a stream of revenue
which has attracted wide criticism in the university system in Nigeria,
for lack of transparency and accountability in its management.”
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