Group Sensitises Students to Organised Crimes in Rivers

Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt

The Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre (YEAC-Nigeria) has carried out a sensitisation campaign for secondary school students in Rivers State against organised crimes ranging from drug abuse, cultism, examination malpractice, and violent extremism to secondary school students in Niger Delta.

The Executive Director of YEAC-Nigeria, Mr. Fyneface Dumnamene Fyneface, during a sensitisation workshop for students of Community Secondary School, Bori in Khana Local Government Area described organised crimes as a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralised enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activities most commonly for profit.

Fyneface blamed the rising cases of examination malpractice in secondary schools on parenting failure, corrupt educational system, poor student attitude, societal failure, undue emphasis on academic results/certificates acquisition against knowledge, and inadequate preparation by students.

According to him, “Organised crimes are continuously maintained through the corruption of public officials and the use of intimidation, threats or forces to protect its operations.

“Organised crimes manifest in the form of pipeline vandalism, crude oil theft, artisanal refining, illegal bunkering, kidnapping, banditry, insurgency, racketeering, cybercrimes, internet fraud (aka Yahoo-Yahoo), drugs/human trafficking, arms smuggling, sea piracy, illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, other fraudulent activities and environmental crimes, including illegal logging and even examination malpractice.”

The group also described examination malpractice as a deliberate wrongdoing contrary to official examination rules designed to place a candidate at an unfair advantage or disadvantage and warned the students that the penalty for examination malpractice under the 1999 Examination Malpractice Act includes five years jail term or a fine of N100,000.

 He noted that effects of examination malpractice include, dismissal, termination, loss of position, lack of self-confidence, loss of trust in the educational system, reduced enrolment of students in school, cancellation of results, discouragement of good students/candidates from studying hard, it deprives innocent students the opportunity for admission, decreases job efficiency, prostitution, stealing and armed robbery.

On drug and substance abuse, YEAC cautioned the students against involvement in drugs by not succumbing to peer pressure or using drugs illicitly, noting that the United Nations has set aside June 16 every year as a special day to raise more awareness on drug abuse.

Fyneface said violent extremism is the use of violence to achieve ideological, religious, political goals or any kind of goal, including terrorism and other forms of politically motivated and communal violence, warning that violent extremism undermines peace and security, human rights, and sustainable development.

According to him, “There are violent and non-violent extremism; the former which involves illegal acts of violence, while the latter is oftentimes protected by the right to freedom of speech and civil rights concerns, thus when you insist on the right thing to be done according to constitutional provisions, it means that you held extreme views about what is right in a non-violent manner.”

He listed factors that push individuals to violent extremism including “marginalisation, inequality, discrimination, persecution and limited access to quality education; the denial of rights and civil liberties; and other environmental, historical, socio-economic grievances, the confluence of weak and illegitimate governance, economic decline, and the worsening effects of climate change.”

Other root causes include arms proliferation, high unemployment, poverty rate, the politicisation of security agencies, and misappropriation of resources among others.

On preventing violent extremism, he said education and sensitisation is a powerful tool that builds learners’ resilience to violent extremism and mitigates the drivers of the phenomena.