Six months after completing their medical degrees, 44 graduates of the University of Ilorin remain without induction into the medical profession, unable to begin housemanship or enrol for the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), following the university's admission of students far in excess of its approved quota nearly a decade ago.
The Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) had approved a maximum of 150 students as the annual admission quota for the MBBS programme at the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN). The university disregarded this limit in 2017, admitting over 200 students, and has since withheld the full extent of the violation from the MDCN.
When 194 students eventually satisfied the requirements for the MBBS degree last year, the university presented only 150 to the MDCN for induction. To determine who would make the cut, UNILORIN ranked the graduating class and selected the top 150, a decision that provoked considerable anger among the graduates. "Out of 194, 175 of us passed the exam in one sitting, but only 150 were inducted, leaving 25 of us. The 14 retook the exam and passed. So altogether, 44 of us are left," one affected graduate told Premium Times.
On 14 November, UNILORIN inducted the 150 selected graduates in a ceremony presided over by Vice Chancellor Prof. Wahab Egbewole, who referred to the inductees as the "golden set." The remaining 44 received no such recognition.
The Provost of the College of Health Sciences, Prof. Biodun Sulyman, acknowledged the breach, stating that the MDCN had reminded the university that it could only induct 150 graduates in line with its approved quota. He subsequently assured the stranded graduates that their induction would follow within six to eight weeks. That deadline passed without resolution, with follow up attempts met by claims that the MDCN Registrar was unresponsive.
The situation has compounded what was already a prolonged academic journey, as the standard six year programme had stretched to eight years due to strikes by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the COVID19 pandemic.
UNILORIN's conduct mirrors a wider pattern in Nigerian higher education. Last year, the MDCN declined to induct over 300 dental graduates from the University of Calabar following a similar quota breach, while the Council for Legal Education imposed a five year admission ban on Baze University's law faculty in 2023 for persistent violations.
