The 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, has called for urgent scrutiny and intervention in the ongoing crisis affecting dental students at the University of Calabar (UNICAL).

This was as the former Governor of Anambra State opined that no student should suffer due to institutional lapses.

Obi, who made this call in a statement issued via his verified X handle on Saturday, described the concerning situation as a result of failed leadership.

Saturday Telegraph gathered that the development followed the graduation and induction quotas of dental students at UNICAL.

According to the economic expert, he was briefed about the pressing situation following his visit to the Faculty of Dental Studies at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN).

He wrote, “Whatever the root cause, one thing is clear: no student should suffer due to what I consider a failure of leadership.

“We must give our youth the necessary education, particularly in critical fields like science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.”

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Citing the lapses and strains in the educational system, Obi highlighted personal efforts made to provide relief. Within 8 months, the politician claimed that his administration had built and commissioned the Odumegwu Ojukwu Teaching Hospital, Awka.

“Students who had already spent 3 to 4 years studying medicine were told they could only graduate as biologists or in other science courses.”

“I had assumed office, barely one year in, when I met the crisis, but I refused to let those innocent students become victims,” he recounted

Amid the advocacy, he also added that the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria was sceptical about the construction of a teaching hospital within two years

“They told me it was impossible to build such a facility in two years. But I insisted, because leaders must be solution-driven, especially when the lives and futures of our young people are at stake.”