Secret Cults in Nigerian Institutions of Learning from Secret Societies to Collegiate Cultism: An Appraisal

Abstract

There is popular saying that "there is no smoke without fire”.  Thus most occurring problems in our society today be it social, economic, political, religion-cultural has a base of take off.  The current menace of cultism or secret societies of various types and dimensions in Nigeria's educational institutions today follow this trend.  The failure of the authorities (state and school administrators) to curtail the operations of these secret societies in our institutions of learning is traceable in one part to the neglect of their historical linkage or base.  The focus of this paper is to identify the relationship between the traditional secret societies that have transverse generations in various societies and the present campus secret societies and believe unequivocally that the present war against campus secret societies would not be won except we blend the activities of the various stakeholders in our educational system towards managing and resolving this complex and sophisticated trend.