Mass kidnapping of schoolchildren latest move by Nigeria's Boko Haram

From fraternities to cults: A shift in Nigerian brotherhood

By: Kayla Hardimon 
Produced & edited by: Leisha Lininger  

In Nigeria, confraternities, a system of brotherhood modeled after American fraternities, have taken a turn for the worst.

In the United States, Greek letter organizations exist on college campuses. These organizations operate as fraternities and sororities. They are a system of brotherhood and sisterhood for college students with similar morals, ideals, and interests.

Many of these organizations have come under a high level of scrutiny in the past two decades for hazing practices and violence against prospective members. These practices and the shift in recruitment methods have not been confined to the United States.

In the early 1950s confraternities such as The National Association of Sea Dogs arose in Nigeria. The NAS or Pyrates Confraternity, the first confraternity in the country, began as a method of protecting the weak against the tribal wars arising during that time. Seven men joined together to create the confraternity. These men banded together on the Pyrates creed “against convention, against tribalism, for humanistic ideals, and for comradeship and chivalry.”

“When it started it was a positive thing for the university,” said Omolola Omoteso Famuyiwa, a media specialist and public relations consultant from Nigeria.

“Now it is just a terror on campus.”

In the last 60 years, confraternities in Nigeria have evolved into cults. These cults are no longer labeled as student organizations, and serve as a system of intimidation of university students within the country.

Emmanuel Nkansah, Editor-in-Chief of Sigma Emperor Magazine, was hesitant to speak openly about cultism in Nigeria, saying the situation is as serious as the gang violence and intimidation of the “crips and bloods,” in the United States and other related gangs but “confined within the four corners of a university.”

Now, rather than serving as a system of comradeship and chivalry protecting the weak from tribal wars in the country, confraternities are now known as secret societies and cults that provide a form of power for their members. From the 1990s to the early 2000s cultism and violence led to the deaths of hundreds of university students and community members.

Before the 1990s, cult and gang violence was not common within the country, said Sam Oleka, the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and Interdisciplinary Studies at Kentucky State University, who attended university in Nigeria in the 1970s.

“At that time I don’t think across Africa there was any gang anything unless they were fighting for independence,” said Oleka. 

“Confraternities in Nigeria have over the years become a group of violent and dangerous people who come together to promote oppression and violence for selfish gains,” said Theodore Nyingifa, an editor for Pulse, an online magazine.

In the last decade, cult violence has not been as rampant as in the past. In the early 2000s, many cultists began renouncing their membership as universities banned these organizations from their campuses. “I don’t know if this has eliminated the practice,” said Omoteso, “I think it may have made it more secretive.”

Upon entering a university many schools require their students to sign a form stating that they will not join any cults.

Despite university attempts to crack down on cultist violence in the schools, it still serves as a fear for parents in the country. Obiora Nwajei, the proprietor of the Karis primary school in Nigeria, stated that he was not comfortable sending his daughter to university in Nigeria.

“When cultism crept into universities, people lost their freedom,” said Nwajei.  

Becoming a member of a cult is an intricate process as these societies are meant to be kept in secret. Some students are targeted by the organizations to join.

Cult members target students for different reasons, “If you have money they will want to target you, to get what you have,” said Jide Oshin, an Ohio University student studying engineering and biology. Other students are targeted because of their intelligence, their strength or even in some cases their weakness.

Once targeted it is very difficult to decline membership into the cult.

“They won’t just let you go,” said Omoteso “because now you know that they are a member." 

Other students seek out membership in a cult to serve as protection from other cults or individuals.

Tolu Adeusi, a consultant with TG March Nata Education, says that many students who went to public schools feel like they do not fit in at universities, many of these students seek membership in such organizations to feel part of the community.

Oshin has three cousins who recently joined cults while attending universities in Nigeria.

“I think they joined because they wanted to be the big boys on campus,” said Oshin. “If you are a member people fear you and respect you.”

Once chosen, an initiation process occurs where prospective members are asked to complete tasks including violence, blood rituals, and the learning of information about the specific cult.

“Someone I know had to go beat someone up,” said Oshin, “a few others had to get a snake’s head for some type of witchcraft.”

Some students continue cultist activities after graduating from university. “The job market is very stagnant,” said Awele Nwankwo, a student from Plateau State Polytechnic University in Nigeria who studied international relations in hopes of leaving the country to do his work.

Those who do not find jobs are often “called up by politicians as body guards” said Nwajei.

“They engage in meaningless gang wars, rob people, oppress fellow citizens, and in most cases get hired by wealthy politicians to carry out their dirty jobs,” said Nyingifa,

This system of brotherhood, and recently sisterhood, in Nigeria has changed the way students learn at universities. Though cultism still exists within the country, the media rarely acknowledges it.

“I am tempted to say we have become accustomed to it,” said Nwajei.       

Money Matters in Nigerian Education

By: Kayla Hardimon
Produced and edited by: Molly Nocheck

The idea of all students having an equal opportunity to acquire an education has been a common topic of discussion in the United States. The idea is that the amount of money that parents make, or the community that a child lives in should not determine whether or not a child receives a good education. In Nigeria, this same problem with educational inequity exists. Problems arise because of the country’s system of pay to play education.

Equal education for all is not a reality for students in Nigeria. The set up of Nigeria’s education system plays a major role in student success or failure. In Nigeria, students have three stages of education; primary, secondary, and tertiary. The primary and secondary stages last for 6 years each. In a student’s final year of primary school they will take what is called the Common Entrance Exam. This exam determines not only whether or not a student has successfully completed their primary schooling but also whether they will go on to secondary school. Secondary school entrance acceptance is based on the scores that students receive on their Common Entrance Exam.

If a student does not score at or above the cutoff score for a school, they will not be considered for admission. How prepared a student is for their common entrance exam depends on the quality of education the student receives.

The education system is separated into public and private schools. Both types of schools require payment for all aspects of education.

Nosike Agokei the managing director of MTI ELC in Nigeria, says that the biggest problem is the difference between public and private schools. He says that public schools in Nigeria are not properly funded and that the lack of infrastructure creates a system of improper schooling.

Many students do not have tables and chairs says Agokei, “If you can afford it you enjoy better quality.”

Private schooling in Nigeria provides better resources and materials to students.

“Unfortunately majority of Nigerian parents are not able to afford tuition in private schools and so they send their children to public schools,” says Bella Anne Chinwendu Ndubuisi, a worker in the public relations section of the United States Embassy in Abuja, Nigeria.

The school that a Nigerian child attends is impacted by three things says Agokei; the perspective the parents have on education and the type of disciple they want their children’s school to have, the scores a child gets on the test, and how much money the parents have.

  Courtesy of Green Springs Schools.  Academic Fair Use.

“Private schools are better by and large,” says Agokei.

A child’s future in Nigeria begins with the location that they attend primary schooling. Tolu Adeusi, a consultant with TG March Nata Education an organization that helps students study abroad, says that he will not send his future children to public school in Nigeria because he believes that at public school they will be taught to be workers and they will not be taught math and other skills that they will need to succeed.

If a student’s family can afford to send them to a private primary school or a good federal government school, the child has a better chance at continuing on to secondary school.

A school’s ranking is based on how well the students do on the standardized exams. Mercedes Onyemenam, a Nigerian student studying at Case University, went to a top private school that used a British curriculum.

“We did a lot of practice questions, they really want every single person to understand what they’re saying, if one person doesn’t understand, they keep teaching the material. They drill it into your head.”

Damilola Darimola, a Post-Doctoral Research Associate at Ohio University, was able to attend a strong public secondary school, the Federal Government College in Lagos Nigeria, he says that although it was public, it was not open to everyone. “Although it was a public school you still had to pay money,” said Darimola.

When speaking about public schools in Nigeria, Ndubuisi says that she was able to go to a public primary school at a time when the public school system was still strong, now, she says federal government schools have deviated from the “good old standards.”

She says that not all public schools are bad, but private schools are way better. The problem with attending a private school she says is that a student could get a college education in the United States with the tuition paid in some private primary schools.

 Courtesy of Action Aid Nigeria.  Academic Fair Use.

Government funding for schools is not high in Nigeria. Adeusi says that this is because “the government itself focuses on infrastructure not in connecting with the children.” This has left many public schools without the proper means to educate students, and other schools charging high prices for public education. Some students in Nigeria do not have access to education at all. Adeusi, an education consultant, says that in the Western part of Nigeria where many farming and rural areas exist, only 1 in 10 students go through proper education. “In other regions, it is less than one,” he says.

“We struggle to do everything for ourselves,” says Awana Adentux Isioma a student studying Modern Engineering at the Jo Marine Institute in Nigeria, “the government doesn’t provide.” Awele Nwankwo, a graduate of Plateau State Polytechnic University in Nigeria, says that without the help of his family in the United States he would not have had a proper education. Nwankwo’s immediate family did not have the money to pay for a good school.

Money is a driving factor for education in Nigeria. Parents who make enough money can send their children to any school that they choose, no matter what region the school is located in. Students who’s parents do not make a high enough salary are forced to attend schools with fewer resources and still obligated to pay in order to attend. No matter the quality of the education, it is not free. Money is determining the future for children in Nigeria rather than how much aptitude, drive, or determination the children possess.

Two Nigerian scholars visit OU for residency program

By Lindsay Boyle

Two Nigerian scholars have spent almost three weeks in the United States learning about journalism as part of the International Journalism Educator-in-Residence Program.

The scholars, Godfrey Danaan and Taye Obateru, are both professors at the University of Jos in Nigeria. They arrived at Ohio University on July 28, and will depart for Nigeria from Washington, D.C. on August 17.

Though the program was primarily hosted at OU by the Institute for International Journalism, the residence program also included trips to Chicago, Ill. and Washington D.C.

In Chicago, Obateru and Danaan attended the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication 2012 Conference that occurred mid-August. There, they went to a variety of teaching and research panels, presentations and sessions.

Additionally, they spent five days in Washington, D.C., visiting several media outlets and cultural locations, including National Public Radio, The National Geographic, Voice of America, Smithsonian museums, national monuments and more.

The primary purposes of the residency program are to bolster the participants’ professional development, to teach them journalism techniques and to give them new tools and methods to apply to their careers.

Obateru described the program as “quite diverse” because he has had many different opportunities. Some of those included interacting with international journalism scholars who are participating in the Study of the U.S. Institute on Journalism and Media, listening to lectures from professors from various universities, and learning some digital editing techniques.

“I’ve found it very enriching,” Obateru said of the residence program. “It has broadened my horizon in terms of exposure to things and seeing new things, new situations, new circumstances.”


Professors Taye Obateru and Godfrey Danaan share a laugh during an International Mass Media class led by 2012 SUSI scholars Trang Nguyen and Alexandre Twizeyumukiza.

Danaan, who is visiting the United States for the first time, said he has enjoyed not only learning about the 2012 SUSI scholars’ diverse international perspectives, but also being able to share his own perspectives with others.

“I’ve interacted with so many scholars who have come from all parts of the world to share what they teach and to share what they experience and practice,” he said. “To me, it is the most enriching experience I’ve had because it crosses beyond borders.”

Obateru, too, said that conversations with the 2012 SUSI scholars have been one of his favorite parts of the residence.

Both scholars expressed a desire to practice and teach what they learned at OU upon their return to Nigeria. Danaan said that he believes his students will truly benefit from his international exposure when he shares it with them.

“I know I’ve learned a lot and I’m going back with so much,” he said. “My program should be broadened in the perspectives that have been shared here.”

Obateru said that he is interested in looking into possibilities of partnerships between OU and the University of Jos.

Additionally, they each expressed a desire to one day attend the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism Ph.D. program.

“I’ve fallen in love with the school, with the facilities,” Obateru said.

Both Obateru and Danaan heard about the program from one of their colleagues, Nancy Katu-Ogundimu, who is currently a doctoral graduate student in the School of Media Arts and Studies of the Scripps College of Communication at OU.

Danaan said he was “enticed” when she explained the prospects of programs at OU. According to Danaan, she spoke with Dr. Yusuf Kalyango, Director of the Institute for International Journalism, who agreed to get Obateru and Danaan involved in the International Journalism Educator-in-Residence Program.

Because the program is a cost-share program, it was funded partly by the Institute for International Journalism at Ohio University, and partly by the University of Jos.