Experts have lamented the increasing dimension of cultism which have resurged in some campuses and also reared its ugly head on the streets.
Educationist, Jossy Inalegwu blamed the schools; state agencies and the society for not doing enough to curb cultism.
He added that government and private organizations should make every possible effort to tackle the root causes of out-of-school-children, create more jobs and policies that create an enabling environment.
“Cultism has extended its tentacles to the street not just in campus. Different cult groups are rearing their ugly heads as the youths in the land have become victims of the high unemployment rate. To curb this holistically, government and private organizations should make every possible effort to create more jobs and entrepreneurial trainings.
“Stricter laws should be made to punish deterrents with the system tailored to reform and not worsen the criminal and make him worse than when the person went to prison.”
Writer and education expert, Michael Omisore also weighing in on the dangerous trend on cultism stated that a society deserves what it does and exposes its teeming youths to. He stated that with the report of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) which stated Nigeria has the largest number of out-of-school children globally, with only 63 percent of primary school children regularly attending school, the doorway to idleness, illiteracy and vices which are what cult-like groups indulge in, is wide open.
“Unleashing of vices like cultism is not just a threat to peaceful coexistence but an assault on our collective conscience. It is also psychological. There are definitely ways that authority or the state can deal with it, but there are ways society itself can offer an impermeable shield, firm and thick enough to keep many more youths away from vices.”
Using an acronym, ‘CURVE’ which stands for Courage, Understanding, Responsibility, Values and Expectation, Omisore noted that the challenge is that society prepares students for exams but do not prepare them for life, adding that life happens before, during and after exams.
He also advocated for the strengthening of family systems and both parent being involved in the life of each child, using the scripture, “Train Up A Child The Way He Should Go And When He Grows Up, He Won’t Depart From It’.
