Checking incidence of cultism in tertiary institutions

All evidence in the country today, portends a rising culture of barbarism and bloodletting among the student population of Nigeria’s institutions of higher learning. No day passes without the sad news of university or polytechnic students murdering their fellow peers in show of battle for supremacy. Definitely, the frequency of such cold-blooded atrocities is not only alarming; it is approaching an epidemic level. It is therefore imperative that the authorities act with dispatch to arrest this embarrassing anomaly. Rather than devout time to academic learning and scholarship, most students have become engrossed in grisly cult rituals on campuses, which have turned these citadels of higher learning into killing fields. There is hardly any academic semester without cult clashes and related activities, often leading to the death of students and at times lecturers. Cultism has continued to be a very embarrassing problem facing Nigeria’s tertiary institutions. Various deadly factions have mushroomed in our campuses, all with their gory rituals and mind-bending initiation rites.
As at last count, there are more than 90 different cult groups on campuses, with each perpetrating nefarious acts to cause mayhem among students and lecturers. Unfortunately, academic calendars of our tertiary institutions are constantly disrupted due to cult clashes. A key feature of these confraternities is the fact that they keep their activities secret and they have different forms of attires and symbols or signs which they use in self-branding.
In addition, cultists carry out their activities at the dead of the night but in recent times, they have become barefaced. These groups try to recruit fellow students into their ranks and those who refuse are always brutally assaulted. Many reasons have been adduced for the increasing rise of cult groups on our campuses. Social commentators posit that it is the microcosm of the Nigerian society, where societal values and norms have since gone to the dogs. They believe that our values are not only confused but also intrinsically defective and counterproductive.
Despite all efforts to tackle the menace, secret cults in our institutions of higher learning have defied solutions. Unfortunately, because of their cruel dispositions, the general academic performances of most students have fallen below average signaling a bleak future for the country. It is therefore time Nigerians of all persuasions stand up against this monster and menace. We cannot speak of building a justice system that punishes felons when the justices are felons.
We cannot reform the university system when the future provosts and vice chancellors are cultists who threatened their professors for good class scores. It is impossible to raise children who respect the law when the dominant parent is a perpetual outlaw. Security should be stepped up within and around our tertiary institutions to checkmate the carrying of arms and illegal weapons into the campuses. The havoc of cultism in our campuses is enormous and if not properly checked, it would transform into a monstrous ‘Gorgon’ and in no distant time make the campuses unconducive to academic learning.