…How to curb cultism, exam malpractices
By Suleiman Tajudeen
…Continued from last week
CITIZENS COMPASS— Some of the root causes of truancy behaviours among secondary school students are multifactorial: broken homes, poor parenting, poverty, overcrowded schools (80 per class), absence of counsellors in 80% of schools, peer pressure (70%), corruption, urbanization, get-rich-quick syndrome, and social media exposure.
Health implications
The health implications constitute the core public health burden:
Physical Health:Tramadol causes seizures, kidney/liver failure, respiratory depression and death. Cannabis increases psychosis risk five times in adolescents. Shisha and vape cause lung disease and cancer. Alcohol causes liver cirrhosis and accidents. Methamphetamine causes brain damage and heart attack. Violence and cultism lead to stab wounds, disability, and death (e.g., 20 deaths in Benin cult clashes 2022-2023). Teenage pregnancy causes obstructed labour, vesicovaginal fistula (VVF), stillbirth, and maternal death (MMR 512 per 100,000 in Nigeria). Unsafe abortion causes sepsis, perforation, and death.
Mental Health:Depression from bullying (85% prevalence), anxiety from cult reprisals, drug-induced psychosis (30% of youth psychiatric admissions), addiction, and suicide – with bullied students having 3 times the suicide risk.
Reproductive & infectious Health: Untreated STIs cause infertility in 30% of cases. HIV prevalence among youth is 3.2%. Sharing shisha pipes and injections spreads Hepatitis B/C and TB.
Social & mortality: 50% of pregnant girls drop out of school, cultism feeds into armed robbery and kidnapping, and deaths occur from overdose (Kano 2023), cult killings, suicide, and unsafe abortion.
Primary Prevention (Before occurrence): Authoritative parenting, parental monitoring, school health programmes with a counsellor ratio of 1:250, health and life skills education, peer education, positive discipline, secure school environments with no drug kiosks within 500m, and community involvement through WDCs, traditional and religious leaders. Government interventions include the Safe School Initiative, Child Rights Act 2003, Re-entry Policy for Teenage Mothers 2021, NDLEA War Against Drug Abuse (WADA), and NAFDAC ban on codeine.
Secondary Prevention (Early detection): Screening for early signs (truancy, drop in grades, red eyes, unexplained money), confidential counselling, parent notification, peer mediation, and health screening for pregnancy, STIs, and depression (PHQ-9).
Tertiary prevention (Rehabilitation): Counselling and psychotherapy, referral to NDLEA and psychiatric hospitals (Aro, Yaba), emergency treatment for overdose and abortion complications under BHCPF, juvenile remand homes instead of adult prison, and follow-up reintegration without stigma.
Management (Eight-step assessment). (Listen confidentially), Diagnosis, First Aid & Safety (ABC), Counselling (Gather), Family Conference, School Positive Discipline, Multidisciplinary Referral, and Follow-up Reintegration.
The roles of public health practitioners are central: School nurses screen and refer, CHEWs conduct home visits and community mobilisation, and Environmental Health Officers enforce school environmental safety and wash.
In conclusion, deviant behaviour among secondary school students in Nigeria is not merely a disciplinary issue but a public health emergency. Its health implications – drug psychosis, teenage pregnancy, fistula, HIV, suicide, and death – are severe yet preventable. Prevention is cheaper than cure. With love, discipline, counselling, health education, and youth-friendly services, public health students can be the village that raises the child, not the cane that breaks him.
Deviant behaviour is learned – it can be unlearned. Catch them young, prevent now, save the future generation.
References
Adebayo, A. M., & Oluwaseun, O. (2022). Prevalence and health consequences of deviant behaviours among secondary school students in South-West Nigeria. _Journal of Adolescent Health in Africa, 7_(2), 45-58.
Federal Ministry of Education Nigeria. (2021). _National policy on safe schools and re-entry of teenage mothers. Federal Ministry of Education.
National Drug Law Enforcement Agency. (2021). _War Against Drug Abuse (WADA): School drug prevalence survey_. NDLEA.
Dr. Suleiman Tajudeen is Director, Clinical Psychology, LUTH (Retired) & CEO, Clear Mind Psychological Consult, Ojo, Lagos State. +234 803 402 4457
