A CRITICAL LOOK ON THE PROBLEM AND SOLUTION TO CULTISM IN OUR TERTIARY INSTITUTION (EDUCATION PROJECT TOPICS AND MATERIALS)
CHAPTER ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
The role of education in the development of a society has been vastly documented in academic journals, and we do not intend to revisit it here. This section will concentrate on the need for Nigerian leaders to pay close attention to the needs of the educational sector, and treat it as a public-health issue, because the sociopolitical and economic development of a nation and (or her health) is, in many ways, determined by the quality and level of educational attainment of the population. Political leaders should take politics out of education, as the continued neglect of this sector would lead to social paralysis. The youth should be given the appropriate quality academic training and an environment that would enable them to reach their full potential.
Nigeria has toilet with some educational programs, which have only served as conduits to transfer money to the corrupt political leaders and their cronies. For instance, the nation launched the Universal Primary Education (UPE) in 1976, but as noted, the program failed due to lack of fund necessitated by corruption, among other factors. Nigeria has again launched another mass-oriented education program, this time branding it the Universal Basic Education (UBE). The President, Olusegun Obasanjo, declared during the launching of the program in Sokoto that the nation ‘cannot afford to fail this time around.” However, not long after that, the federal government reported that the falling standard of education in Nigeria is caused by “acute shortage of qualified teachers in the primary school level.” It is reported that about 23 percent of the over 400,000 teachers employed in the nation’s primary schools do is the minimum educational requirement one should posses to teach in the nation’s primary schools (Ogbeifum and Olisa; The Vanguard Online, July 1, 2001.
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Education has been traditionally thought of as the preparation, learning, acquisition of certain things because they will be useful. It is a preliminary to something more important to happen later on. Childhood is only a preparation for adult life, and adult life for another life. Also, the future, not the present has been the significant thing in education. Education is thought of also as something needed by some human being merely because of their interdependence on others. We are borne ignorant, unversed, unskilled, immatured and consequently in a state of social dependence. Instruction, training, and moral discipline are processes by which the adult gradually raises the helpless to the point where they can fend for themselves. The business of childhood is to grow into independence of adulthood, through the guidance of those who have already attained it.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
In the late 40s, the higher institutions in Nigeria were not associated with secret societies. The first secret cult in Nigeria came into existence in 1952 when a group of seven students led by Professor Wole Soyinka, Olumuyiwa Are, Ralph Opara, D,. Aig-Imokhuede, Tunji Tubi and Olu Aguuloye founded the Seadogs Confraternity (a.k.a Pyrate) in the University of Ibadan. The sole objective of founding the cult was to fight colonialism, ensure the dignity of man and to rid the Nigerian society of elitism and tribalism. Its members engaged in humanitarian activities such as donation of blood to hospitals to save lives and presentation of gifts to orphanages, to assist the helpless in the society. “Everything we did then was healthy, firm harmless and above board” recalled Muyiwa Awe, one of the founding fathers. Although they left school for different locations they remained members of the organization.
