A security summit has advanced strategies for the reduction and ultimate prevention of criminal acts in Nigerian tertiary institutions.
The three-day summit, organised by the International Centre for Executive Security Training and World Certification Institute, at the weekend was held at Transcorp Hotel, Calabar, Cross River State, with the theme: “Crime, fear and Insecurity in Tertiary Institutions: Challenges, Impact, and Prevention Strategies.”
The security summit was aimed at examining the causes of crimes in tertiary institutions and mapping out preventive strategies in order to ensure a safer and quiet environment for learning, teaching and research in tertiary institutions of Nigeria.
The keynote speaker, Prof. O.B.C. Nwolise, of the Department of Political Science of the University of Ibadan, and other resource persons, including Prof. Rowland Ndoma-Egba, former vice-chancellor, University of Ife; and Prof. M.O. Faborode, former Secretary General of the Committee of Vice-Chancellors, proffered practical solutions on the way forward.
The speakers observed that crime wave in Nigerian tertiary institutions has become serious threats to life and property, as well as dedicated learning, teaching and research.
They identified some of the causes of insecurity such as cultism, drug abuse, untrained security personnel, poor funding, ill-equipped libraries, accommodation, sporting, workshops, laboratories, poor family upbringing and faulty character building curriculum.
The summit, therefore, recommended that government and society should give very urgent attention to trending crime wave in tertiary institutions to mitigate their impact.
In addition, there should be a well designed dedicated curriculum for character moulding for students in tertiary institutions in Nigeria to balance the curriculum, which is currently only academic learning focused.
Parents and the society at large should take the socialisation of their children and the young ones more seriously.
This will enable them to know early enough unacceptable behaviours that are detrimental to their development.
They called on government and owners of private tertiary institutions to adequately fund their institutions and provide the facilities relevant for interesting learning and teaching.
The government should use intelligence personnel to fish and flush out cultists and criminals from tertiary institutions as well as create a database for students expelled from any tertiary institution to be shared by all such institutions.
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