PUNCH reports that parents of over 10,000 students of the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Bauchi (ATBU) rejected the compulsory toxicology test that was scheduled to take upon resumption for the next academic year to determine if they are into drugs or not. The students are also individually expected to sign a form titled ‘oat of Good Character And Compliance” attach to the test result which was to be submitted upon resumption.

The position of the school management followed the recent protest by students of the university following the murder of a 500 level geology student by assailants.

Joseph Agabaidu from Ankpa Local Government Area of Kogi State was stabbed to death on December 2, 2023 by suspected assailants while trying to retrieve his girlfriend’s bag from hoodlums at Yelwan Tudu market in Yelwa, a suburb of Bauch Metropolis around 7pm. He died at the hospital due to severe injuries.

The University management shut down the school for w eek on 3rd December in a bid to avoid any escalation of the incident but extended reopening to January 7, 2024.

The school management said, it took the measure in an effort to forestall any future protest and tackle the menace of drug abuse among students. The decision was made in the interest of the students to curb social vices but parents are not happy about this because the decision seemed insensitive and unfair after struggling to pay schools especially for those who have two or more children in the university. parents complained that they had already paid for medical test at the resumption of the students. parents are made to pay huge amount as much as N30k for toxicology tests.

The Academic staff union of the University are also not in support of the decision and were not consulted before the decision was taken.

culled from PUNCH