Cultism, Truancy, Drugs...Inside Community-Led Fight to Protect Schoolkids in Rural Nigerian Town
- With an estimated 20 million, Nigeria has the highest number of out-of-school children in the world, according to UNICEF
- In Oyo, home to the largest city in West Africa by landmass, school retention and completion, especially at the secondary level, remain significant challenges
- Amid obstacles such as poverty, child labour, lack of interest, and social vices, selfless community members in Igbeti town in Oyo State have developed strategies to improve student retention
Legit.ng journalist Ridwan Adeola Yusuf has over three years of experience in solutions journalism and in-depth reporting on social issues in Nigeria and across Africa.
Igbeti, Oyo State - The birds chirped gleefully in the bush, their joyful songs filling the morning air. In their domain, unannounced visitors, young boys, formed a ring and spoke in hushed tones.
“One of the school principals alerted me about a cultists’ meeting taking place in the bushy area just beyond the school fence. I went there with my colleague, made 'arrests', and then reported the matter to the Nigeria Police Force's divisional headquarters in Igbeti,” said Hakeeb Adeola Abass, a key member of the Igbeti Volunteer Rescue Mission (IVRM) during an exclusive moment with Legit.ng.
Source: Original
IVRM, a community-based organisation in marble-rich Igbeti, a rural town in Olorunsogo local government area (LGA) of southwest Oyo State, provides emergency response and support to students in lower and upper secondary schools.
Founded in February 2025, the group has been at the forefront of reintegrating learners into the education system while complementing the efforts of security agencies, traditional leaders, and religious institutions. For IVRM marshals, vagrancy, truancy, loitering, and child labour during school hours are abominations. Its members (volunteers) are mainly youths and micro-entrepreneurs.
IVRM: A community-based response to school challenges
Cultism, a scourge that Abass and his team are actively combating, remains a major problem in Oyo, one of West Africa’s largest cities. This ‘dark secret’ was confirmed by Johnson Adenola, the state’s commissioner of police at the time, who in March 2025 formally bemoaned gang-related violence in schools.
"It is unfortunate that many students in the state are involved in cultism, often using nicknames instead of their real identities,” said Adenola, speaking after the unrest at Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) Grammar School, Orita-Aperin Oniyere in Ibadan.
Suspected cultists from the nearby Government Technical College went on a rampage, invading the premises of CAC Grammar School and vandalising vehicles and science laboratory equipment, causing damages worth millions of naira. Several people sustained machete cuts during the attack, which was predominantly carried out by male students.
“I personally interviewed these children, and the revelation was stunning. I was surprised at the level of decadence in the public schools in the state,” lamented CP Adenola.
A viral social media video in Nigeria showing what appears to be a teenage cult member can be viewed below:
Oyo Affairs, a news outlet focused on Oyo, shared a video in December 2025 showing students in the state caught on camera in a brawl:
During this reporter’s interaction with Abass, the community volunteer in Igbeti, he revealed how schoolgirls are being lured into dangerous behaviours such as substance abuse.
Despite the illegality associated with the possession and use of hemp in Nigeria, many young citizens who ostensibly represent the country's future still consume it.
In March 2025, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) revealed that at least one million people in Oyo State are involved in illicit drug use, with cannabis and codeine being the most commonly abused substances among Nigerian youths. Olayinka Joe-Fadile, the NDLEA state commander at the time, noted that Oyo, like the rest of Nigeria, is grappling with high levels of drug consumption.
Drug abuse has been a driving factor behind many criminal offences. Nigeria has been particularly affected, ranking second among African countries for high crime rates in 2025, with a crime index of 66.6 in early 2025. Also, drug use has far-reaching effects on health, impacting nearly every major organ and body system, including the brain, heart, lungs, liver, and kidneys. These consequences can be short-term and long-term, ranging from serious injuries and infectious diseases to chronic conditions like cancer and mental health disorders.
Source: Original
“There was a day we busted some young 'Abokis' (referring to persons of northern Nigerian extraction) in the bush, training our girls how to smoke hemp. I caught them and took them to their schools' principals,” said Abass.
A Facebook video shows IVRM officers questioning uniformed students outside their school premises during school hours, conducted in Yoruba, as seen below:
Source: Original
Boosting school attendance: IVRM's measures
Prevention, they say, is better than cure.
Among other measures, IVRM reached an agreement with school heads in Igbeti to ensure that students are always issued an exit card or a letter from the principal whenever they leave school premises.
This initiative helps reduce truancy, strengthen the education system, and minimise the risk of young learners wandering into unsafe areas or becoming involved in crime.
In the same vein, Oyo State has recorded success in bringing children back to school, with recent indications showing that thousands of children have been returned to classrooms.
Nureni Adeniran, the executive chairman of the Oyo State Universal Basic Education Board, disclosed this in July 2025 while speaking at the Omituntun 2.0 Inter-Ministerial Briefing held at the Governor’s Office Briefing Room, Secretariat, Agodi, Ibadan.
“About 60,000 out-of-school children have been returned to classrooms.”
Limits and challenges of IVRM's pro-education campaign
Despite the usefulness of the initiative, the solution has its downsides. IVRM officers sometimes deploy corporal punishment, which is frowned upon by the Oyo State government.
Dupe Jimi, a teacher in one of the secondary schools in Oke-Ogun axis, disclosed that the Seyi Makinde-led government considers corporal punishment against erring children a violation of their rights.
Most of the children who spoke to this reporter said beatings by IVRM officers 'made them feel scared, sad, or awful.'
There is also the challenge of funding, which poses significant operational difficulties. The group's marshals need resources to fuel their motorcycles to patrol the town, but they are sometimes financially constrained despite occasional support from well-meaning indigenes of Igbeti town.
Be that as it may, IVRM appears resolute in its mission: to keep children in the classroom.
This report has been adapted into a 10-page storybook. You can read it here.
Source: Legit.ng
