Crime on campus: what does the future holds for our youth? By Saeed Kamalu Bako
Crime on campus: what does the future holds for our youth?
By Saeed Kamalu Bako
Nowadays youth in Our society lives on the believe that the best way to financial enrichment is not through hard work or personal endeavor in business or through landmark discovery in science and technology. Every one wants to have a slice of the national cake legally or illegally, we see wealth as the key that opens all doors, regardless of how people obtain that key.
The irrefutable fact that crime is on the increase in the Nigerian university campuses is not new, the increase in criminal act in our campuses prevalent in our society today is a symptom of a much more serious, deeply rooted problem.
This is seen in the way that some students tries by all means to enter into university not to achieve academic excellence rather to enrol in cults and other criminal groups that are designed to terrorize and deprive people of their money and properties. Universities have therefore lost the value for which they were initiated as students enrol in a bizarre subculture that is at odd with the curriculum contents of the programmes that the university offers.
The growing involvement of students in criminal activities therefore raises series of questions about the underlying factors that drive these students to enrol in university courses. Do they use university admission as a cover for their illegalities? Improper conduct by university students is troubling because they are forecast to be of academic and research excellence, not students who excel in shameful behaviour.
These in essence makes growing number of university students take crimes as their lifetime occupation. Which in this sense makes the mockery of universities as institution established for the advance of knowledge. Many students no longer see value in higher education, they believe they can achieve instantly through a successful armed robbery mission. What it would take committed students to attain in four to five years of serious university education, cutting corners is what drives these students. They ask question such as: why bother with university studies when the academic calendar is regularly disrupted and you never know when you will graduate? Why commit to serious studies when you know you can have your degree certificate with a couple of thousands of naira or your dad is one of the "ogas at the top"?
These crime activities can be exemplify when we go back through history, there was a report of how a Nigerian undergraduate student fleeced on Australian woman of her hard earned money through the disreputable "419" advanced fee fraud. The story which was published on teausday 16 march, 2009.reads "A Nigerian undergraduate has been sentence to 19 years in prison for obtaining $4700(33,382 pounds) from an Australian woman by convincing her over the Internet that he was 57 years old,white and madly in love with her......He said he was an engineer working in Lagos whose wife and only child had been killed in an accident"
In the last week of January 2007 also, officers of the Lagos international airport arrested a 31 year old US-based Nigerian undergraduate with 13.5 kilogram of cocaine. There are many more cases that can not be narrated in the limited space available.
There are so many factors contributing to the rampant increase in crime on Nigerian campuses that have to be addressed before we can think of moving this great country to higher light.
A 300 level student of mass communication, Junaidu Habiba Salman spoke on the crime on Nigerian campuses.
"I think some student commit crime on campus because it is only on campus they have freedom, in such cases, the students might be the type that have no freedom at home. Also some commit crime on campus due to influence by friends"
She added on how to tackle the issue "so it is the school management that can tackle that and I think they should be pet not being hash on them"
Christopher Kalu, a chemistry department student at FCE pankshin, plateau state. Said "it depends,but the strong factor is when the right of the student is not allowed to function, they now engage themselves in crime.
" another is poverty and also influence of peer group which make the student to gradually join criminal groups. Another one could be quest for power and high cost of living in Nigerian higher institution" kalu added.
University students may be attracted to crime partly becouce of our society's endorsement of the culture of get rich quick in which everyone worships and adores wealthy people without asking question about how some impoverished men and women becomes affluent suddenly.
Therefore we can say that political leaders set bad examples and university students take the lead in making a bad situation worse. We can not understand the single key factor that drive students into criminal activities if we over look at society values. When students look at society and find out that everyone pays lip services to hardworking, honesty, patience, tolerance and reward for excellence in the workplace: there is no doubt legalities will prevail.
In essence, for the problem of crime to be reduced, we have to restructure the educational sector to better equipt our youths to cope with the changing times in our economy. This has a significant role in reducing crime mostly in our universities.
The homes and religion organizations within the campus and beyond have important role to play in curbing the crime crave in Nigeria. These criminals live in homes and recieves religious instructions from religious group. The family heads and religious head should pay more attention to moral upbringing of their children before sending them to universities. If these youths are given the right training from childhood, they will not depart from the right path.
By Saeed Kamalu Bako
Nowadays youth in Our society lives on the believe that the best way to financial enrichment is not through hard work or personal endeavor in business or through landmark discovery in science and technology. Every one wants to have a slice of the national cake legally or illegally, we see wealth as the key that opens all doors, regardless of how people obtain that key.
The irrefutable fact that crime is on the increase in the Nigerian university campuses is not new, the increase in criminal act in our campuses prevalent in our society today is a symptom of a much more serious, deeply rooted problem.
This is seen in the way that some students tries by all means to enter into university not to achieve academic excellence rather to enrol in cults and other criminal groups that are designed to terrorize and deprive people of their money and properties. Universities have therefore lost the value for which they were initiated as students enrol in a bizarre subculture that is at odd with the curriculum contents of the programmes that the university offers.
The growing involvement of students in criminal activities therefore raises series of questions about the underlying factors that drive these students to enrol in university courses. Do they use university admission as a cover for their illegalities? Improper conduct by university students is troubling because they are forecast to be of academic and research excellence, not students who excel in shameful behaviour.
These in essence makes growing number of university students take crimes as their lifetime occupation. Which in this sense makes the mockery of universities as institution established for the advance of knowledge. Many students no longer see value in higher education, they believe they can achieve instantly through a successful armed robbery mission. What it would take committed students to attain in four to five years of serious university education, cutting corners is what drives these students. They ask question such as: why bother with university studies when the academic calendar is regularly disrupted and you never know when you will graduate? Why commit to serious studies when you know you can have your degree certificate with a couple of thousands of naira or your dad is one of the "ogas at the top"?
These crime activities can be exemplify when we go back through history, there was a report of how a Nigerian undergraduate student fleeced on Australian woman of her hard earned money through the disreputable "419" advanced fee fraud. The story which was published on teausday 16 march, 2009.reads "A Nigerian undergraduate has been sentence to 19 years in prison for obtaining $4700(33,382 pounds) from an Australian woman by convincing her over the Internet that he was 57 years old,white and madly in love with her......He said he was an engineer working in Lagos whose wife and only child had been killed in an accident"
In the last week of January 2007 also, officers of the Lagos international airport arrested a 31 year old US-based Nigerian undergraduate with 13.5 kilogram of cocaine. There are many more cases that can not be narrated in the limited space available.
There are so many factors contributing to the rampant increase in crime on Nigerian campuses that have to be addressed before we can think of moving this great country to higher light.
A 300 level student of mass communication, Junaidu Habiba Salman spoke on the crime on Nigerian campuses.
"I think some student commit crime on campus because it is only on campus they have freedom, in such cases, the students might be the type that have no freedom at home. Also some commit crime on campus due to influence by friends"
She added on how to tackle the issue "so it is the school management that can tackle that and I think they should be pet not being hash on them"
Christopher Kalu, a chemistry department student at FCE pankshin, plateau state. Said "it depends,but the strong factor is when the right of the student is not allowed to function, they now engage themselves in crime.
" another is poverty and also influence of peer group which make the student to gradually join criminal groups. Another one could be quest for power and high cost of living in Nigerian higher institution" kalu added.
University students may be attracted to crime partly becouce of our society's endorsement of the culture of get rich quick in which everyone worships and adores wealthy people without asking question about how some impoverished men and women becomes affluent suddenly.
Therefore we can say that political leaders set bad examples and university students take the lead in making a bad situation worse. We can not understand the single key factor that drive students into criminal activities if we over look at society values. When students look at society and find out that everyone pays lip services to hardworking, honesty, patience, tolerance and reward for excellence in the workplace: there is no doubt legalities will prevail.
In essence, for the problem of crime to be reduced, we have to restructure the educational sector to better equipt our youths to cope with the changing times in our economy. This has a significant role in reducing crime mostly in our universities.
The homes and religion organizations within the campus and beyond have important role to play in curbing the crime crave in Nigeria. These criminals live in homes and recieves religious instructions from religious group. The family heads and religious head should pay more attention to moral upbringing of their children before sending them to universities. If these youths are given the right training from childhood, they will not depart from the right path.
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