How cultists converted Akwa Ibom school to initiation ground

Schools are meant to be centres of learning and training, but Community Secondary School, Idung Iniang in Eket Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State has become a stronghold of cultists and robbers, Daily Trust reports.

Community Secondary School, Idung Iniang does not have a perimeter fence to keep out strangers or intruders. As such, hoodlums have taken advantage of the situation to steal school facilities and rob students and teachers despite the presence of security men.

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The principal of the school, Mr Inok Abraham, told our correspondent that cultists, armed robbers and other hoodlums not only operate within the school premises, they brazenly transformed the school premises into their initiation ground.

And the principal, teachers and students watch helplessly as the school is not only desecrated, it provides an easy escape route for criminals.

Abraham, who explained that the two security guards in the school were useless without a perimeter fence, said efforts to secure the school without the support of the state government had been unsuccessful.

“I came in 2018 to see a fence that was started by the former principal. She was permitted by the Board to do it, but they later said they didn’t permit any school to take money from parents to do the work, so she stopped.

“I was able to squeeze out of the little subvention the government used to pay to do the flooring and start the fence again, but since the subvention does not come always, I couldn’t continue. And because of that, thieves, cultists and other hoodlums have made this school their boat.

“The school is a stronghold for cultists, who come here to initiate children, even while classes are in session in the afternoon. You will see them from the bush on mufti, and while you are running after them this way, they go out the other way.

“I have reported to the village; they tried their best, but the money is not there. We even brought in the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), but the money they were asking for was too much and the Parents-Teachers Association (PTA) said they didn’t have such amount to pay, especially when we are not permitted to collect money from students,’’ he said.

Abraham, who lamented frequent theft in the school, said robbers broke into their science laboratory and carted away equipment, saying he had to hire equipment for science students to use during the last West African School Certificate (WASC) exams.

“I reported the case to a security agency and swore affidavit in the court that armed robbers carted away everything that makes a laboratory.

“I had to pay money to hire Chemistry equipment during the WASC exams in 2020.

“I also have to hire equipment for the forthcoming exams because if I buy anything and keep, armed robbers will remove the protectors and take them way. In fact, they took the industrial gas cylinder the last time they broke into the lab. Nothing is secure here,’’ the principal said.

He appealed to the state government to build a perimeter fence in the school as it is doing for others in Uyo, the state capital, saying the fence would solve 80 per cent of the security problems facing the school.

He said, “I want the government to extend what they are doing for schools in Uyo to this place. We need a fence. We have two security men but they cannot do much because there’s no fence here.

“I already explained to the present chairman of Eket Local Government when he was a councilor and visited the school.’’

The vice principal of the school (special duty), Mrs Magdalene Umoette, told our correspondent that because of the situation in the school, teachers had been forced to become security personnel. They stand guard in the day and watch out for strange persons entering the school premises.

She also said that to secure facilities in the school, the principal directed that protectors be put at all the doors and windows in various offices, adding that once the school closes by 2pm, all the students are sent home immediately.

“The school is very porous. People can come in from any direction and harass students.

“They steal a lot here. They break into the ceiling and take whatsoever they want. When I came to this school, they gave me a chair, but it has been stolen.

“And they come in broad daylight, especially from the extreme end of the school.

“We make sure that no new student or person comes into the school. When we started doing this, we noticed that some days, strangers stay outside and fight the students. Sometimes some of them might be students of this school, but they disguise by putting on mufti.

“When we notice this we will alert the students and everybody will run out to scare them out of the school compound,’’ she said.

Umoette further noted that they have not been able to effectively check insecurity in the school as they have only four male teachers while 30 others are female. It is, therefore, difficult for only four male teachers to ward off the cultists and other hoodlums when they come, according to her.

“To check such activities, we usually discipline students who misbehave. We don’t allow them to stay outside their classrooms during school hours. You would see some of them holding different kinds and dressing anyhow. We discipline such students and force them into their classes,’’ she added.

She said the management of the school had severally met with the village head of Idung Iniang to discuss how the community could either trace the cultists and robbers or help to secure the school, but nothing had come out of the discussions.

She said the principal even called for a meeting with the PTA to discuss the security situation but they didn’t turn up.

“The principal met with the chiefs but they did not do anything. Even the government is aware of the insecurity situation in the school, but nothing has been done about it.

“The government should fence the school round. We don’t have toilets here, so we come to school without eating. If a teacher needs to go to the toilet, he or she would ask for permission to go home. They should come in and help us,’’ she appealed.

A Physics teacher, Mrs Ifiok Usuaha, told our correspondent that some of the unruly students could be cultists because sometimes they run out of classes into the bush.

“At times, even during classes, some students run into the bush. What are they going there to do? Sometimes when a teacher enters a class, you see them running out. Where are they going to? They probably go to the bush to be initiated or do all sorts of bad things in the daytime. When something like that happens in the school, you know the environment is not safe,’’ she said.

Usuaha also appealed to the state government for help, saying, “Let the government fence the school and put razor wire there so that students won’t be able to jump over it. If the fence is not very high, they can jump out.’’

She also said the appointment of prefects in the school became a problem when students in SS3 took advantage of their seniority to unnecessarily punish those in other classes, particularly students in SS2.

She said that to check the problem associated with the appointment of prefects, the principal stopped it and handed over their responsibilities to teachers.

She said the principal’s action brought peace in that regard. “We don’t have prefects in the school and we are at peace. That thing really caused fights students of SS3 and SS2. It was a very serious issue.

“For up to two years now, teachers are the ones doing the work of prefects and we have not recorded fights,’’ she said.

Some SS3 students who spoke with our correspondent said cultists attacked them three weeks ago. They said they did not fight back as the principal had told them to always keep calm, even when attacked.

“They collected our phones, which have not been recovered.

“Whenever they come, only one male teacher always comes to our rescue,’’ they said.

Following reported cases of theft, invasion and vandalism of public facilities in schools by hoodlums, the Akwa Ibom State governor, Udom Emanuel, recently directed that all public schools in Uyo, the state capital be fenced.

But schools outside the state capital, such as the one at Idung Iniang, are often under attacks and government needs to also fence them.

When the Commissioner for Education, Mrs Idongesit Etiebet was contacted, she did not respond to several calls and a text message sent to her phone number, as at the time of filing this report.