Cultism In Civic Education And Its Effects

Bolarinwa Olajire Last Updated: June 7, 2024

In this article, I will define cultism in civic education and its general definition, types, and effects. Cultism has become a major social problem in Nigerian tertiary institutions as its activities and mode of operation are usually shrouded in secrecy.

Cultism can be defined as a ritual practice by a group of people whose membership, initiation, policies, and activities are done secretly.

It can also be defined as an organization whose activities are not only exclusively kept away from the knowledge of others, but such activities are carried out at odd hours of the day and often clash with the accepted norms and values of everyday life.

General definition according to Ajayi (2015): Cultism can be defined as a ritual practice by a group of people whose membership, admission, policy, and initiation formalities, as well as their mode of operations, are done in secret and kept secret with their activities having negative effects on both members and non-members alike.

Effects

Poor academic Performance: They experience poor academic performance in school. Cultists are also prone to longer years on Campus. They always occupied themselves with nocturnal activities at the detriment of their academics, which resulted in the basket of carry-overs, usually prolonging their stay on campus. Also, cults abandon their examinations for fear of being attacked by members of rival cults or picked up by law enforcement agents. Thereby, they end up with automatic spill-over (final year) and beg of carry-overs. Almost all the cult clashes recorded occur during examination periods.

Expulsion from School: Tertiary institutions have a very low tolerance for cult activities, so any student found to belong to a cult is usually expelled from the school.
Life of Insecurity: A cultist lives a life of insecurity. He is unsure if the next momentous clashes can erupt at any time and place.
Threat to Family: Cult clashes have gone beyond the perimeter fence of the Campuses to rival cult members’ homes. A lot of the cult family members have been killed at their homes to escape from their cult group in the course of leadership tussles and rival cut groups in the case of clash.
Mortgage of Liberty: The oath taken during the initiation implies that you have sold your liberty, freedom, and everything about yourself to the cult organization. The allegiance to the cult authority is total. This means a cultist doesn’t have control over his or her life, and to a reasonable extent, the cult authority dictates or determines the activities of their member.
Disrupted Academic Programme: The violent activities of the cultists on campus have affected the educational development in the country. Most of the time, academic activities in the institutions are brought to a standstill due to the activities of these nocturnal groups.
Threat to Cultist Academic: Every cultist stands the risk of being rusticated or expelled from school, so many cultists in the past have either been rusticated or expelled from various higher institutions across the country due to their involvement in cult activities.
The Threat of Law Enforcement Agents: Cultists are living in perpetual fear of being arrested during and after cult clashes. A lot of cultists have abandoned education for their fear of being arrested after being named against the cult operations.

Read: Why you should shun cultism