When the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine students at the University of Benin (UNIBEN) saw a news report that their faculty had been shut down due to accreditation issues, they were shocked.

With the accreditation issue becoming public knowledge, the students feel that their time spent in school might be wasted.

The veterinary medical students had always heard rumours about their faculty’s failure to meet the requirements of the accreditation bodies, but the school often assured them that all was under control each time they asked questions.

Their worst fears were recently confirmed, not by an official statement from the school, but by a news report by The PUNCH dated October 22.

“Seeing the report came as a surprise to us. The school and the faculty had not told us of the outcome of the accreditation assessment. We got to know about it from the newspaper. We were all in a state of unrest,” one of the students told FIJ.

According to the report, the Veterinary Council of Nigeria (VCN) shut down the faculty because of “the university’s inability to meet the standard requirements to run Veterinary Medicine programmes at the institution”.

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This implies that new students cannot be admitted into the faculty while the current students will still be in school. The faculty has to prepare to meet the requirements of the VCN’s next accreditation, which is in two years.

The VCN is a quality assurance organ of the federal government instituted to regulate the standard of training and practice of the veterinary profession in Nigeria.

On the other hand, the accreditation by the National Universities Commission (NUC), a federal government agency set up to regulate higher education, ensures that the academic programmes in Nigerian universities meet the Minimum Academic Standards (MAS). For this faculty, the VCN and the NUC are the two major bodies that oversee their accreditation.

When FIJ checked the accreditation results for various institutions in a document obtained from the NUC website, we found the word “denied” listed under the 2023 column for the Veterinary Medicine programme at UNIBEN.

Sources told FIJ that the NUC team was in UNIBEN in the fourth quarter of 2023 for accreditation, and when the results were out, they learnt that their faculty failed to meet the requirements.

Another document obtained on the UNIBEN website also shows that the veterinary medicine programme had not been accredited as of October/November 2022.

The pioneer veterinary medical students were offered admission in 2019 to study for six years. This means they will graduate in 2025 barring all unforeseen circumstances.

However, one of them told FIJ that the faculty was founded in 2013 by a UNIBEN professor who specialised in veterinary pharmacology. The student said the professor had a knowledge of veterinary medicine, which was why he pushed for the faculty to be established.

“The management welcomed the idea then. That was when they started the construction of the faculty building, the veterinary teaching hospital and the veterinary hostel which have now been abandoned. I also don’t know how true this is, I learnt that they took in some students then but I don’t know what happened. They had to give them other available courses,” added the student.

Six years later, the first set of students gained admission and started receiving lectures. Graduates of veterinary medicine are typically inducted during an oath-taking and induction ceremony by their school in conjunction with the VCN. Shutting down the faculty will likely affect the induction of those who are meant to graduate in 2025.

“When a faculty loses NUC accreditation, it means the faculty can no longer admit students but when it loses the VCN accreditation, you cannot induct students. You can only graduate students. Not being inducted means they won’t be recognised by the professional body,” one of the students disclosed.

Regarding the accreditation, sources explained that it comes in three stages, including the preclinical, paraclinical and clinical stages. They revealed that for the school to have offered them admission in 2019, it means the regulating bodies must have given the go-ahead to admit students.

A student said that during the preclinical stage, the faculty passed the accreditation by the VCN, despite some facility-related issues. The council also recommended that the school improve its facilities. The lack of adequate facilities still remains an issue; students have had to share lecture spaces with other faculties since 2019.

FIJ gathered that the building designated for the faculty of veterinary medicine had not been completed. It was abandoned because of its secluded location, which has raised some security concerns.

“Since the beginning of admission for the course, we have been using a borrowed building, and it makes no sense for a professional course. Even when we are going to the next lecture, we are not sure of what class we will use. They have just been improvising,” a veterinary medicine student told FIJ.

The students said the school assigned the faculty a new building in the medical complex, which houses the faculty of medicine, faculty of dentistry and faculty of basic medical sciences.

“They started building a structure for our faculty there, but along the line, when it was close to completion, they abandoned it again. It’s a good-looking building. It’s painted, but there’s no furniture and no commissioning. We can’t use the place. You’ll find empty classes, no chairs, and empty rooms that are supposed to be laboratories. No equipment there and we are losing accreditation,” a student explained.

“We are squatting with the faculty of pharmacy. Some of our classes are held in the laboratory, some in the library. Libraries are being converted into classes. For instance, for paraclinicals, we have practicals for microbiology, pathology and pharmacology but we don’t have laboratories for these practicals. We needed to start clinical attachments in the fifth year, but we don’t have a veterinary teaching hospital at the University of Benin, which is a criterion for accreditation.

“I don’t know why the university management is not interested in providing any of these. What I know is that we have paid our fees. We came to this school to graduate and get our degree. We don’t want to graduate as incompetent people, and of course, the professional body will not accept the training of low-quality doctors. That was why they did not give us that accreditation.”

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Sources said there is palpable fear among students, who are now unsure of their fate and induction into the veterinary profession.

“Students are becoming restless; even the people in lower levels are becoming restless,” one of them told FIJ.

“How will you tell someone who has been in school for five to six years that the school has lost accreditation when they are almost done with their programme?” asked one of the faculty students.

“Some of us are supposed to be done by next year. Even the calmest person will panic. Some people are saying they might need to transfer us to another school, but it’s obvious that they don’t want to do this. They can as well put efforts in place so that the accreditation can be complete.”

When it got wind of the media publication about the shutdown, the student body wrote to the school management, faculty and the NUC to understand what was going on. It did not get a response.

The students subsequently staged a peaceful demonstration on Thursday, October 31, at the office of the Vice Chancellor.

They held placards with expressions such as: “The only vet school in southeast, no lab, no classroom, few lecturers, no accreditation”, “I no wan waste my five years abeg”, “Save veterinary medical students in UNIBEN”, “Come to our aid”, “School fees paid for five sessions; I deserve answers”.

The management addressed the students, took note of their demands and promised to look into their concerns before the next accreditation process.

FIJ sent emails to Benedicta Ehanire, UNIBEN’s public relations officer, the VCN and the NUC on Thursday. None of them had acknowledged or responded to FIJ’s messages at press time.

Editor’s Note: The veterinary medical students who spoke in confidence asked to stay anonymous.