Times have really changed indeed.
About ten to fifteen years ago, going to the Higher Institution was usually a mixture of joy and fear for a lot of people. And why was this? Mostly for security reasons.
Unlike how quiet and calm things are currently, there was actually a time when violence was the order of the day in our universities and polytechnics. Back then, cultism was rampant. Almost every week there was at least one victim that had fallen to the brutal effect of a bullet or a knife.
That was a time when being a cultist was not something people were ashamed of. As a matter of fact, they paraded it with pride, showing it off like a badge of honor. Because being a cultist assured you of protection in the school and no one, not even a lecturer could dare mess with you.
Being a cultist raised one’s status, seeing as a lot of high-profile people in the schools were also involved, they were lecturers, they were in the Student Union Government, and what have you. they were popular with the ladies and they were always rolling in money. Most probably ill-gotten.
This is usually the dream lifestyle of anyone, and because of the tension present in the school, freshers would feel the need to join and belong so they too can take part in these privileges.
But then, it is not that easy, is it? Because as people are risking their lives to give you protection, that is the same way you would have to risk your life to protect others. And when you look at it, most of these deaths are for the flimsiest reasons. Fighting for reasons like territory, women, property, and what have you… you would be hearing about clashes between rival groups and scores of death will be recorded in a single day. Both cultists and innocent bystanders. Let us not even talk about the loss of properties.
Many people who end up becoming cultists, never make it out alive. That is the sad truth.
But, my dear friends, all that is all in the past right? The government took charge and worked hard to wipe the menace from our schools. And they are no longer as rampant and outspoken as they used to be. Is that the real reason? Or is there something else?
I feel the real reason cultism has reduced in our school today is because there is another way to get all those things that being a cultist can get you. These days, you can be popular, be influential in the school and be friends with the lecturers without being a cultist. How? By having money!
Yes. When you have money things work differently for you, especially when you have a lot of it. It is only someone that has been broke before that will understand this statement I just made. Money moves mountains and levels up the valleys. It would make people who ordinarily would not consider you, fall over themselves in their bid to get your attention.
Well, our students recognized this, and the craze to make money began. It was like a fever sweeping through the schools and there was no stopping. People were now more interested in making money and flaunting it, they were focused on getting that big life without having to rob people and risk their lives. Getting regular jobs would never give them that kind of life.
So they had to go into fraud.
And as I write this today, fraud has taken the place of cultism in our schools. All that is on everyone’s mind now is just to make boatloads of money and spend it on whatever they want, living the baby boy lifestyle. No one wanted to join gangs and be waging wars on the streets, wars that had no end in sight while the rest of the world moved on. they had all moved on.
And in a nutshell, it had seemed that we had simply shifted from one form of evil to another form of evil. Because while one claimed the lives of people, the other claimed livelihoods. There are people that commit suicide after losing their life savings to scammers, some businesses are destroyed because they believed someone they had met online and had chosen to invest in.
These boys scam people of their money from the safety of their homes, without the risk associated with armed robbery, then you see them buy flashy cars, go to clubs and buy the most expensive drinks. They are just flaunting wealth around and showing it to the world that they have made it.
It is just like cultism again, but this time without the violence and bloodshed. They are showing off their fraudulent lifestyle and it is improving their status and standing in society when instead such a thing should be questioned.
There are agencies in place to curtail their acts, but it just seems to me that these people are more interested in harassing everyone than in actually doing their jobs well.
So, how have things really turned out for us? Have things gotten better or have they gotten worse? Or are we still in the dark place? Because there is not much violence associated with fraud, we do not always hear cases of it reported in the news unless arrests are being made, but then the effects are just as disastrous and it gives the country as a whole a bad image.
And with the situation of the country and the lack of jobs, I fear things are going to get even worse. I hope that as we move further into the future, we all would be willing to do what is right and make the right decisions even if they may not be easy ones.
Thank you for reading, till we meet in the next post.
Borderimage credit: 