By HOSEA NYAMLONG
The President of the Dental Students Association, University of Jos (DSA-Unijos), Comrade Johnson Bisani, has called on the university authorities to address the plight of dental students who have spent over ten years studying without graduation.
Bisani made the appeal during a press briefing held at the Plateau State Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Press Centre in Jos recently.
He lamented that they had endured ten years of emotional trauma and frustration, describing their experience as “a painful and disturbing ordeal.”
“We are not here to point fingers, but to share our story in hopes of finding understanding, compassion, and real solutions. This is about justice for young Nigerians chasing their dreams in dental healthcare. We appeal to our leaders and well-meaning Nigerians to hear us out and help us move forward, as we have reached our breaking point,” Bisani stated.
He narrated the experience of a typical dental student at the University of Jos: “Think of a young person from a modest background, perhaps from a small village in Plateau State or any neighbouring state where families get by on farming or petty trade. This student grows up seeing the agony of untreated dental problems in his community and watches relatives suffer or even lose their lives because there is no dentist within miles or as a result of poor treatment practices by quacks.”
According to him, such experiences inspired many to study Dentistry to ease pain, restore smiles and contribute to Nigeria’s healthcare system.
He added that after passing the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) examination — sometimes multiple times — they were admitted to the University of Jos to study Dentistry, a six-year programme “that is difficult but worth it,” given Nigeria’s abysmal dentist-to-patient ratio of 1:54,000, far from the World Health Organisation’s recommended 1:5,000.
“The University of Jos has the only dental school in the North Central geopolitical zone of Nigeria. This faculty is vital for training homegrown dentists within the region. Yet what began as a source of hope has stretched into a decade of frustration, delays, and unfulfilled expectations,” he said.
Bisani explained that the programme was launched in 2015 with the pioneer class full of enthusiasm, but year after year, despite paying fees, attending lectures and completing postings, students made no progress toward their final examinations.
He lamented, “Nine years have passed without a single graduate and without a single professional dental exam written.”
THE NIGERIA STANDARD reports that the students raised their concerns through meetings and appeal letters, but responses were limited until after their first major protest on April 25, 2024.
During the protest, they peacefully drew public attention to their plight, leading to the intervention of Plateau State Governor, Barr. Caleb Mutfwang, whose efforts enabled the faculty to secure its first phase of accreditation — the preclinical accreditation — in June 2024.
However, more than a year later, Bisani said, the promises and timelines had “evaporated into thin air” without concrete action.
He revealed that despite several engagements with the university management, the students continued to receive the same assurances without results.
The DSA maintained that the university management was largely at fault, not the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN), and appealed to the MDCN “for clemency and to hold the school accountable without subjecting students to further agonising experiences.”
The students further appealed to the National Assembly, the ministers of education and health and other relevant stakeholders to intervene and provide a structured solution, a defined implementation timeline and compensation for students who had spent over nine years in the programme.
They expressed gratitude to those who had supported them so far and called on well-meaning Nigerians, the media, political leaders and stakeholders to come to their aid “so that their dreams and aspirations do not die or get crushed by circumstances that can be prevented and controlled.”