Does UNICAL, NUC Have Duty Of Care To Students Admitted Into The University? BY GADA

This is the question the Gender and Development Action (GADA) along with concerned mothers of the University of Calabar (UNICAL) law students sought to know from the Federal High Court sitting in Calabar. However, on the 31st October 2024, after months of case work, Justice I. L. Ojukwu declined jurisdiction in the case, on grounds that the matter is for the National Industrial Court to address. The Gender and Development Action (GADA) is fully aware of the fact that the question has been posed and remains unaddressed.

While the court did not go into the material issues in the summons, suffice it to say that the circumstances of Prof. Cyril Ndifon’s ascension as Dean of the Faculty of Law in the University of Calabar raises questions of what amounts to due diligence. As concerned mothers of law students, when is a parent who has reason to worry, entitled to act upon an impending threat, if the University authorities are nonchalant about their responsibility to students and are willing to put their students in potential harm?

This is the bone of contention as there were many subsisting allegations of sexpliotation against Prof. Cyril Ndifon at the time he was made Dean. While the issue of his guilt or lack of it is secondary, mothers of female law students are asking his employers to show greater accountability for the omissions and commissions of their agents and employees.

By highlighting the need for accountability by UNICAL and other tertiary institutions for potentially hazardous actions of their employees, GADA is calling to contention the contractual nature of the relationship between staff and employer as well as the implied duty of care that comes with each admission letter that is offered and accepted by a student.

Not only is this a matter of contract but one of the promotion and protection of the fundamental human rights of citizens against exploitation. GADA sees these concerns are matters of inalienable human rights.

In its judgment, the court was of the view that the case falls outside the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court, which does not infer that those advocating for UNICAL to be accountable especially for their female students are on a frolic of their own.

GADA is a leading National Non Governmental Organization committed to women’s rights and the reduction of gender-based violence in Nigeria. Most tertiary institutions in Nigeria are notoriously rift with sexual exploitation and other forms of gender-based violence and GADA calls for a state of emergency to be declared around trends promoting sex for marks.

Gender and Development Action (GADA) is an NGO fighting gender-based violence and women’s rights and based in Calabar, Cross River State.

NB: Opinions expressed in this article are strictly attributable to the author, GADA, and do not represent the opinion of CrossRiverWatch or any other organization the author works for/with.