A lecturer in the Department of Educational Administration, University of Lagos, Dr Feidu Sule,recently  said closer monitoring of children by parents could help reduce the incidence of cultism on campuses.

Dr Sule said this at the university of Lagos,  Wednesday,  against the backdrop of the reported killing of two students  at the university by suspected cult members.

According to him, some parents have failed to find out the type of friends their children keep or call them to order whenever they go astray.

“Our society is very corrupt and encourages all forms of vices; some parents have neglected their duties and abandoned their children when they needed them most,“ he said.

The lecturer urged parents to ensure they interact with their children regularly and not be far from them because they were already in higher institutions.

He also tasked university authorities to strengthen their internal security systems to curb the activities of cult members.

The lecturer noted that many universities had porous internal security systems, which allowed those who were not students of the institutions, as well as some rusticated ones, to interfere with their activities.

He also urged university authorities to load the students with academic and extracurricular activities, which would give them less time to engage in such vices.

“The school authorities, parents, the society and students, all share in the blame for increased cult clashes in our universities,’’ he said.

He, however, noted that some universities “had been able to reduce social vices to the barest minimum because they have identified ways to tackle the menace”,

An educationist, Mrs Eunice Alabi, also spoke in similar vein, noting that cult activities continued to grow on campuses because some parents failed to monitor their children.

Alabi, the Director, Covenant Pearls Consult, Lagos, said some wealthy parents lavished money on their children without monitoring how they were spending it in school.

She said that some of such children ended up funding cult activities in some universities and regretted that some highly placed people, including lecturers, were also involved in cultism.

Alabi said the activities of cult members were condemnable and urged school authorities to also monitor their lecturers more closely and get rid of those found to be encouraging such students.

A parent, Mrs Laide Fatoki said that the federal government should impose stiffer penalties on those involved in cult activities.

Fatoki said that it was heartless for cult members to kill fellow students.

She also called on university authorities to strengthen security on their campuses.