Ills of Cultism in Tertiary Institutions in Nigeria
Chapter One
Purpose of The Study
- Find out the social factors that lead to students’ campus cultism in tertiary departments in the Niger Delta University.
- Determine the relationship between Cultism and academic performance of students.
- Find measures that can effectively control campus cult activities in tertiary departments in the Niger Delta University
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Concept of Cultism
It has never been easy to give a comprehensive definition of the term ‘Cult’. This is because the term cultism could be applied to a wide range of groups and could convey different meaning by different users. Okwu (2006) cited Denga (1991) where the author defined cultism as a system of religious belief and practices or ideology. Also, Orukpe (1998) noted that ‘Cults are a group of people who share and propagate peculiar secret beliefs divulged only to Member’.
Occultism or possession of mystical power is often associated with cults. The veracity of this is difficult to ascertain because of their secret modus operandi. Cult can be seen as a group of people that are devoted to a particular cause. In real sense cult per se is not evil, it is rather the anti-societal behaviour of its members that make it to be evil and a cause of concern to society.
According to the Free Encyclopedia (2010), the literal and traditional meaning of the word ‘Cult’ is derived from the Latin word ‘Cultus’ meaning ‘Care’ or ‘Adoration’. To the sociologist of religion, the term is used to describe ‘a loosely knit organization not characterized by tolerance and open mindedness in matter of belief and practice, while in the media and everyday conversion the word suggests a spurious, secretive, sinister and harmful group’ (Albatross , 2006). Lalich and Langone (2006) made the following remarks about the behaviour of cultists – the group displays excessively zealous and unquestionable commitment to its leader and regards his belief system, ideology and practices as the truth. The authors noted that questioning, doubts and dissents are discouraged or even punished.
Rotimi (2005) asserted that the secret cult phenomenon is not new in Africa. Citing Aguda (1997), the author observed that activities of secret cults, like ‘Human Leopards’ and ‘Human crocodiles’, have been recorded in Central Africa. Furthermore in citing Thomas (2002), the author stated that cultist groups enjoy subtle support and patronage from both government and school authorities. Cult members were sometimes used by politicians for revenge and for setting personal scores. He went on to state that in some cases, past members who had migrated to foreign countries some times remitted money to support their former cult groups.
Campus Cultism
Cultism is an anti-social behaviour which is a deviant act. It is at variance with the established norms of behaviour. It is a non-conforming behaviour which usually contravenes the social rules of an institution in particular and the society in general. In spite of the negative consequences of cultism, it still thrives. Literature showed that secret societies have a mode of operation and behaviour by which they can identify as not only groups but secret groups.
According to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (Enactment) Decree 1978 … “A secret society means a cultural or association, not being solely secret signs, oaths, rites or symbols whose meetings are under oath, obligation to promote the interest of its members or to aid one another under all circumstances without due regard to merit, fair play or justice, to the detriment of the legitimate expectation of those who are not members.” The nature of secret cults is as much practicable shrouded in secrecy by members. This fact was appreciated by Nwanze (1991 and 1994). They observed that they all shared one thing in common. They operated secretly and their activities and sign were decidedly esoteric to the uninitiated.
Evidence by the leader of the society and also the 1st accused, which was corroborated by that of nine other prosecuting witnesses, explained how the meeting venue of the society was made inaccessible to non-members thereby concealing the nature of the meeting. Admission of new of the members was through a written application. The applications are normally destroyed at initiation for security reasons.
Hierarchy in operation and responsibility is strongly adhered to. The leader of the fraternity is called a “Body Guard”. The member who performs the initiation is called “Bishop”. There are advisers called “Consiglory”. Rules and regulations are enforced down the line. The initiation venue is called “House” is out of knowledge of new members and no two new members know themselves and they do not know the old members except the one receiving the application from the new member who also introduce the new initiate to the society. At the appropriate time of 11.00 pm on the initiation day, the new initiates are taken to the venue of the initiation. As they approach the venue, they are blindfolded using their shirts, and their backs becoming bare. The initiates are now ordered to lie on the ground face down and the process of initiation called “Physical Fitness Test” commences. During this process, old members use sticks, clubs, etc to viciously whip the new initiates. The whipping process is called “Massaging”, it lasts for 30 minutes after which the initiates are allowed to rest. They are offered bread, unripe mango and illicit gin in large quantity. A salty liquid is used to rob on their backs to make them hot.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Design of the Study
The design was a correlational survey. Nworgu (2006) defined correlatonal survey as a type of study that seeks to establish what relationship exists between two or more variables. Usually such studies indicate the direction and magnitude of the relationship between the variables. This study established the relationship among variables of Cultism and academic performance of students.
Population of the Study
The population of this study consisted of students in college of education Ekiadolo. Available statistics show that there are 10,790.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULTS PRESENTATION
4.1 What are the factors that lead to students’ secret cultism in tertiary departments in the Niger Delta University?
Table I: Mean and Standard deviation on factors that lead to students’ secret cultism in tertiary departments in the Niger Delta University.
CHAPTER FIVE
CONCLUSIONS, RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUMMARY
Summary of the Study
The study was on the relationship among Cultism and academic performance of students in college of education Ekiadolor, Bayelsa State Nigeria.
The researcher discovered that in-school adolescent are found loitering about when lesson is going and watching film at video centre. It is this act that necessitated the present study in investigating relationship among Cultism, and academic performance of students in college of education Ekiadolor, Bayelsa State, Nigeria.
The purpose of the study generally was to investigate the relationship among Cultism, time management and academic performance of students in college of education Ekiadolor. The main purpose of the study was to:
- Find out the levels of the Cultism among in-school
- Determine the relationship between peer pressure and academic performance of students.
- Determine the relationship between time management and academic performance of in-school
- Determine the relationship among Cultism, time management and academic performance of students with regards to
Some related literature were reviewed concerning the study. Five research questions and three null hypothesis were formulated to guide the study. The population of the study was ten thousand seven hundred and ninety (10,790). A thirty-two item research questionnaire was developed; it was administered to SS II students. A correlational survey method was used for the study. students in (SS II) composed the population from which a sample of 500 in- school adolescents was drawn in four local governments that made up the College of education Ekiadolor. They were composed using random sampling and purposive sampling technique. The instrument for data collection used was a researcher’s made questionnaire titled “Relationship among Cultism, time management and academic performance of students in college of education Ekiadolor, Bayelsa State Nigeria”. The instrument was validated by three experts from University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Two of the experts are from Educational Foundations (Guidance and Counselling) and one from Measurement and Evaluation of the Faculty of Education. Reliability of the instrument was tested using Cronbach Alpha for the internal consistency. The administration of the questionnaire was done by the researcher with the help of research assistants. The data were analyzed using mean and standard deviation, Pearson product moment of correlation coefficient while hypothesis was tested at 0.05 level of significance using multiple regression analysis.
Conclusions of the Study
In light of the findings obtained in this study, the following conclusions are made.
- The finding implies that as students experience Cultism, the ability of them performing well academically may not be
- This shows that negative Cultism can bring about poor academic performance.
- The medium positive relationship between time management and academic performance implies that proper management of time enhances a better academic performance while the reverse is the
Educational Implications of the Study
This study has a number of implications:
The result of this study has some obvious implications to teachers, guidance counselor, the society and the students. The findings have revealed that their exist a low level of Cultism among students in college of education Ekiadolor means that the relationship exist is the one that makes them to know why they are in school and also disassociate themselves from bad friends because evil communication corrupts good manners.
The findings that there is a low level of time management among students. This means that the students do not manage their time will in terms of supervision by their parents at home. Hence parent should monitor their adolescent and make sure they read their books. The fact that female in- school adolescent performed slightly higher than the male students academically means that female in-school received less Cultism and more time for their studies and hence improved academic performance. The few male in- school adolescents that receive negative relationship, the school guidance counselor should work on them and let them know the effect of negative Cultism to academic performance. Teachers should ensure that they do their assignment as at when do.
Recommendation of the Study
Based on the finding of this study, the following recommendations are made:
- Trained counselor should be posted to all the secondary schools so as to help counsel few adolescents with negative
- Parents should have effective supervision and should not allow other home environmental factor to distract their children. There is a need for teacher to have greater supervision and regulations on students to enhance effectiveness of their time
REFERENCES
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