The University of Calabar has been ordered by the Federal High Court in Calabar to give eight of its engineering students 55 million naira.
In the lawsuit (FHC/CA/CS/117/21) brought by Idiong Ekpedeme Godwin and seven others, collectively referred to as the “UNICAL 8,” against the university, its former vice chancellor, Professor Florence Obi, and four others, the court, presided over by Justice R. O. Dugbo-Oghoghorie, ruled that the university’s admission of the students without the Engineering Course’s accreditation by the National Universities Commission, New York City.
“No institution should operate a program without prior NUC approval; the university owes a ‘duty of care’ to disclose the accreditation status to prospective students,” the judge declared.
For the plaintiffs’ psychological suffering and academic stagnation, the court granted them N50 million in general damages and N5.247 million in special damages.
The students presented proof that the university’s engineering program was fully accredited during the 2024–2025 academic year, when they were supposed to graduate.
More than two hundred engineering students at the institution were relegated from third and final year to second year in 2021, which infuriated many students and led some of them to file lawsuits.
There “shall be a formal response from the school,” according to Mr. Eyo Eyo, the school’s public relations officer.
