Verbum et Ecclesia (Dec 2021)
Roles of Christian campus fellowships in the fight against cultism in Nigerian universities
Abstract
Cultism is prevalent in most tertiary institutions in Africa. There is no gainsay that this vice is generally unacceptable from both socio-cultural and religious viewpoints. Unfortunately, despite the detrimental tendencies associated with it, some students actively engage in it. Hence, various governmental and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have risen to campaign against cultism in tertiary institutions. The thrust of this research, therefore, is to investigate the roles of Christian campus fellowships in the fight against cultism amongst students of Nigerian universities, with reference to the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN). It also explores the challenges which the activities of cult groups pose to the university community. Utilising the descriptive method of data analysis, this work discovered that Christian campus fellowships are both a significant and a veritable tool in the fight against cultism in the UNN. As part of her primary and social responsibilities, Christian campus fellowships preach and teach against cult activities in tertiary institutions. They also intervene through some philanthropic gestures and other ecclesiastical activities which are primarily geared towards inculcating right values and godly characters in students, encouraging students who are members of cult groups to denounce their membership and also discouraging students from joining cult groups. The data for this research were drawn from both primary (personal communication) and secondary sources (books, journals and internet materials). The major finding of this article reveals that Christian campus fellowships in the UNN, have made remarkable strides in the campaign against the involvement of students in cultism. Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: The article explicitly lays bare the contributions of Christian campus fellowships in order to bring cult practices to a barest minimum amongst students of the UNN. The study contributes to modern discourses on juvenile delinquency with respect to disciplines such as religion, sociology, social work and psychology.
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