By Abiola Olawale
In a decisive move said to be aimed at addressing rising concern of drug abuse among Nigerian youths, the Federal Government has reportedly announced moves to establish a technical committee tasked with implementing mandatory drug testing for undergraduates in universities across the country.
This is coming on the heels of the Federal Ministry of Education’s collaboration with the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).
The Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, had on Wednesday announced federal government’s decision backing the introduction of compulsory and random drug integrity tests for students in tertiary institutions across the country.
This decision followed a meeting in Abuja with the Chairman and Chief Executive of the NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (retd.), where both parties were said to have discussed measures to curb substance abuse among students.
The New Diplomat checks reveal that the technical committee that will be responsible for developing a comprehensive framework for the drug testing program, including testing protocols, student privacy protections, and rehabilitation support for those who test positive, is already working ahead of schedule.
According to sources, the drug testing will be implemented on an estimated 800,000 undergraduate students.
The source said the data would be obtained from the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).
The New Diplomat checks further show that plans were being finalized for the exercise to kick off at the onset of the next academic session in schools.
The official said: “We have a technical working group already working on that. It’s something that will likely commence with the next academic session.
“The modalities, the details, are still being worked out. As I told you, there’s a technical working group, the NDLEA and the Ministry of Education are working on the modalities.
“Those already doing it, it’s already included in the medical fees in those schools.
“Those schools have medical centres, so it’s already part of the existing structure. And it’s not something expensive. For us, for example, I think it’s just about N5,000. For people already implementing it, it’s part of their medical billing.”
