Besides decrepit facilities
and general appalling fall in the standard of education, the most essential problem facing tertiary institutions in Nigeria today is the problem of cultism. There is hardly any existing single institution of higher learning in the country that has not experienced the menace of cultism at one time or the other.
The Free English Dictionary defines cultism as a religious belief generally considered to be extremist or false, with its followers often living in an conventional manner under the guidance of an authoritarian and charismatic leader.
The cult itself, according to Longman Contemporary Dictionary, is a group of people with a religious, philosophical or cultural identity sometimes viewed as a sect, often existing on the margin of society and exploitative towards its members.
Studies have shown that cult is an enclosed organised group devoted to a certain cause or belief, whose activities are exclusively kept away from the knowledge of others. Its policies, constitution, membership and modus operandi are carried out in secret, mostly at odd hours, and often clash with the values of everyday life. Members of this group always commit themselves to oath taking and allegiance which serves as their strong bond.
In a nutshell, cultism can be defined as a ritual practice by a group of people bonded by oath or allegiance, whose membership, admission, initiation, policy, motive and mode of operation are kept secret, with their activities having negative effects on both members and non-members alike.
The origin of campus cultism dates back to 1952 when Wole Soyinka (now a Nobel Laureatte and Professor of Literature) and a group of six other students formed the Pyrates Confraternity at the premier University of Ibadan. The group was established with the noble aim of protecting the interest of indigent students against the oppression of the elite students, as well as fighting against the injustice being melted on students by lecturers and school authorities.
It was observed then that the University was populated by children of the elite who oppressed their indigent counterparts with their social status and ostentatious lifestyle that were then associated with the colonial masters.
For almost 20 years, studies show that the Pyrates Confraternity was the only cult group on Nigerian Campus. However, due to doctrinal differences and the inability of many intending members to meet the required standard of the Pyrates, other groups such as Buccaneers, Vickings, Mafia, Eiye Confraternity, Black Axe sprang up. Since then, the number of cult groups in campuses has swollen up.
Today, there are dozens of cult groups, even female ones, in various tertiary institutions across the country, bearing different names such as Black Cats, Trodjan Horse, Black Panthers, Black Scorpions, The Executioners, Black Beret, the Twelve Disciples, White Angels, Amazons, Daughters of Jezebel, Black Brassieres, among others.
Regrettably, what started as an innocuous students pressure group in 1952 has metarmorphosed into a dangerous sect that now menaces all campuses of tertiary institutions in the country. The core reason for establishing the first campus cult group in Nigeria, which is the Pyrates Confraternity otherwise known as Association of Seadogs has been jettisoned. Mindless bloodletting, rape of female students, intimidation of lecturers for good grades, examination malpractices etc are now associated with campus cultism.
The activities of cult groups on campuses are, however, without fatal consequences. For instance, few months ago, the lives of four students of the Abia State University, (ABSU), Uturu, were cut short during a clash between two rival cult groups who were entangled in supremacy battle. One of them, a 24 year old final year student, was the only male child of a prominent Nigerian.
A similar cult clash resulted in the death of a final year student of Law at the Imo State University, sometimes ago. The student (name withheld) who was alleged to be a member of a cult group was felled on the day of his final examination by a rival cult group which was said to have been on his trail.
Meanwhile, many students have been expelled from school due to their involvement in cultism.
In spite of this sanction and various evils associated with cultism in tertiary institutions, the menace has continued to fester like wounds.
Various researches have shown that students find cultism fashionable for various reasons. These include the followings:
Search for Needs and Aspirations: The Tide’s investigation shows that many students engage in cultism in order to ensure academic success for themselves and their friends. This is common among less academically endowed students who use their membership of cult group to intimidate lecturers to pass them.
Search For Security and Protection: It was also found out that many students, especially the female ones enlist in cult groups with a mission to protecting themselves from the aggressiveness of make students and lecturers.
A female student of the Abia State University, Uturu, Amarachi Ojike Kalu, who lost her mobile phone and money to members of a cult group during an attack, recently, stated that the oppression of female students by their male counterparts, as well as the harassment of female students by male lecturers, have forced many female students to join cult groups.
Although she condemns cultism in whatever disguise, Kalu said the membership of cult group emboldens female students to resist any intimidation or harassment by either male students or lecturers.
Search For Responsibility: An educationist, Ivor Ogidefa, in his article “Cultism in Educational Institutions in Nigeria: Causes, Possible Solutions and Counseling Implications”, stated that some students join cult group in order to perform certain services for their members.
According to him, some students in a bid to resist or fight perceived injustice against their friends, relatives or loved ones, decide to join cult groups.
This was corroborated by a student of ABSU (name withheld) who told our correspondent that he had to join a campus cult group to protect his cousin and girlfriend who were being harassed by some guys in the school.
Search For Social Identity: The Tide’s investigation shows that this is the most common and potent reason why campus cultism thrives in Nigeria. It was learnt that many students in their desire to gain respect and recognition of other students enlist in cult groups.
According to Ogidefa, some students join cult group because they want to achieve popularity, or influence decisions on campus especially during the students union elections.
Meanwhile, there are other reasons responsible for campus cultism. These include poor parental or home background, especially when parents or guardians are themselves member of secret cults, while other factors are borne out of excessive parental discipline or lack of it at all, as is the case with children of the elite who have no time to train their children properly.
Again, many youth are into cultism in order to gain financial assistance from prominent men, especially politicians. It is the trend in the society nowadays for politicians to recruit student cultists from various campuses to bring down their opponents or cause electoral violence during elections, in return for paltry sums.
Most ridiculous of these factors is the inferiority complex factor. This is common among the less privileged students who, for fear of being humiliated by others, join cult groups.
A story was told of a male student who joined a cult group just because he wanted to have a love affair with a female counterpart, but was not bold enough to initiate the relationship. He, therefore, resorted to intimidation of the lady, having joined a cult group.
How then can the menace of cultism be tackled or eliminated in institutions of higher learning?
While many people said that there should be a total clampdown on students cultist on various campuses in the country, some recommend amnesty for student cultists, like the one the Rivers State governor, Chief Nyesom Wike granted to cultists in Rivers State. Many others, however, appealed to parents, guardians, religious bodies and schools to redirect the minds of the youths towards things and virtues that will benefit them and the society.
According to a security expert, Mr. Clem Nwagbara, the best way to eliminate cultism in various schools is to clamp down on cultism, using the law enforcement agencies like the Police and the Department of Security Service (DSS).
“With the cooperation of the school authorities and non-cultists among students, it is easy to fish out the bad eggs among the students. All it takes is for the school authorities and innocent students to cooperate with security agents”, he said.
Meanwhile, a student of Michael Okpara University, Umudike, Abia State, Bright Treasure Nwankwo said the establishment of anti-cultists group which would be made up of some members of the school authorities, repentant cultists who have renounced cultism and security agents is necessary on various campuses.
According to him, the involvement of ex-cultists in the anti-cultists group would make it easy for the security agencies to track down student cultists in various schools.
However, a motivational speaker, Alex Ogboru advised the authorities of various institutions to first of all declare amnesty for students who may be willing to renounce cultism before declaring war on them.
He said, “Some students may be willing to renounce cultism having seeing the negative effect of it. But they may be afraid of being attacked by their groups or expelled by the school authorities”.
However, in the opinion of Mrs Deborah Njoku, a secondary school teacher, the best way to eliminate cultism among youth is for parents and other stakeholders in the training of youth to redirect the minds of young people towards meaningful endeavours.
She blamed many parents and guardians for not living up to the expectation in the area of training and proper upbringing of their children and wards. She also faulted some schools and religious bodies for promoting western culture at the expense of moral values, appealing to parents, teachers and churches to be molders of character and builders of tomorrow.
Nwankwo is a student of Abia State University, Uturu

MaryRose Nwankwo