Prof. Bilkis Lafiaji-Okuneye, the Vice-Chancellor, Lagos State University of Education, LASUED, has stated that 4,500 prospective students would be subjected to drug tests before being admitted in the school.
Lafiaji-Okunneye, who narrated the panic a drug-addicted student created in the school months ago, said that the measure had become imperative to sanitise the university community.
The educationist said that LASUED authorities had liaised with the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, in the university’s 2024/25 admissions.
The LASUED boss stressed that no matter how sterling a student’s University Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME, and the Senior Secondary Certificate Examination, SSCE, results were, it would not confer the student an express admission until he or she was certified drug-free.
She acknowledged the extra cost of the drug tests to the school, but said that it was worth doing to foster students’ mental and academic coherence, and raise the standard for the new university.
“We are a teacher grooming institution, therefore we aim to instill in our would-be teachers the morals and discipline worthy of a teacher.
“This will enable them to impact the same on pupils and students alike after their career training here.
“These are going to be the nation’s teachers tomorrow so the institution is taking extra measures to make the best out of them, for you cannot give what you don’t have,” she said.
Lafiaji-Okuneye decried the influx of socially premature students into universities, and tasked parents to informally groom their children on social values.
The VC said parents should fortify their children with morals capable of warding off peer pressure that could lure them into drug use and other deviant behaviours on the campus.
She cautioned parents to allow their children progress in school at their pace rather than compel teachers and schools to promote them to higher classes, in spite of them not being qualified for the promotion.
She equally frowned at parents that patronise special centres to enable their children pass examinations such as the SSCE and UTME.
The vice-chancellor said that results obtained from miracle centres remained a fluke, and could not instill in the person the needed academic flair to persevere in tough times in the university.
Lafiaji-Okuneye expressed regrets over the recent surge in students withdrawal from the university, attributing it to students that came into the system with unearned certificates and were, therefore, unable to cope with the university standards.
In the same vein she applauded JAMB for the steady introduction of security features in its examinations, saying malpractices such as impersonation and others had declined drastically.
