.Achieves 48 years Idahosa’s dream of training medical students

By Ozioruva Aliu

BENIN CITY – THE management of the Benson Idahosa University (BIU) in Benin City on Wednesday said the school has got accreditation to run its medical programme by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN).

By the accreditation, the school said it was set to conduct Part II and Part III Professional Examinations in Medicine and graduate its first set of medical doctors by 2028.

The Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof. John Aroye Okhuoya, announced this development on Wednesday during a press conference held at the university in Benin City where he said the achievement was a dream the founder of the University, late Archbishop Benson Idahosa had 48 years ago when he established the Faith Medical Complex to help treat those whose faith may not be enough to heal them and his dream of training medical doctors through the University.

He said the accreditation followed a rigorous assessment by a 13-member MDCN team that visited the university on June 23 and 24, 2026 adding that the Council also approved an increase in the university’s admission quota for medicine from 50 to 100 students.

“This achievement represents far more than regulatory approval. It is a resounding vote of confidence in our faculty, infrastructure, clinical training facilities, governance, and commitment to producing medical professionals who will compete favourably anywhere in the world,” he said.

Prof. Okhuoya said within the same period, the National Universities Commission (NUC) also approved three new academic programmes for the university with effect from the 2026/2027 academic session.

The newly approved programmes are Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) in Cyber Security, Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) in Software Engineering, and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Law.

“While we celebrate today, we are already focused on tomorrow. Over the next two years, Benson Idahosa University will leverage these milestones as the foundation for an even more ambitious phase of growth. We will continue to expand our clinical training capacity, deepen research and innovation, strengthen international academic collaborations, invest further in cutting-edge infrastructure, attract world-class faculty, and position our College of Medical Sciences among the most respected medical training institutions in Nigeria and beyond

“At Benson Idahosa University, we do not measure success by accreditation alone. We measure success by the quality of graduates we produce, the impact of our research, the strength of our values, and the difference we make in society.”

He said the school has produced outstanding students including 12 law students who graduated with First Class and repeated the same feat in the Law School, a development he said has earned them scholarship to the University of Cambridge for their post graduate studies.

The Vice-Chancellor called on the Federal Government to lift the ban preventing private universities from benefiting from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TERTFund) as he said products of private universities were contributing financially to the scheme.