The Federal High Court sitting in Calabar has ordered the University of Calabar to pay N55 million in damages to eight students over its decision to admit them into its Faculty of Engineering without proper accreditation from relevant regulatory bodies.
Delivering judgment on Wednesday, Justice R. O. Dugbo-Oghoghorie held that the university acted negligently and in bad faith by running engineering programmes up to 400 level without securing full accreditation from the National Universities Commission and the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria.
The suit, marked FHC/CA/CS/117/21, was instituted in 2021 by eight students, popularly known as the โUnical 8โ, comprising Idiong Ekpedeme Godwin, Abasi Ekong Stephen Peter, Agbontaem Victor Osaretin and five others, for themselves and on behalf of other affected students.
The plaintiffs dragged the institution and its then Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Florence Obi, to court after the university allegedly admitted them into engineering programmes that had not been accredited at the time of their enrolment.
In her judgment, Justice Dugbo-Oghoghorie held that no university is permitted to run an academic programme without obtaining approval from its senate and the requisite accreditation from statutory regulatory bodies.
The court found that although the university had applied for resource verification, full accreditation was only granted in 2024 by the NUC and in April 2025 by CORENโyears after the students had commenced their studies in 2016 and 2017.
โIt is the finding of this court that the defendants recklessly allowed the innocent students, who were unaware of the processes of accreditation, to fall victim to their acts,โ the judge ruled.
The court held that the institution owed the students a duty of care to disclose the accreditation status of the engineering faculty before allowing them to switch programmes and pay school fees.
Justice Dugbo-Oghoghorie described the universityโs conduct as negligent and deceitful, noting that the plaintiffs suffered academic stagnation and psychological trauma after being directed by the NUC during a verification visit to step down from higher levels to 200 level due to lack of accreditation.
The court consequently awarded N50 million as general damages and N5.247 million as special damages to the plaintiffs.
However, the court declined to grant an order directing the university to absorb the affected students into the faculty at no cost, describing the request as having been overtaken by events since the faculty had now secured accreditation.
Reacting to the judgment, counsel to the plaintiffs, Ozinko Ozinko, said the ruling was a victory for the rule of law and a testament that justice, though slow, would ultimately prevail.
โIt is not easy to fight the status quo, especially when students take on a university. But today, justice has been served,โ he told journalists shortly after the proceedings.
Counsel to the university, Jonas Abuo, thanked the court for the judgment but declined further comments.