The introduction of compulsory drug (toxicology) tests to all undergraduate students of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU), Bauchi to check the rate of drug abuse has been greeted with discordant tunes by students and parents, especially over its financial implications amidst economic hardships.
The management of ATBU had closed down the institution for five weeks following a students’ protest over the killing of a 500-level student, who was stabbed to death while trying to retrieve his girlfriend’s handbag from suspected robbers.
The management of the university said it took the decision to avert a breakdown of law because all its efforts to calm a segment of the students protesting proved abortive.
When the students resumed on Sunday, they were welcomed with new measures under a circular titled “Oath of Good Character and Compliance,” which asks the students to promise to be of good character and comply with the laid-down rules and regulations guiding the conduct of students of the university. They are also required to take an undertaking not to participate in any form of demonstration or protest.
The oath also includes an undertaking by students not to be involved in illicit drug usage and to undergo a toxicology test to check their state of mental health.
The Daily Trust reports that many students received the management’s decision to undergo the toxicology test with shock, especially the financial burden it will add to them and their parents.
One of the students told Daily Trust: “We received the information about the toxicology test with shock because many of us are grappling with the hike in tuition fees and transportation fares, among others. You need about N10,000 to do the test, and when you look at the situation, it will increase the hardship on the students.”
Another student, who also frowned at the decision of the management, said: “We have not had peace of mind since the protest following the death of one student who was killed outside the school premises. We managed to return to school and were confronted with a toxicology test. My major concern is not the test but the money for the test because I am battling with transportation from Gubi campus to Yelwa almost every day for lectures and to return to the hostel in Gubi at a cost of more than N1000 daily.”
A female student, who is from Benue State, said she was not aware of the medical test before leaving home, and almost everything had been budgeted. “The management has already punished the entire students with the abrupt shutdown of the school for more than four weeks. Those who organised and participated in the protest are just a fraction of the whole students, they’re just some dozens out of thousands. The introduction of the test has now unsettled us but we don’t have an alternative as ATBU students. but it’s really worrisome because we don’t have the money for the test.”
A parent of three students at ATBU, Alhaji Abdullahi, said he was not against the introduction of the drug test but the timing was not appropriate because the students were sent on unscheduled holidays and returned to face a hike in almost everything including transportation, handouts, and other learning materials.
Another parent, Malam Danladi, who accompanied his child back to school said: “The introduction of toxicology test for students is not a bad idea, but the timing is the problem because of the current economic hardship. We are battling with an increase in school fees and now have to face another expense that we did not plan for. Although they did not give a deadline for the test but we are appealing for them to give enough time for the students to conduct the test.”
When our correspondent visited the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Teaching Hospital (ATBU-TH), he observed many students in a queue at the medical laboratory complex waiting for the screening, and findings indicate that the toxicology test is being conducted at a cost of N8,400 in the hospital while some private medical laboratories charge N7,000.
When contacted, ATBU Director, Information and Public Relations, Alhaji Zailani Bappa, explained that everybody was aware of what happened recently at ATBU where some of the students displayed unacceptable behaviour which is unbecoming of any good student.
“We believe it has even gone over the bar and the university feels that it is very important that we protect the integrity of the university, the students and their parents. So believing that some of the students’ displays at that time showed that there was some influence of drugs and other substances. We had so many security reports and many experts who followed what had happened advised the university appropriately that we should be checking our students to make sure that under this kind of situation in Nigeria today, our students are not under hard drugs and so on.
“Because this is the stepping stone towards not only unacceptable behaviour but also tackling cultism and other unethical practices, the most important thing is for the university to protect its integrity because whenever we are awarding them degrees we always say we found them worthy in character first before we say learning.“So, that character is very important. If anybody does not have home training, he cannot be allowed to come and spoil others who are well trained at home to become a nuisance at the university or even smear the name of the institution. This is the reason why the university made it compulsory for all students returning to do this test to make sure they’re clean.”
Bappa also said the university’s management has engaged the services of experts to verify the results of the tests brought in by each student.
“We have our medical team that will verify the medical reports the students bring and will be able to trace those that are fake.
“The university will detect all these things and make sure that all the students that are bad are brought under control because we know sometimes it is bad influence that makes some students become drug addicts. We are not going to dismiss them or whatever but we will help them out of the problem because that is the duty of the university, to train the young ones and help them out of the problem they happen to find themselves in, he added.
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