In this report, Ben Aroh examines the frustration of about 250 graduates of the Dental Nursing Department of the Federal University of Allied Health Sciences, Enugu (FUAHSE), formerly Federal College of Dental Technology and Therapy, Enugu. The university has failed to mobilise any of them since they began graduating in 2020.
Father Dies Dreaming About Son Becoming Dental Nurse
Elder Peter Ukwueze, from Ezimo in Udenu LGA of Enugu State, continued to lament the non-mobilisation of his son, Emeka, for his compulsory National Youth Service Scheme until he died late last year. Ukwueze had dreamt the day his son would become a ‘doctor’. “I thank my people for helping in training him,” narrated Ukwueze to this reporter before he passed on. “I’m worried because after his graduation many years ago, it has been from one story to another. He said without going to youth service that he can’t get a job. My relatives that assisted in his training are now doubting whether my son actually went to school.”
Ukwueze remained in this creative thought until he died. No one knows how much the frustration of his son’s non-mobilisation by the management of FUAHSE contributed to his death.
This School Is Deceitful – Nnamani
Uche Nnamani, a graduate of the 2021 session, led the graduates during their protest in February 2026. “This school is deceitful,” he says, anchoring his statement in the failure of the institution to keep to its promises. “The management are not true to their words. The only language they understand is protest. They don’t reply to our letters.”
Uche said they were admitted into Dental Nursing Department by the university, then a college. “The programme was not accredited then. With the efforts of the then HOD, we got accreditation, or so we were told. So we needed to do JAMB regularisation, which is the sole duty of the university.” He said everything demanded by the institution to effect the regularisation was done by the students. “We celebrated and our various parents were happy,” says Uche.
The celebration however remains stillborn till date. “We have been waiting since 2021,” continues Uche. “We are yet to see any platform to show that our programme is displayed in the NYSC portal. We did all the courses we needed to do. We did all our clearances. We paid all the fees we were required to pay. We did our internships respectively.”
“They Keep Making False Promises”
Agnes, one of the victims, accuses the management of FUAHSE of deliberately misleading them. “We started protesting around 2021,” says Agnes. “Then we held a meeting with the Dean, Students Affairs. He said the problem was being addressed. After 2021, we came as a group and met with the registrar. He then told us to write a letter. This was around 2022. Nothing happened since then. We kept coming, but were not allowed to have access to the VC. In 2023, we came again. They repeated that they were working on it. We held another protest in 2025. We went to the commissioner of police to get an approval letter for a protest. After the protest, the school management called us for a meeting. They told us to calm down, that they were working on it. We took pictures with them then. It has been promises since then.”
FUAHE’s Perceived Dubiousness
NewsNGR reports that FAUSE began admitting students into Dental Nursing Department around 2016 when the institution was ran as a polytechnic. It was then a National Diploma programme.
“I was admitted in 2017/2018 session for my ND, and then 2022 for HND,” narrates Meletus. “My certificate bears Federal School of Dental Technology. Then the school wasn’t a university. But my HND qualifies me to serve. The registrar told us then to do regularisation. We came in through supplementary, and not JAMB. Dental Nursing was not in the JAMB portal. If you are registering, you only see Dental Tech and Therapy. During our 200-levels, the sitting HOD then, Mohammed Ismaila Danjuma, told us to do JAMB regularisation so that we would be recognised by JAMB. Later they said that the one we did was not valid. That was after we had graduated. We did another in 2023. The management makes everything seem authentic by mobilising us to write our council exams, as well as internships. I did mine at Enugu State Dental Clinic. This is becoming a scam.”
He however said uncertainties gripped some of them when, in 2024, the then registrar told them that the VC said he was not aware that there is a department called Dental Nursing in the school. “Who has been collecting our fees?” he asked.
How Graduates’ Protests Halted Admissions Into Dental Nursing Department
FAUSE’s Department of Dental Nursing halted admission of students into its degree programme in 2024 following sustained protests by the graduates out of frustration. A staff member, whose identity is not established during an undercover interview, says FAUSE would have been running that programme if the graduates of that department did not sustain their protests and media campaign. “Many students who fail to gain admission into their choice courses are advised to enrol in the Department of Dental Nursing for their degree programmes,” reveals the worker. “We continued admitting and churning out graduates until 2024 when it was put to a halt. We have about five stranded sets. But I know their matter would soon be resolved.”
Ada, one of the victims, indicts the VC, Dr John Moimo. She says, “In our year one, Dr Moimo John, the then rector and incumbent vice chancellor, promised us that we were going to graduate as registered dental nurses and registered midwives. At the end of the course, we left as Registered Dental Nurses, RDN, only. We spent four years here.”
More Lamentations
Ezinne got a provisional job through a ‘strong’ recommendation. “I was given a provisional job,” quoting her. “I was given November 2026 to present my NYSC discharge certificate. The implication is that by November this year, without the discharge certificate or an exemption letter, I shall make an inglorious exit from my current work place. I’ve become useless to my parents.”
Ezinne’s fate is as worrisome as that of Ngozi, a set of 2020. “I graduated before the conversion of the dental school to a university,” Ngozi begins her story. “I managed to get a job as an auxiliary nurse. My job is not secured. I have lost glaring opportunities, including scholarships and well-paying jobs because of this insensitivity by this university. With my HND, I am duly qualified to serve my country. They are well aware of what they did; still they continued to admit more students for degree programmes. It is fraud.”
Another victim is demanding her exemption letter. “I’m over 30,” she retorted. “I graduated at 26. I was duly qualified to serve then. Currently, I have gone past the age limit. Let me even get an exemption letter to justify my schooling here. My parents see me as a bad model for my siblings. I have also lost my suitor who wanted a health worker to marry. He couldn’t trust my reasons. All these are the prices of attending this institution where lies are elevated to truth by the authorities.”
Uju Igwe, from Ezeagu, labels the money she spent at the university as a waste. “I spent over N3m in this course, including school fees, textbooks and departmental dues. We were about forty in my class. Our parents are worried. We are also disturbed about our future. It is as if we went to school to squander our parents’ money. We are not fighting, we are pleading. NYSC is a right. I am not working anywhere because they keep asking me to tender my NYSC certificate. I was admitted in 2019, and graduated in 2024.”
“Before my professional colleagues, I lack the boldness to call myself a dental nurse,” John says in an interview. “I look like someone who went to a side hospital to learn nursing. They would ask me to present my NYSC as a proof.”
While the stranded graduates keep hoping and complaining, the response from the management seems unsatisfactory.
Give Us More Time, FAUSE Speaks After Media Snub
Last November, when NewsNGR wrote the VC to hear his own side of the story, apart from acknowledging the letter by his receptionist, one C. Eyo, a lawyer, neither the VC nor any agent of the university responded to our inquiry.
However, the university was compelled to issue a release after the protest by the graduates in February, 2026.
Its Public Relations Officer, Kayode Taiwo, wrote, “All graduates of the institution are fully trained professionals in their respective fields and are qualified to practise without hindrance. The delay, which is not unconnected with the transition of the college to a full-fledged university, impacted the mobilisation process. However, the situation has now been put under control, and necessary steps are being taken.”
He claimed that the affected graduates had been duly registered and licensed by their respective professional bodies, including the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria and the Dental Therapists Registration Board of Nigeria. “These certifications provide them with the professional recognition required for gainful employment. The university is fully aware of the need for mobilisation, and this will be done in due course as all pending issues are being resolved.”
It’s Not About Certification, But NYSC – NMCN
When contacted, an official of the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria, on condition of anonymity, said the affected graduates did their induction. “But you know, the matter is about their NYSC discharge certificates. Most agencies demand the discharge certificates or exemption letters. Let the authorities do the needful, and avoid given cheap reasons. Or they should employ them to work in the university.”
This WHISTLER report was done with the support of Civic Media Lab
