Exploring the perception of cultism by undergraduate students of Enugu State University of Science and Technology, Nigeria

¹Francis Ogbonnia Egwu, ²Okeke Obinna Chukwudalu, ³Chidi Philip Okorie* and ⁴Aleke Jude Uchechukwu

¹Department of Criminology and Security Studies Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ndufu-Alike, Ikwo, Nigeria

²Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State.

³Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Faculty of the Social Sciences,University of Nigeria, Nsukka

Directorate of Research Innovation Consultancy and Extensions, Main Campus,Kampala International University, P.O. Box, 20000 Kampala, Uganda

Email:chidiphilip1994@gmail.com; Email: jude.aleke@kiu.ac.ug

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-6807-9484

                                                                            ABSTRACT                                                                                                 

This study explores the perception of cultism by undergraduate students of Enugu State University of Science and Technology, Enugu, Nigeria. The study was necessitated by the observable high rate of cult-related activities being perpetuated and the need to discover the factors behind this social malady. Frustration aggression and social conflict theories were adopted as the theoretical framework. The study revealed among other things that male respondents’ are more likely to be aware of cult-related activities than their female respondents’. The further showed that the majority of the respondents supported the expulsion of students involved in cult-related activities. Based on these findings, the study recommended that educational policies that are more proactive and stringently enforceable should be extended to other universities and the school authority should ensure that unqualified students are not granted entry. More so, the guidance and counseling department of the institution should strategize on a   new sensitization mechanism that will penetrate and unlock the hearts of those who has the potential to become a cultist.

Keywords: Cultism, Higher institutions, Perception, Social malady, Students

CITE AS: Francis Ogbonnia Egwu, Okeke Obinna Chukwudalu, Chidi Philip Okorie and Aleke Jude Uchechukwu (2025). Exploring the perception of cultism by undergraduate students of Enugu State University of Science and Technology, Nigeria. IAA Journal of Arts and Humanities 12(1):133-141. https://doi.org/10.59298/IAAJAH/2025/121133140