Security On Our Campuses

By Nofisat Marindoti

How safe are our Campuses nowadays? This is a question that needs a sincere answer, I say sincere because it would be hard to admit that our Campuses are now far from being safe.

So much atrocities are being perpetrated now, so much lawlessness, so much freedom and sadly, too much negligence by adequate authorities.

Our Campuses are now safe havens for thieves, cultists, thugs, drug addicts, miscreants and the likes. Though the security officers raid once in a while, the students are released after a little tip-off and then it continues, the freedom to do whatever on campus and most especially, to intimidate the gullible ones. The security of the genuinely serious and hard-working students dwindles with each passing day.

Students now school in fear! A situation far from being normal!. The case studies are just too numerous to mention, it is a glaring situation, a situation any tertiary institution student can testify to.

Our Campuses should be another home away from home, a conducive environment that allows easy assimilation. The situation is even worse in tertiary institutions with off-campus hostels. In these institutions, the students fall more easy preys to thugs and other social miscreants.

I remember a friend telling me how afraid she was to even move to the toilet to ease herself in the night after a major robbery around her hostel. During the robbery, the thieves had ransacked several hostels, raped females, macheted the males and made away with valuables. For weeks, she slept in fear, panicked by the slightest movement around her.

Sadly, this is now the situation in our schools. How can such a student read and assimilate well, how can such a student be glad to be in school, how can such a student love studying, when her heart beats with fear with every passing minute? After all, it is only when you are alive, you are able to read. It is when you are alive, you aspire to be a graduate.!

It is high time the concerned Stakeholders stood up to the challenge and make the necessary moves. What Joy is there for a parents whose child got admitted into a tertiary institution only for such child to be sent to the world of no return?.

What joy can parents derive from knowing his/her child is not safe where such child is?. The immediate community where the institution resides has a role to play in its security and it is highly necessary that the school authorities work in collaboration with the community in ensuring the safety of the students.

The role of Security agencies in curbing this menace cannot be over emphasized. All hands must be on desk to restore the safety of students on campus, these are not just the leaders of tomorrow but of today too. The future of any great Nation lies on the shoulders of its younger generation, its youths.

At the top of this collective responsibility is the State Governments. As one of its basic responsibilities is the protection of lives and property, the State Government must also work towards securing the lives of students at the various levels of education and most especially at the tertiary level as these students leave outside the confine of their parents and are more exposed to harm.