The outgoing Vice Chancellor, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU) in Bauchi State, Prof. Muhammad AbdulAziz has advocated that drug test should also be administered on lecturers and not only the students.
AbdulAziz stated this in Bauchi on Friday during the handing over ceremony while delivering his valedictory speech to the Senate of the University.
According to him, this would further sanitise the university system and promote sanctity as well as academic excellence.
“We have discussed with the Federal Ministry of Education and they want to introduce to all universities that before any student would be registered in the universities, he must undergo drug tests.
“As such, if students would undergo drug tests, I felt that even some of us, the staff, need to undergo this drug test so that we know our status because we can not be asking our students to go for a drug test whereas we are not conducting the test.
“We also have to volunteer to have this test done to us because we have to sanitize the university. The character is very important for all of us
“If the students are to be subjected to drug tests to determine their mental health status, nothing is wrong if the lecturers too are subjected to the same test. That is the only way to check excesses in the University system,” he said.
He said that the modest achievements recorded in the areas of infrastructural development, academic content development and community services during his tenure could not have been possible without the support of all stakeholders in the system.
He appreciated the federal government for the support rendered to the University through the Federal Ministry of Education and its various agencies like the National Universities Commission and the Tertiary Education Trust Fund.
Also speaking, the Acting Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof. Sani Kunya, said that the handing over marked the beginning of the responsibility the Senate of the institution bestowed on him.
He expressed gratitude to the Senate of the University for finding him worthy of the honour and to the Federal Government of Nigeria for the confirmation.
“I want to assure you that your valuable confidence in me will not be disappointing.
“I shall do everything within my capability to build on the legacies of my predecessors in terms of maintaining and improving academic excellence,” he assured.