Over the years, institutions of higher learning have come under intense pressure as cultism, which as brewed internal wrangling; frequent students’ unrest and industrial disharmony now characterize the higher education system. In spite of concerted efforts by government and institutional heads to arrest the drift engendered by these undesirable factors, not much success has been recorded. As the problems continue to Fester, many have reasoned that there is need for a more pragmatic public relations approach described as purveyors of knowledge, nursery of intellect and character rediscover their mission of inculcating proper value orientation for the survival of society as well as building individual and institutional capacities. It is against this background that this study was designed .Data were sourced from one hundred respondents drawn from Moshood Abiola polytechnic through the use of questionnaire. Opinions expressed by the respondents revealed that institutional heads owe it a duty, in collaboration with their public relations personnel, to ensure the creation of a conducive atmosphere on campus devoid of rancor, bickering and incessant students’ unrest. The study identified the nature of crisis that has bedeviled the institutions and the strategies applied to manage the crisis and their level of effectiveness. The study we help to checkmate and manage students and staff related crisis on campus; Institution of administrative disciplinary measures-the rustication or expulsion of students caught in cult related activities that disturb the peace and tranquility of life on campuses.
KEYWORD; Public, Public Relations, Strategy, Cultism, Communication, Crisis, Crisis management, Management, Tertiary.
CHAPTER ONE
BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
1.1 Introduction
Public is as old as mankind. Public Relations affect almost everyone who has a contact with other human beings. All of us in one way or the other practice or experience public relations daily.
Public Relations are the planned and sustained effort to establish a mutual understanding between an organization and its publics.
According to British Public Relations as an art and social science analysis trend, predicting their consequence, counseling organization, leader and implement planned programme of action which will serve for both the organization and its public interest, the world assemble in Mexico City in August(1987).
Public Relations consist of all form of planned communication inward and outward between organization and its publics for the purpose of achieving specific objective concerning mutual understanding.
Public relations are a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics’ (PRSA, 2012).
International Public Relations Association (1968) described public relations as management function of a continuing planned character through which public and private organizations and institution can seek to win and retain the understanding, sympathy and support of those with whom they are or may be concerned by evaluating public opinion about themselves in order to correlate, as fares possible policies and procedures to achieve, by planned and wide spread information, more productive co-operation and mere fulfillment or common interest.
Public relations are also the subject of academic research.one of the leading academics on the subject is Jacquie L’ Etang, who gives the following definition;
‘Public relation is the occupation responsible for the management of organizational relationships and reputation.it encompasses issues management, public affairs, corporate communications, stakeholder’s relations, risk communication and corporate social responsibility.
Public relations operate on behalf of many different types of organization both at governmental and corporate level, to small business and voluntary sectors.
Public relations arises at points of societal change and resistance’ (L’Etang, J. (2009)’ Radical PR- Catalyst for change or an aporia? Ethical space, 6(2), pp.13-18).
The most important and embarrassing problem facing tertiary institutions in Nigeria today is the menace and aggressiveness of cult members and cult related activities.
The term cult is a Latin word which refers to worship, religion and faith. A cult is a group of people who are adherents of a certain type of worship. In the contemporary context, it generally refers to a fraternal relationship between groups of people who are out to achieve set objectives for members, even though these objectives go against the interest and norms of the larger society (Ikudayisi, 1998).
Onyechere (1988) defines these cults as a group of people who share and propagate peculiar beliefs only to members.
The Oxford concise Dictionary of sociology (1996) gives the sociological definition of cult as a small group or religious activities whose beliefs are typically secrete, esoteric and individualistic.
Ogunbameru and Daodu(2003) defined secret cult as any form of organization whose activities are not only exclusively kept away from the knowledge of others but such activities are carried out at odd hours of the day and they often clash with the accepted norms and values of everyday life.
Odubunmi (1998) sees cultism as the information of a group of initiates or adherent around the figure of a god, a saint or even a living being.it may involve the practice of a particular doctrine within a body of religious belief.
Lexican websters dictionary defines secret cult as a group of people who share common cause and whose mode of meetings and agenda are unknown to the public and where initiation into rank and file is usually done in secret.
Ikundenyisi (1998) saw cultism as a fraternal relationship which signifies brotherhood. All over the world, fraternities among youths, especially the type encouraged in higher institutions of learning, exist to foster brotherhood, collective aspiration and pursuit of noble goals. They provide a platform for leadership capability development and a forum and opportunity for active participation in nation building, it was never intended to be an avenue for exhibiting juvenile delinquency and unrestrained, senseless, masochism, least of all and it was never intended to become an avenue to jeopardize life with impurity.
Azelama, Alude and Imhonda (2004) noted that ‘’cult’’ is an assemblage of people united by certain ideals, or symbols and whose rites and ceremonies of veneration are unique and shrouded in mysteries with a secrecy that cannot be broken.
Cultism is dated back to 1952, when Wole Soyinka winner of the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize for Literature- and a group of friends at the University of Ibadan formed the Pyrites.
In the mid- 1980s, reports had it that some of the cults have been co-opted by elements in the intelligence and security services serving the military government such that they were used as foils to the left- wing student unions which, along with university teachers, were among the only remaining bastions of opposition to military rule.
Cultism includes the activities of secret cults or societies that are very rampant in our institutions of learning today. This has not only created an atmosphere of insecurity in our campuses, it is also diverting attention from the primary purpose of the universities which is education.
Taiwo (2004) declared that’ ’What we are all witnessing today in the education sector is a sad reflection of corruption in the society and the low priority placed on standardization and improvement of the intellectual custodians of our time by those in power’’.
1.2 Statement of the problem
According to Ibe (2003:33) Statement of problem serves to elaborate on the information as contained in the situation applied in the topic or title of the study.
The basic conditions for sustained academic culture have been eroded in tertiary institution. And it has been a negative impact in tertiary institution which little attention has been given to the consequence. Sometimes students are attacked, killing with acids, charms, machetes, Knives, guns, daylight and gang rapping, loss of life, property and harassing of female students. Obada –Obieh(2002).
There is no peace in campus, series of examination malpractice, killing of lecturers. Public Relations as problem- solving communication are expected to create strategies to enlighten the students and make them aware of what is needed of in an academic community .In order to tackle this problem successfully both the students and general public and the government should take the challenges upon themselves.
1.3 Rationale Of The Study
The Research of the study is carried out due to the high rate of moral decadence among student in tertiary institution. It focuses on the relevance measures in which public relations and any external body could adopt to solve social phenomenon in tertiary institution in Nigeria.
The study tries to portray the relationship and effect between the students and the cultism in Nigeria institution.
1.4 Objectives of the Study
Ibe (2003:33) viewed objective as stating the aims of the study by highlighting what the study want to achieve.
Therefore, the objectives of this study include:
1. To examine the different causes of cultism in tertiary institution
2. To examine the role of Public Relations as strategies tool to reach the audience
3. To study the various challenges the cultists group have caused on the school activities.
4. To find out if there are any laws or policies that could restrict students from not joining cult.
5. To ascertain the extent of adequacy of mobilization and encouragement of students to supports the crusade against cultism.
1.5 Research Questions
1. Why do students get involve in cultism in tertiary institution?
2. What roles do the Public Relations play to combat cultism in Nigeria tertiary institution?
3. What are the problems the cultists group caused on campus?
4. What are the tools put in place to mobilize and encourage students on cultism in the institution?
5. What is the extent of student awareness of cult activities and its dangers?
1.6 Significance of Study
This research is chosen because it will enlighten the student about the risk of joining a cult or being a member of a cult, and help to excavate the evolution and the remote cause of cultism on campuses and proffer and enduring solution to it.
1.7 Scope of the Study
The study focuses on public relations strategies and the fight against cultism in Nigeria tertiary institutions.
1.8 Limitation of the study
The study was limited in scope by the sample size and the instrument employed in collecting the data. The researcher cannot fully ascertain the validity of the information given by the respondents.
1.9 Definition of Operational Terms
The meaning of key words that constitute the research problem and some key words that may be used frequently in course of this research work will be defined as sub – headings to ensure proper and easy understandings of the study.
The following salient concepts have been conceptually defined for the study.
Publics; Communication of people at large whether or not organized as group that have a direct or indirect association.
Public Relations:
Frank (1987) also defined public relations as the forms of planned communication outward or inward between an organization and its public for the purpose of achieving specific objective concerning mutual understanding.
Tianping (2003) public relations are a basic function of a modern school’s management and will help improve the programmes and services of an educational organizational (National School Public Relations Association, 2012).
Strategies:
Ducker (1954) sees it as indication of an organization’s positioning for the future, deciding what should be done rather than how it should be done.
Strategy requires choices-deciding- what particular kind of value an organization wants to deliver to whom (Porter, in Gibson 1997),
A plan or method for achieving a particular goal usually over a long period of time.
Cultism:
The Oxford Concise Dictionary of Sociology (1996) gives the sociological definition of cult as a small group or religious activities whose beliefs are typically secrete, esoteric and individualistic.
Ogunade (2002) defined a secret cult as an enclosed organized association or group devoted to the same cause.it is an enclosed group having an exclusive sacred ideology and a series of rites centering around their sacred symbols.
This is an association of people that comes together to form a religious body having common belief, mode of worship and activities are done in an isolated and private place.
Maquet (1971) defined secret societies as close association, guilds, and cult groups with closed membership. These societies are ‘’fraternities’’ established by a conjunction of purposeful intentions with a view to achieving specific ends. They are branded’ secret’ partly because only few people with a special knowledge or interest can understand them.
According to the study a cult is an assemblage of people who share unconventional ideas and belief and involved themselves in eccentric conduct and manifestations mostly shrouded in the society (Igodo, 2002:1).
Communication:
James (1990) defined communication as the channels and visual aids against enemy or unfriendly, interception for intelligence purpose.
It is the medium through which relationship are established, extended and maintained.
Chappen et ‘al (1984) .explained it to any means by which a taught is transferred.
Eyre (1983), defined communication as the transferring of a message to another part so that it can be understood and acted upon.
Crisis:
Nwosu (1996) defined crisis as an unstable situation of extreme danger of difficulty. Any life can take on crisis proportion, if it is experienced as sudden intense unexpected, it is also emotionally.
Schmid (2002) defined crisis as sudden eruption of unexpected events caused by previous conflict.
Best (2006) sees crisis as a degenerated stage of conflict, where threats to human security, intense violence characterized by fighting, death, and injury e. t. c occur.
Olamosu (2000) crisis is a state or condition in the life of a social unit, system, organization or society in which the existence of a problem assumes critical dimension to the extent that the survival or existence of a problem assumes critical dimension to the extent that the survival or existence of the social system or structure is threatened.
Crisis Management:
Black (1991) defined crisis management as the process by which organization deals with any major unpredictable event that threaten to harm the organization, it is responding to unforeseen circumstance with no time to plan ahead.
Management:
Weihrich (1994), opted management as the process of designing and maintaining an environment in which individual working together in groups efficiently accomplish selected aims through planning, organizing, staffing, leading and controlling.
Daft (2003) management is the attainment of organization goals in an effective and efficient manner through planning (defining\selecting goals and means to attain them), organizing (assigning responsibility for tasks accomplishment) leading (use of influence to motivate employees to achieve organizational goal), controlling (monitoring employees activities, keeping organization on track towards achieving its goals, and making corrections as needed/necessary).
Tertiary:
According to Hornby (1995), tertiary means third in the order, rank or importance while tertiary education (at university or college level), therefore, tertiary institution involves universities, colleges of education, and polytechnics.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Introduction
This chapter deals with a review of literature which relate to the topic. Several literatures would be selected and relevant areas would be reviewed.
2.2 Conceptual Framework
2.2.1 Emergence of Public Relations
Public Relations is not new, what is new is the modern method of it. In the ancient world,