November 27, 2017

Twelve of the 30 pioneer medical students of the University of Abuja, who enrolled in 2005, failed their final examinations, an official has said.

Mr Waziri Garba, the university’s Deputy Registrar in charge of Information and Publications, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Monday.

He said that results of the students’ final professional examinations, released on Nov. 24, showed that five of the 18 successful medical students passed with distinction in surgery.

Garba said that the 18 successful students would be inducted on Dec. 2.

According to him, the induction is significant since the students were the first set.

“The induction ceremony, which will hold at the main campus of the university, will feature a lecture by a renowned member of the medical profession, Prof. Adetokumbo Ademola.

“Ademola is a Professor of Public Health, Obstetrics and Gynaecology,’’ he said.

Garba told NAN that the pioneer Provost of the University’s College of Health Sciences, Prof. Jam Otubu, would be honoured at the event.

NAN reports that the pioneer medical students could not graduate all the while due to non-accreditation the university’s medicine and surgery course, by the National Universities Commission.

The course has, however, secured full accreditation.

The then Minister of Education, Prof. Ruqayyatu Rufa’i, in April 2012, announced suspension of medicine, agriculture, veterinary medicine and engineering courses in the university, after a panel set up to assess needs of universities visited the institution.

The students had sometimes staged peaceful protests against their continued stay in school, demanding to be transferred to other universities.