ABSTRACT
The issue of cultism has in spite of many efforts at reducing it, soared up in the Nigeria’s tertiary institutions. Cultism has cast gloom over the educational sector. It is repeatedly said that the youths are the future leaders but it is a little wonder what the future holds for the youth of this country which has a good proportion of her youth as secret cult member. It therefore became imperative to carefully redress the issue of cultism in our tertiary institution using ND2 paramedics in Institute of Health Technology, University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Edo State as a case study, where reason ruled over emotion. The causes of students’ involvement in cultism, the effects of cultism in tertiary institutions in Nigeria, and the strategies towards building a cultist free tertiary institutions in Nigeria was clearly outlined in the study. Undoubtedly, the issue has assumed horrifying proportion as cultic violence thrives even more. The main purpose of this study was to find out the causes, effects and strategies to stop cultism in tertiary institutions in Nigeria. It was discovered from the study that cultism among the students of tertiary institutions is real and urgent solutions is needed by government and institution at large to curb it. The parents must work closely with the institutions authority to arrive at a lasting solution.
CHAPTER ONE
1.0Â INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Before the mid-seventies, the offer of a university place in any Nigerian University to study for any degree was an honour. It was an achievement both for the prospective under graduate and his parents. Indeed, such feat was worthy of celebration as there were not many universities then, and it was only the best and the privileged few that were admitted into the few available places. That was in the days of the “Ivory Tower” concept of the Universities, when universities were repositories for high ideals and enviable academic traditions (Itedjere, 2006).
Today however, the story is different because cultism has invaded and has come to stay in tertiary institutions in Nigeria. Capturing the widening scope of the menace of cultism and its accompanying inimical effects, Eneji (1996) in Adewale (2005) asserts that cultism with its attendant violence, torture, suppression and unwarranted intimidation perpetrated by cult groups, has spread beyond institutions of higher learning to secondaryschools in Nigeria. Admittedly, the quality of higher education and learning depends not only on the content of teaching and curricular but also on the life on campus. In many Nigerian Universities, criminality, unrest and insecurity seriously harm the study situation. In Nigerian universities, a specific form of such social problems is the presence of secret cults. According to Itedjere (2006), the phenomenon of secret cult is not necessarily new in the Nigerian society. What is new perhaps is their character and methods of operation. Their origins, activities and character are determined by the contemporary social problems and the prevailing social economic exigencies of the time.
