The Federal High Court of Nigeria sitting in Calabar has ordered the University of Calabar (UNICAL) to pay a total of ₦55 million in damages to eight engineering students after ruling that the institution admitted them into an academic programme that lacked proper accreditation.
Delivering judgment in the case, Justice R. O. Dugbo-Oghoghorie held that the university acted unlawfully by admitting students into an engineering programme that had not yet received approval from the National Universities Commission (NUC), the regulatory body responsible for accrediting academic programmes in Nigerian universities.
The court described the university’s conduct as a serious breach of its responsibility to students, noting that higher institutions are expected to ensure that all academic programmes meet regulatory requirements before admitting candidates.
The lawsuit was filed by eight affected students led by Idiong Ekpedeme Godwin, who approached the court after their academic progress was disrupted by a controversial decision by the university to demote engineering students to lower academic levels following accreditation challenges.
According to documents presented before the court, the students had been admitted into the engineering programme several years earlier with the expectation that the course had full accreditation. However, it later emerged that the programme had not yet been properly accredited at the time of their admission.
In its ruling, the court stated that the university failed in its duty of care to the students by allowing them to enroll in a programme that had not received regulatory approval. Justice Dugbo-Oghoghorie emphasized that institutions must be transparent about the accreditation status of their programmes, warning that failure to do so could mislead students and jeopardize their academic future.
The court consequently awarded the students ₦50 million as general damages, while an additional ₦5.2 million was granted as special damages, bringing the total compensation to approximately ₦55 million.
The damages were meant to compensate the students for the psychological distress, academic disruption, and financial losses they suffered after their studies were affected by the accreditation crisis.
The dispute can be traced back to a major controversy that erupted within the university’s engineering faculty when several students were unexpectedly demoted to lower academic levels, including final-year and third-year students who were pushed back to earlier stages of their programme.
The decision triggered protests and widespread criticism within the university community, as students argued that they should not be penalized for administrative lapses relating to programme accreditation.
Many of the affected students insisted that they had applied for admission in good faith, believing the engineering programme had the necessary approval from the regulatory authorities.
During the court proceedings, evidence revealed that the engineering programme later obtained full accreditation in the 2024/2025 academic session, several years after the affected students had already begun their studies.
The eight students who pursued the legal action later became popularly referred to as the “UNICAL Eight”, representing a larger group of students whose academic progression was affected by the crisis.
