Court Orders Unilorin To Pay N20m Damages To 2 PhD Students

[emezico]

A Federal High Court in Ilorin, Kwara State, has ordered the University of Ilorin (Unilorin) to pay damages of N20 million to two Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) candidates that were denied their degrees.

Also, the university was mandated to commence immediately, the process of examining the thesis that one of the plaintiffs had submitted since November 2001, leading to the award of his PhD within the next six months.

The court gave the order in a suit filed separately by the duo of Messrs Jolayemi Ademola Ayodeji and Olufemi Ibukun Dunmade, both of the Faculty of Arts in the institution.

Reviewing the submissions of the plaintiffs and the university, Justice Bilikisu Bello Aliyu said it was proved by Dunmade, for instance, that he had completed all that he needed to do as the PhD candidate, as attested to by the correspondences between him, his project supervisor and the faculty, only for the university to deny him his rights.

According to Tribune, the plaintiffs were part of the sacked Unilorin 49 lecturers.