Parental Intervention

Cultism has become an instrument of social destabilization in the present day Nigeria society. It was known to be at its peak in tertiary institutions before. Nowadays, it has expanded its territories to secondary schools, primary schools and the society at large. Each day, innocent students, especially new intakes are being coerced into joining cult groups to protect themselves and unknowingly to them; fall victim of this menace and consequently this has had adverse effects on these innocent students. This social vice is eating up the educational and moral standard of students, and it is a problem in Nigerian institutions which has not been fully tackled. This paper, therefore, discusses cultism, reasons why students join cults, effects of cultism and parental and social interventions strategies that could be used in curbing cultism among undergraduates in Nigerian universities. It is hoped that if these strategies are put in place, eradication of cultism or its reduction to the barest minimum could be achieved among students. What is cultism? Cultism is derived from the word "cult." According to the American heritage dictionary of English language (2011), a cult is an exclusive group of persons sharing an esoteric, usually artistic or intellectual interest. It is also a formal means of expressing religious reverence, religious ceremony and rituals. Oxford advanced learner"s dictionary defines a cult as a small group of people who have extreme religious beliefs and who are not part of any established religion. Ogbodo (2004) sees cultism as an act of worship but very different from known religions as their activities are shrouded in secrecy in accordance with rules governing the groups, no wonder people sometimes refer to them as secret cults. It is secret because the activities are secret and not exposed to the knowledge of the general public. Complementing this, Ibenegbu (2018) believes cultism is a secret, spiritual or religious practice changes the value of the people, practised by a group of individuals with policies unknown to the general public and has effects on the life of the people. It has been a long standing enemy that provided negative impacts on people. He concludes by saying cultism is a destructive force in the society because their members do not share their ideas and policies with anyone.