In a legal victory for student rights, the Federal High Court sitting in Calabar has ordered the University of Calabar (UNICAL) to pay ₦55 million in damages to eight engineering students on Thursday, March 5, 2026. The students, popularly known as the “UNICAL 8,” filed the lawsuit (FHC/CA/CS/117/21) back in 2021 after being demoted from their final and third years to 200 level due to the university’s failure to secure accreditation for its engineering programs.
Justice R.O. Dugbo-Oghoghorie, in delivering the judgment, characterized the university’s actions as “fraudulent, reckless and deceitful,” emphasizing that no institution should operate an academic program without prior approval from the National Universities Commission (NUC). The court awarded ₦50 million in general damages and an additional ₦5.247 million in special damages to compensate the plaintiffs for the “psychological trauma and academic stagnation” they endured over the five-year legal battle.
The case originated when over 200 students found themselves at the center of an academic crisis after the NUC discovered the university had admitted them into engineering courses without authorization. Evidence presented during the trial showed that the institution only secured full accreditation for the engineering faculty in the 2024/2025 academic year, long after the plaintiffs were originally expected to have graduated.
“The university owes a ‘duty of care’ to disclose the accreditation status to prospective students,” the judge remarked, dismissing the institution’s earlier defense that the students had changed their courses voluntarily. The ruling serves as a stern warning to tertiary institutions across Nigeria regarding the legal consequences of offering unaccredited programs and misleading students about their academic standing.
While the university’s management, led by former Vice-Chancellor Professor Florence Obi, had previously suggested the students were not qualified and should accept the demotion, the court’s decision firmly places the liability on the institution’s administrative failures.
The Public Relations Officer of the university, Eyo Eyo, indicated on Thursday that there “shall be a formal response from the school” as the management reviews the implications of the judgment. For the “UNICAL 8,” the victory marks the end of a “tortuous” period of uncertainty that saw many of their peers drop out or switch to other institutions due to the lack of workshops and qualified lecturers in the faculty during their initial years of study.
