Cultism: a societal menace

By Olaoluwa Ayodele

Cultism started more than six decades ago in Nigeria with the noble idea of defending humanistic ideals, promoting comradeship and healthy academic rivalry among students. Unfortunately, it has now become a societal menace.
Several campuses have been turned into “war zones” as students terrorize one another all in the name of fraternity.

The group is often saddled with conflicting interest and ideas. They aim at maintaining ‘supremacy’ on campuses and by so doing, they cause havoc while trying to establish their supremacies. Cult students kill one another in the name of cult wars; they threaten to kill their lecturers for extra marks that will ensure their success in the university and intimidate innocent people and dispossess them of their properties.

Thousands of lives have being lost to cultist related activities and many innocent lives with promising future have been ruined or shortened.

In Nigeria, cultism has continued to pose a major threat to academic programs and moral standards in our society. The menace has gone beyond tertiary institutions where it was known to be prevalent and had now penetrated the walls of institutions of lower education. There are reports of junior secondary school students involved in occult practices

It was gathered that children are been initiated into the secret cult by receiving of gift items from members of the cult. They tend to use these gift items to entice them and lure them into secret places where they are being initiated.
The Nigeria Police Force has expressed concern over the increase rate of cultism in primary and secondary schools in the country and has urged parents and guardians to pay adequate attention to the whereabouts of their children and wards, especially the kind of company they keep.

The police force further explained that it is not only the duty of the government to provide security for the younger generations but also a vital role of the parent to keep watch on their wards so as to curb cultism to the minimum in the society.