Court orders UNICAL to pay ₦55m to eight Engineering students over non accreditation

The Federal High Court in Calabar has directed the University of Calabar (UNICAL) to pay ₦55 million to eight engineering students following a legal battle over their admission.

Presiding over the case, Justice R. O. Dugbo-Oghoghorie ruled in favour of Idiong Ekpedeme Godwin and seven others, collectively known as the “UNICAL 8,” in suit FHC/CA/CS/117/21 against the university, its former Vice Chancellor, Professor Florence Obi, and four other officials.

The court described the university’s actions as “illegal, fraudulent, reckless and deceitful,” noting that the students were admitted into the engineering programme without proper accreditation from the National Universities Commission (NUC).

The judge ruled that “No institution should operate a programme without prior NUC approval; the university owes a ‘duty of care’ to disclose the accreditation status to prospective students.”

The court awarded N50 million in general damages and N5.247 million in special damages to the plaintiffs for the psychological trauma and academic stagnation they suffered.

The students provided evidence showing that full accreditation of the engineering course in the university was secured in the 2024/2025 academic year, a period the students were expected to have graduated.

In 2021 over two hundred engineering students of the school were demoted from final year and third year to second year, causing furore among many students, with some of them heading to court.

Mr Eyo Eyo, the Public Relations Officer of the school, says there “shall be a formal response from the school”.

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