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Tag: Bullying

  • Stakeholders seek legislation to combat bullying

    Stakeholders seek legislation to combat bullying

    The federal government on Thursday said that bullying was destructive and a killer of dreams and must not be given a place in schools across all levels in the country.

    The stakeholders rejected bullying and called on students, parents and others to kick it out of the school environment as well as society.

    The stakeholders, which included Ministers of State for Education and Humanitarian Affairs: Prof. Suwaiba Said Ahmad; Yusuf Tanko Sununu and Minister of Youth Development, Ayodele Olawande, spoke at the National Stakeholders’ Summit on bullying prevention and support with the theme: “Unite Against Bullying: A Multi-Stakeholder Approach to Legislative and Social Change,” organised by the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Student Engagement, Hon. Sunday Asefon in collaboration with United Women Voice International Foundation yesterday in Abuja.

    Ahmad condemned the rising cases of bullying, especially among students, which she noted in some cases, lead to death or students’ withdrawal from school, anxiety, and other psychological effects.

    She highlighted ongoing efforts of the Federal Ministry of Education aimed at tackling the menace, disclosing that the ministry has gone beyond policy pronouncement against bullying to setting up a task force for enforcement.

    She said, “Bullying in whatever form is unacceptable. It needs a multisectoral approach, combining policy, awareness campaigns, training and mental health services. The Ministry has done so much, including the launch of a national anti-bullying policy in our schools, which was launched on the 5th of May 2025.”

    On his part, Olawande reaffirmed the commitment of President Bola Tinubu to building a safer society for young people in the country, insisting that stakeholders must rise to the occasion of protecting and empowering young Nigerians.

    Olawande, who insisted that bullying must not have a place in schools in Nigeria, enlisted the support of parents, teachers, traditional and religious leaders, media and other stakeholders to address the challenge of bullying both in schools and in society, while also noting that the task is enormous for the government alone to tackle.

    He called on the National Assembly to enact a law that would support the fight against bullying in the country.

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    Sununu expressed concerns about rising cases of bullying in schools in Nigeria, saying bullying is commonly reported in Nigeria, where many studies give a rate of 21-82 per cent in terms of prevalence in the nation’s institutions.

    “The most typical one that has a prevalence of almost 62% is physical bullying, which can involve physical harm, such as hitting, kicking, pushing, or damaging property,” he said.

    Sununu commended the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Student Engagement, Sunday Asefon and other partners for organising the summit, which he noted was apt and timely.

    Earlier, Asefon described bullying as a national crisis requiring multi-sectoral approaches to address, hence the decision to organise the summit where experts and stakeholders, including partners in advocacy, educators, government officials, students and child protection stakeholders, gather to brainstorm on prevention, awareness and solutions.

    He said, “Across Nigeria today, bullying, whether physical, verbal, psychological, or online, has become a destructive force. It undermines mental health, disrupts academic performance, and threatens the safety of our learning environments.

    “It is no longer a series of isolated incidents or unfortunate elements of ‘school culture’; it is a national challenge demanding a unified, multi-sectoral response.

    “Today’s summit, themed ‘Unite Against Bullying: A Multi-Stakeholder Approach to Legislative and Social Change,’ speaks to both our shared vision and the collective action required across government institutions, educational systems, communities, and digital platforms to ensure that every child and student feels protected, valued, and empowered.

    “It is our declaration that enough is enough. We are here because we believe: no child should suffer in silence; no parent should fear sending their child to school, and no school should ignore cries for help disguised as ‘discipline’ or ‘growing pains.”

    Hundreds of students drawn from both secondary schools and tertiary institutions across the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) participated in the summit.

    One of the participants, Bessong Chikeyen Enu from Federal Government Girls College (FGGC) Abaji, highlighted the negative impact of bullying among students, saying her school introduced various measures to check the menace. 

  • Expert seeks stakeholders’ collaboration in addressing bullying, assault in schools

    Expert seeks stakeholders’ collaboration in addressing bullying, assault in schools

    A child Advocate, Dr. Rosemary Odigbo, has called for collaboration of stakeholders in addressing bullying and assaults in schools.

    Odigbo, the Oyo State Coordinator of Child Protection Network Nigeria, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ibadan.

    She stressed the need for parents and communities to collaborate with local organisations and law enforcement agencies to address bullying and assaults in schools.

    According to her, bullying and assault among students have become an alarming trend, with devastating physical, emotional and psychological consequences for the victims.

    She further stated that victims of assault and bullying often faced profound and long-lasting consequences.

    Odigbo listed the consequences to include: emotional trauma, physical harm, social isolation, academic decline and loss of trust.

    “There is the need to support victims and ensure accountability for perpetrators through appropriate interventions and consequences.

    “Establishment of a zero-tolerance policy that will clearly define unacceptable behaviour and communicate consequences is very important.

    “Monitoring high-risk areas, such as playgrounds, hallways, cafeterias and toilets is also necessary.

    “We need to implement evidence-based programmes and train teachers and staff on recognising and responding to bullying and assault incidents.

    “There is also the need to establish a confidential reporting system for victims and witnesses,” she said.

    Odigbo emphasised the importance of supporting victims by giving them counselling, academic support and protection from retaliation.

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    “There is the need to foster a positive school culture to promote empathy, inclusivity and respect among students, teachers and staff.

    “We need to develop a restorative justice approach that focuses on repairing harm, promoting healing and encouraging accountability.

    “We owe it to our children to create schools where they feel safe, valued and empowered to learn and grow,” she said.

    According to the child advocate, addressing these challenges head-on is essential to protect the well-being and future of the children.

  • Bullying: Stakeholders urge PTA-school collaboration

    Bullying: Stakeholders urge PTA-school collaboration

    Stakeholders in the education sector have called for collaboration between school managements and Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs) to address the menace of bullying in schools.

    The stakeholders made this call in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.

    They were reacting to reports of bullying in secondary schools nationwide, particularly a recent incident at the Federal Government College, Enugu.

    Dr. Olubukola Dosunmu, former President of the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS), FCT Chapter, emphasised the need for schools to develop stringent measures to address bullying.

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    “Bullying is a social problem; it’s something that goes beyond the schools. I think schools and parent associations should work together to adopt more stringent measures that will deter students from doing it.“And remember, a lot of things start from home, with the economic issues and challenges facing people in society, which weren’t as severe when things were better economically.

    “What children do at home is what they do outside. They see violence between their parents; they witness verbal and physical abuse.

    “The way children see parents treat them, treat each other, and treat others at home is how they behave in school,” she said.

  • Bullying: Minister orders for suspension of 13 Fed College pupils

    Bullying: Minister orders for suspension of 13 Fed College pupils

    The Federal Government has suspended 13 students of the Federal Government College in Enugu State for six-weeks for alleged bullying in the school.

    A statement in Abuja by the Director of Press and Public Relations in the ministry, Folashade Boriowo yesterday, said Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, ordered the suspension of the students based on a viral video showing some students of the school engaging in acts of bullying.

    Alausa reaffirmed the ministry’s unwavering commitment to maintaining a safe and conducive learning environment in all federal schools across the country.

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    He said: ”The findings of the ministry on the incident involved the gang assault of an SS1 student (a day student) by a group of students on November 7. The incident came to light showing the circulation of a disturbing video on social media platforms.

    ”Based on the findings, all 13 students involved have been placed on a six-week suspension pending the report of the investigative committee.”

    The minister also directed the School Based Management Committee (SBMC) to collaborate with security agencies to conduct a thorough investigation, including possible affiliations with external groups.

    He added that immediate measures have been implemented to enhance security at the college by engaging law enforcement agents while also reviewing existing safety protocols.

  • Bullying Nigeria

    Despite admitting the government’s modest achievements, the Bretton Woods institutions bullied Nigeria during the 2019 Article IV Consultation for non-implementation of their “market reforms”. But the sharp contrasts between their policy recommendations for Nigeria and USA’s growth-stimulating and employment-generating fiscal policy as well as Ghana’s new fiscal paradigm: comprehensive tax reduction/elimination, towards boosting local manufacturing for job creation show that they lack understanding of the critical needs of the Nigerian economy.

    Bullying Africa’s largest economy’s management is worsened by the fact that Nigeria is still licking the wounds of capital flight, real sector divestment, double-digit inflation, unemployment hike, collapse of infrastructure and manufacturing sector etc. since 1987 SAP that destroyed the economy like Ghana’s after Busia’s 1971 economic liberalization programme. Also, the IMF economists’ landmark report on the privatization of British Railways (after 25 years) described its benefits as an “illusion”:”The tendency of governments to focus on debt misses large swaths of government activity and can fall victim to illusory fiscal practices. When public assets are taken into account, selling a public utility, for example, may do nothing to improve the public finances… Privatizations increase revenue and lower deficits but also reduce the government’s asset holdings. Similarly, cutting back maintenance expenditure reduces the deficit and lowers debt, but also reduces the value of infrastructure assets, which could cost more in the long term.”

    It asserted: “UK economy requires fundamental structural shift.” (UK’sIndependent newspaper, 09/10/2018).

    Thus while both institutions are preoccupied with “market reform” economic ratios, Nigeria is more preoccupied with re-building her market’s body in its convalescence from recession than with the performance ratios of some of its struggling parts. Moreover, because she opted for a “fundamental structural shift”through the yet-gestating slower-pace-growth but-more-sustainable, agriculture-led economic diversification strategy into the non-oil sector by developing and exploiting the hitherto latent resources for import substitution and exports in contradistinction from the previous “import-all-importables” regimes, a correlate of this strategy is the necessity for incentives (“subsidies”, like USA’s for soybeans farmers!) for many nursery-bed greenhorn projects, that would otherwise collapse with disastrous macro-economic consequences. Also, critical human capital maintenance demands saving millions of children, elderly, resource-handicapped professionals and commercial operators from the morgues as the most vulnerable victims of socio-economic abuse with multi-dimensional safety net programmes.

    Hence, while the institutions have embarked on frontal attacks on Nigeria’s fiscal and monetary policy measures with zestful orthodoxy and possibly developing a covert encirclement strategy of limiting Nigeria’s access to external loans outside the Paris Club framework, the government seems to have formulated its own counter-offensive strategy with its SAP, supported with position and flanking defence tactics for controlling inflation, stabilizing interest and exchange rates, increasing foreign reserves and attracting billions in FDI MOUs. The impasse from this policy conflict between their recommendations and the government’s studious taciturnity demands a détente for congruence between both SAP versions.

    Achieving that congruence demands that the institutions understand the contents, contexts and depth of Nigeria’s key economic challenges towards proffering effective long-term solutions for them. Loss/misuse of resources for achieving faster economic growth (e.g. post-debt-relief $60 billion increase in external debt between 2007 and 2015 without concrete collateral assets and their measurable contributions to the GDP for which the economy is being penalized with humongous servicing costs at a time of reduced revenue. With resultant surge in debt servicing/revenue ratio while more external loans are required to reduce the disastrous effects of infrastructural collapse from the poor/non-use of the $60 billion) and accessing low-cost financing for critical infrastructure without policy summersaults that can destabilize the socio-economic structure and trigger political instability.

    Indeed, Nigeria’s situation is similar to Mengitsu’s regime in pulling Ethiopia from its junk status like Rawlings’ regimes, whose unconventional bottom-up economic re-development, was the base for Ghana’s current economic triumphalism. Also, Obama’s recession-cure therapy on which Trump’s regime is building is another model for implementing Nigeria’s economic re-development programme. This is why the new direction of bottom-up economic re-development offers more hope than returning to the top-down, superficial and seedy “market reform” blunders of phantasmal-short-term-promises-with-long-term-disasters-of-mass-pauperisation. But the ratios being applied to Nigeria’s economy were not applied for these countries during their turbulent re-development periods by the institutions!

    Moreover, the chicken-and-egg debate on prioritizing funding for human capital over physical infrastructural development is highly misplaced. As an example, medical doctors migrate to other countries routinely due to decades-old collapse of the healthcare infrastructure despite the need for their services and the financial scourge of medical tourism. Hence government’s prioritizing infrastructure over human capital development, with inadequate resources for both objectives simultaneously, is rational in the long run for reducing the loss of its critical manpower especially as the private sector is bridging the gaps with 80 universities.

    The World Bank’s pledge to help Africa tackle illicit fund flows will benefit Nigeria immensely especially if it includes the idea of establishing a UN Court on corruption. But the World Bank’s pressure on Nigeria to sign AfCFTA whether or not it is in line with her need assessment and the concurrent logs in her economic fireplace, is out of order! She should not be swash-buckled into signing it if its impact is potentially detrimental to her economic development plans. Also, if IMF commits to working with Nigeria to achieve faster economic growth through low-cost financing of very critical infrastructure, its criticisms of Nigeria’s loans from China and other low-cost sources is trivial. Rather IMF should correct the defects of the Paris Club template for obtaining patronage of its loans by needy countries.

    Therefore, the Bretton Woods institutions’ bullying tactics on the Nigerian government that openly signals a sharp conflict in strategy and breakdown in their relationships can be easily redressed through their improved understanding of the key challenges, objectives and strategies in charting a sustainable growth path and full commitment to working together through a mutual détente. This can thaw the frosty relationship between them because nobody can build anything on nothing anywhere in the world!

     

    • Okunmuyide writes from Lagos.

  • Our Girls; ‘Say No to bullying’

    It is now four years + since our Chibok Girls were viciously kidnapped on April 15, 2014. However we await the release of the remaining Chibok girls and the Dapchi girl-child, 14-year old, Leah Sharibu.

    Amidst the outcry against a really lopsided anti-corruption effort, we may be forced to appreciate even these small beginnings even though National Assembly (NASS) and courts have tied the release of the returning money in knots in order to tie the hands of the government and perhaps guarantee a failed budget 2018 with consequent 2019 election failure.

    Nigerians should understand fully the statement that “We Nigerians are where we are in this largely imperfect Nigeria because of the massive serial politically-led theft of the resources” that God gave Nigeria leading to moral and monetary insufficiency throughout the reign of these leaders. The process was accelerated by a 50-year agenda to deliberately cripple the police force. This was compounded by a major political policy criminality as Nigeria is the only country in the world that gives away [allocates] publicly owned oil wells to individuals depriving millions of desperate citizens of billions of dollars in developmental income while making a few boastful billionaires and many silent billionaires.

    A developmentally different civilian or military leadership, since the 1960s would have probably left us well in advance of any country in Africa and many in Asia. Instead under their short-sighted and greedy guidance and full control, with full collusion of a corrupted followership and weakened policing system, Nigeria has been a beautiful bride robbed, raped and left for dead on her wedding bed of soil, oil and sun. Economics does not describe our lack of power, water, bridges, and books in schools! Corruption does!! So those believing that corruption should be forgotten should remember that corruption is now a measurable economic ‘failure to thrive’ with the politicians proclaiming a ‘We will not save’ policy. The results have decimated development and the foreign reserves which 50 years on should be $300b, robbed allocations and prevented our needed 150-200Mw of electricity being provided. Corruption is also about evil laws!

    Seeing the thugs invading Senate reminded me of their childhood in school where they were probably bullies if they went to school at all.  Remember that corruption made their schools rubbish pre-programmed by greedy politicians years ago. It is too late to help adults traumatised by a stolen education during youth. The youth accused of expecting handouts are largely products of little or no education delivered in rubbish schools – see Chibok and Dapchi pictures.

    Back to bullying. But we can each do something. Unchecked, bullying manifests itself malignantly in adult callous behaviour and violence at home and office.  Bullying really changes the lives of both victims and perpetrators. By adulthood, the bully gets worse and the victim is physically and mentally traumatized. After corruption, bullying ruined and is ruining the happiness of millions more daily and we can change that for the better by taking a pen or sitting at the computer and making a font 48 poster – ‘SAY “NO” TO BULLYING. ABC – AVOID BULLYING CHILDREN AND ADULTS’. Tomorrow we could put 1,000,000 such home and office posters around school and office ‘bully venues’ and help save millions another day of helpless hopelessness and fear.

    Parents write out 10 or 20 signs at home with your children for school tomorrow. This simple sign will help prevent and start authorities monitoring bullying today in your school, home, workplace, office.

    Ten people, fellow human beings, killed in Benue. Is that 1,000 or 10,000 in the last five or 10 years? When will it end?

    Kudos to the vice president’s ‘Ease of Doing Business Initiative’ by reducing a deliberately obstructive and actively and passively, ‘delay until you pay’ corrupt bureaucracy and even the cost of setting up an office. The effort moved Nigeria up by 24 places on the ease of doing business. Go and tell that to farmers driven from their farms by herders. The Nigerian public service and business model is best represented by remembering and regularly revisiting the formerly impressive Federal Government Secretariat (FGS), Ikoyi, which had thousands of offices which could have been immediately rented out to Lagos citizens when the FGS was closed. But no, it was stripped bare and a now just a naked skeleton, an eyesore. A good example of a bad, if not evil, government decision and showing how government shoots itself in the head regularly for questionably altruistic or corrupt goals. Electricity, single digit loans, corruption, one year rent in advance are not nuclear physics but cumulate into the denied right to a decent work environment.

    President Buhari should guard his speeches to ensure they cannot be interpreted, correct or misinterpreted.

    Stealing the mace is not the only disgrace to the nation’s democracy in the NASS. Stealing the mace is certainly wrong but NASS questioning adult members because of political differences and then suspending members is equally wrong. Is it doing the work you elected it for? Is it providing an obstacle or a wheel for democratic motion? Why is NASS deaf to the difference between ‘Ayes’ and ‘Nays’?  Why has NASS not passed the budget 2018 in nearly seven months? Is it to guarantee the failure of governance with uncompleted projects pre-election? NASS has not passed! It has failed and disgraced us.

    NB: Uncover ‘I LOVE NIGERIA’ KNOWLEDGEABLE CANDIDATES for 2019 -SDG 16.

  • Chika Ike: I was a victim of bullying

    Nollywood actress/producer Chika Ike has come out to speak on how she was bullied while in secondary school for her skinny figure.

    According to the actress, everyday was challenging for fear of being the center of attraction once noticed.

    Now trying to cut down her body size, she wrote about her insecurities about her body while she as growing on her Instagram page. “I never liked my body growing up and was constantly bullied about it,” she wrote.

    “I was so skinny and was the tallest in my class. I never looked forward to morning assembly because I’ll have to stand at the back of the class or class presentations to talk about “your best friend, because I’ll be described as the thin girl.”

    Recounting her experience, she wrote: “I can remember eating all sorts to things to gain weight but nothing worked, I really craved to have some flesh on me. I was called all sorts of names like Lepa, thin girl and Agric chicken because I was so skinny and tall.

    She also revealed that the experience pushed her into becoming a model.

    “So I started modelling as soon as I graduated from secondary school because modelling agents thought I had “the look”.

    Presently, she says she is now cool with her looks.

    “Today the reverse is the case, I’m on all sorts of diet programs and exercising every other day to keep the weight I’ve always wanted in check, I feel bad after licking ice cream or eating anything with high-calorie content because I have to suffer in the gym. Growing up slim wasn’t cool now it’s cool. The truth is you have to constantly love you, you can’t be cool to everyone, and the world will always have a standard of what you should be, who you should be and how you should live your life.”

    The actress however, has a word of caution for people desirous of changing.

    “If you want to make changes or improvements let it not be because of pressure or people’s unconscious bias about you,” she wrote.

    “Do it for you. You should hold your pen and draw your life plan… Do you… Mind your business…..Run your race. Do not let anyone define you or rush you with their timeline. We all have different stories, journeys, and different clocks. You are you and that is your power!

     

  • Bullying scandal rocks elite Lagos school as victim suffers dual fractures

    Bullying scandal rocks elite Lagos school as victim suffers dual fractures

    Parents accuse high school authorities of shielding mystery
    perpetrator in elaborate cover-up School expresses
    disappointment, dismiss allegations as ‘very wrong’

    The school was silent when Ebunoluwa Adegboyega became the bullies’ favourite. At age 10, her bruises were legion. Her mind was a mist of scars. But nobody could see her wince. Through her ordeal, a battle ravaged in Ebunoluwa’s head; harsh words lunged like savages to scathe her fragile mien. The bullies called her “Orobo,” and that was almost too farfetched, as Ebunoluwa didn’t exactly cut the picture of obesity – at least by her parents’ standards.

    While the bullies taunted her over size, Ebunoluwa lived the blithe life of a castle princess in her parent’s homestead. Nonetheless, the 10-year-old student of Junior Secondary School One (J.S.S.1) class, Grace Schools, Gbagada, Lagos, stirred every morning with a violent tremor in her heart. As she dressed up for school, she girded up like a medieval warrior, to brave the taunts and insolent jeers of peer that deemed it fit to pick on her.

    From whispered slurs and spoken taunts about her size, which often elicited the derisive remark, ‘Orobo,’ to the occasional blow on the head from the palm and book of “Uchenna,” one of her alleged assailants, Ebunoluwa suffered interminable hurt and sorrow in pursuit of a high school education.

    Her experience at Grace Schools was hardly what she and her parents expected at her resumption in the educational facility. But it was easier not to ask too many questions or raise a ruckus about Ebunoluwa’s plight. Although her mother, Dr. Bande Adegboyega, a gynecologist, wished to raise hell, her father, Dr. Temitope Adegboyega, a pediatrician, believed in letting the hostilities thaw out. “Children will always play,” he said,

    But that childish ‘play’ would degenerate into a vicious encounter. Ebunoluwa, unfortunately, could neither avoid nor ride the tide of the playful viciousness. A trip to the school canteen would cost the 10-year-old and her parents very much. On April 15, 2016, during lunch break, somebody shoved Ebunoluwa violently from the back while she stood outside the school canteen. She fell face down; the impact of her fall crushed both her legs and bruised her skin. Consequently, Ebunoluwa suffered fractures on both legs.

     

    Ebunoluwa’s story: ‘They did not try to find out who pushed me’

    “On that day, I went to the dining hall to eat during lunch break in my school. When I came out of the canteen, I came out with three people in my class. Their names are Jumaima, Grace and Sophia. I talked to them a little. Then they started moving on their own. They were going. When I now wanted to take my own step, someone came from the back and pushed me. I didn’t see the person that pushed me. My three classmates didn’t see the person that pushed me. We were all backing the person.

    “I fell on my face. Then I started calling for help. One boy, a J.S.S 2 student, came to carry me to the clinic. In the clinic, the nurse put Savlon (an antiseptic) and bandage on my left leg. I was bleeding from that leg and a wound on my right leg. I was crying because it was very painful.

    “Then she said she would fix my bone back but I had a fracture and she could not fix my bone back. Then she put bandage on my leg. I could not leave the clinic on my own. I could not walk on my legs,” said Ebunoluwa.

     

    What happened to her was an act of wickedness – Victim’s mom

    Shedding light on the intrigues, Ebunoluwa’s mom, Dr. Bande Adegboyega, a gynaecologist, said: “On April 15, I was called. I had a phone call from the school nurse that I should come to the school that my daughter could not walk. While I was in the school, the driver brought Ebunoluwa with the nurse. I saw her in the car. She was crying. She was in serious pains. I looked at her legs and I noticed that they had bandaged one leg, that was the leg that was fractured, and the other leg was plastered.

    “I was angry. I said they should bring her out immediately. At this point, the Principal, Mr. Ronald Cilliers, a South African, came and I challenged him: ‘I thought you had CCTV camera that covers the school?’ What surprised me however, was that the principal was too much on the defensive, trying to cover up for the school…We told the principal that what happened to her must be an act of wickedness and that we would like to see the person responsible for her accident. Instantly, he became very defensive. He said I shouldn’t say it was an act of wickedness. I didn’t see empathy in him so I just ignored him,” she said.

    According to the victim’s mom, Ebunoluwa was not running when she was pushed, she was not standing on a ledge or some other elevated outthrust from the ground or platform. “She was on level ground. I saw the spot,” said Dr. Adegboyega.

    There is no gainsaying Dr. Adegboyega met her daughter in a state of agonising pain. Her left leg was very swollen from the knee down to the feet. Also, the right leg which had a deep cut and had bled a lot, was plastered, while the fractured leg was bandaged. She was informed that Ebunoluwa had been administered Paracetamol. The gynaecologist, thus on her own, unaccompanied by any member of the school, rushed her daughter to the Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi, Lagos. She was later transferred to the Orthopaedic clinic, Gbagada General Hospital, Gbagada.

     

    Echoes of indifference and undetected fracture

    Dr. Adegboyega expresssed her disappointment at the school’s reaction to her daughter’s plight. “I was surprised that none of them called me from the school afterwards, to ask me what happened or enquire about my daughter’s health. This made me very angry. At the hospital, we did x-ray and confirmed that she suffered fracture on her left leg. But because she was able to stand on the other leg, we didn’t know that there was something wrong with her right leg. But soon we noticed blisters on her right leg. We consulted one of the consultants at the Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi and the consultant emphasised that the blisters were telltale signs that there was something wrong with Ebunoluwa’s right leg. The consultant surgeon confirmed that they were fracture blisters and that we shouldn’t have allowed her to stand on that leg.

    “So they put Plaster of Paris (POP) on her left leg and ordered an x-ray of her right leg. The x-ray revealed that Ebunoluwa had also suffered fracture on her right leg. The consultant recommended that we confined her to a wheel chair pending the time that her fractures would heal.

    “We took her home and still nobody called us from the school. I now got angry and invited a lawyer. We called the Principal but he persistently ignored our calls again. The father subsequently called the Vice Principal to complain about the school’s nonchalance to our child’s plight,” she said.

    Corroborating her, Dr. Temitope Adegboyega, Ebunoluwa’s father, stated that the Vice Principal later came to meet them in Igbobi with the school’s chaplain. “He said we should give Ebunoluwa adequate medical treatment. He said we should not mind the Principal. He said we should give her all the treatment that she needed claiming the school would foot the bill.”

     

    Seeking recompense

    Afterwards the parents, accompanied by their attorney, and a close relative, allegedly held a meeting with the Vice- Principal of the School on April 19 and April 26, 2016 respectively. At the meeting, the Vice Principal reportedly assured them that the management of the school was ready to bear the costs of treatment of the injury and to also take on the responsibility of transportation of Ebunoluwa, to and from the school premises every day.

    Efforts made by their lawyer to see the Principal, both in his office and on phone, and get his commitment on the above however proved abortive as he bluntly refused to give any audience, disclosed Dr. Adegboyega. The family thus, represented by their lawyer, also made demands in the letter dated April 18, 2016 as follows: that the full cost implication of treatment, nursing care and consequent management of the victim will be borne by the school management. They also demanded that the result of the investigation carried out by the school should be sent to the office of the family’s lawyer within one week of the completion and penalties imposed on the perpetrator. They demanded that Ebunoluwa’s safety be guaranteed and security measures in the school strengthened.

     

    A history of bullying

    Before Ebunoluwa’s accident, there had been previous incidents. According to her mom, “She had been bullied. She said one boy (Uchenna) used to hit her on the head. I told the father but he dismissed it, stating that it’s one of the pranks children indulge in among themselves. Even Ebunoluwa’s teacher, Mr. Balogun, said she was one of the most gentle students in the class. She was no troublemaker. She was a victim of bullying. She was persistently picked on by her mates because of her size. They called her ‘Orobo.’ The Vice Principal said we should have reported the situation a long while ago.”

     

    Discordant tunes

    The VP, Balogun subsequently provided a driver to convey Ebunoluwa to and from school every day, until the school went on midterm break. To our surprise, the following Monday, which was the school’s resumption day, we waited till 9 am and the driver that used to come for Ebunoluwa did not show up. I went to the school to see the VP but he told me off. He said my daughter should not resume in school as she was a debtor. He said my daughter was a debtor and the rule is that she must not come in. He said they only allowed her into the school that day on compassionate grounds. I was angry. I reminded him that the school did not foot the bill of my child’s medical treatment as he promised and that they abandoned us and forced us to handle the medical bills which was over N500, 000.

    “But he told me to go and pay the school fees. He said we can go ahead and do whatever we liked. He said the school has competent Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) that can prolong the case. He said what can we do with our small lawyer? He said he had been personally responsible for providing transportation for my daughter to and from school all along. He said the school was never ready to assist.

    “So we paid her school fees and she resumed on another day. But since the driver the VP provided had stopped coming, her father started taking her to and from school every day,” she said.

     

    ‘Leave everything to God’

    Further findings suggested shady manoeuvrings after the incident. The VP reportedly instructed Ebunoluwa’s classmates to write statements about her accident, according to Dr. Adegboyega. According to her, a teacher within the school revealed to her that the next day after the incident, the VP instructed some of Ebunoluwa’s classmates to write statements indicating that nobody pushed her when she fell. He allegedly ordered them to write that Ebunoluwa was running when she fell.

    “He allegedly did all that without our knowledge even though he later came to the hospital to beg us not to take legal action against the school. The teacher begged me to keep quiet and leave everything to God. I was mortified. I wondered how the Vice Principal could make minors commit such act,” she said.

     

    ‘Duty of care

    Yemisi Adepoju, the victim’s lawyer, argued that, “Once a student resumes in school, the school owes the student duty of care from the moment he or she steps into its premises till closing hours when he or she departs the school for home. That was what the school (Grace Schools) had sold. The school claimed to install CCTV cameras as a security measure and the school also makes students sign anti-bullying statements.”

    Indeed, the duty of care means schools must do everything reasonably possible to protect their students from foreseeable harm, injury, and death. This duty includes providing a safe environment for students, according to Sulaiman Tella, a lawyer.

    According to him, when a school fails to protect its students from foreseeable harm, the law says it acted negligently. A school’s negligence makes it responsible, or liable, for the injured student’s damages.

     

    The legal doctrine of in loco parentis

    In loco parentis (a Latin term meaning “in place of the parent”) is a legal doctrine that applies to school administrators and teachers. The doctrine means that while a child is at school or away on a school-sponsored, extracurricular activity, the teacher has the responsibility and duties of the student’s parents. While in loco parentis gives teachers latitude in supervising students and student activities, the legal doctrine makes teachers and administrators liable for accidents and injuries students sustain while under their supervision.

    If a child has an accident in the school, in the schoolyard, on the way to school, on the school bus or while on a school trip, the question of whether or not the school or the teachers were negligent may arise. Everything however, depends on the facts of the individual case, argued Tella.

     

    The grim picture

    Ebunoluwa’s case represents a microcosm of the violence malaise afflicting Nigerian secondary schools. Some victims however, do not live to tell their story. For instance, Iyanuoluwa Dahunsi, a 15-year-old SSS 2 pupil of Bishop Philip Academy, Ibadan, Oyo State, was hospitalised after she was reportedly slapped by Funke Fashina, who was then the secretary to the school’s Principal, on January 29, 2015.

    Dahunsi subsequently developed a lingering eye problem, causing her partial blindness. Although Fashina was later arrested and charged to court for the assault, Dahunsi, never recovered from it. Barely six months later, and five days after her 15th birthday, Dahunsi died on July 22, 2015 at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH). The late teenager was buried in February this year.

    And few people would forget in a hurry the heartrending saga of American elementary school girl, Ava Lynn. Photos of the bruised girl went viral on social media back in 2014 after she was reportedly attacked by a bully on the playground. According to the young girl’s mum, Lacey Harris, on Tuesday, August 26, 2014, she was called to come pick up her daughter at Arlington Elementary School in Pascagoula, Mississippi, because AvaLynn had been injured in an accident. The sight Lacey met when she got to Ava’s school was every parents’ nightmare: her daughter’s face was swollen, cut, and bruised beyond recognition.

    Ava informed her mum, Lacey, that she was assaulted by another student; that she was kicked repeatedly in the face until she fell off of the slide on the school’s playground. But the school informed Lacey that there were no teachers present when the incident occurred, and because of that, no one could prove whether or not another student had harmed Ava. That there had been an accident, no other students were involved, Ava got injured, they gave her medical treatment and that was as much as they could do.

    While the American constitution amply provides for and implements provisions for the protection of the American child, both at home and in school, Nigeria still fights a losing battle to replicate such feat within its social and legal framework. Nonetheless, the Child Rights Act clearly outlaws battery and physical abuse in any form, according to Betty Abah, the Executive Director, Centre for Children’s Health Education, Orientation and Protection.

    Approximately six out of every 10 children in Nigeria experience some form of violence before the age of 18, while half of all children experience physical violence, according to a finding from a 2014 national survey on “Violence Against Children in Nigeria.” Hence eminent scholar of United States’ University of Georgia, Moradeke Aderibigbe Abimbola,  suggested a more proactive and effective anti-bullying law for the country. She said the law should be operationalised to enhance Nigerian schools’ capacity to promptly investigate bullying cases in a timely manner and determine whether bullying has indeed occurred. She suggested a procedure for a teacher or other school employee, student, parent, guardian, or other person who has control or charge of a student, either anonymously or in such person’s name, at such person’s option, to report or otherwise provide information on bullying activity.

    Oftentimes children who are repeatedly bullied and assaulted in school start to wonder if they deserved. The teacher and other administrative staff can counteract this by sitting with the child at lunch to offer counselling. “They may visit the child at home to show support and offer emotional counsel. Any expression of support is good,” argued Olayinka Otun, a child psychologist.

    However, when bullying takes on a more dangerous facade, as it frequently does in high school, bystanders should be encouraged to intervene by speaking up in support of a bullied classmate. For relational aggression – name calling and gossiping – the school authority and bystanders should always take a stand, argued Rachel Oyibo, an educational psychologist and school counsellor.

    “The best form of intervention is teaching kids and enlightening staff to always speak up and stand in defense of the abused particularly in established cases of bullying,” she said.

     

    We will make sure that the press is closed down —Grace Schools’ Vice Principal, Balogun

    At exactly 1:52 pm on Wednesday, July 13, 2016, The Nation reporter arrived at the school to see the Vice Principal, P.A. Balogun. About five minutes after his secretary informed him of the reporter’s presence, a very hesitant Balogun received the reporter in his office. He demanded to know The Nation’s mission in the school. No sooner was he briefed than he began to issue warnings to the reporter. He threatened that the school would “close down” any newspaper that published anything against the school.

    He said: “The lawyers are already handling the case. We received a letter from their (Adegboyegas) own lawyer, and our lawyers have responded. I cannot confirm to you whether the matter is in court now or not.”

    When our reporter told the Vice Principal that the lawyer to the Adegboyegas had not filed any suit in court as the aggrieved party, Balogun responded: “I don’t know, but the matter must have been in court.”

    The Vice Principal condemned the allegations raised by the aggrieved family. He said: “All the allegations are wrong. The letter the family wrote to the school was very wrong. That is why the owner of the school said we should not entertain anything on the matter again.”

     

    Playing legal roulette in Grace Schools’ administrative offices

    “If anything is published, we will sue that publishing house for libel,” the VP threatened. Balogun dismissed claims that the school victimised Ebunoluwa. “How is the school victimising the child? Try and ask the family how their child is being victimised. Is it verbally, physical assault, beating? Just how? The parents of the child are medical doctors. If medical doctors are talking like that, what do you expect of a layman on the street? I am highly disappointed in them. Come, let me take you (reporter) to the Principal,” he said.

    En route the Principal’s office, VP Balogun engaged the reporter in the following discussion:

    Balogun: The school has two SANs (Senior Advocates of Nigeria) that are on the board here. We have notified them. They will take it over as well if any paper makes any malicious publication!

    Reporter: We are not making any malicious publication. That is why we are here to get your own side of the story.

    Balogun: In fact, we will make sure that the press is closed down! Honestly!

    At the Principal’s office, Balogun asked the reporter to stay with the secretary while he went inside to discuss with the Principal. Three minutes later, he placed a call to the ‘owner of the school,’ to inform her of the reporter’s presence.

    He said: “I have somebody here that said he is from The Nation newspaper. And he said that the family of Adegboyega made some allegations and that he has come to verify those allegations. I said they can only see our lawyers. I told him that we can’t give him any information here, that it is only our lawyer that he can talk to. I told him that if they publish anything, we will contact the SAN (Senior Advocate of Nigeria) straightaway. They shouldn’t publish anything. I told them that our lawyer is seeing their lawyer. I told him that they cannot get any information from the school. He is here now. I told the Principal and the Principal said I should report to you.

    I just want him to go…I will tell him that we are not ready to give any information here.”

    After making the call, he told the reporter: “I just talked to the owner of the school. She said you have no right to publish anything. And you cannot get any information for now. If there is any need for us to give you information, you can contact our lawyer. We can give you the contact,” he said.

    Promptly, the reporter requested for the contact of the school’s lawyer but the Vice Principal refused to give him the lawyer’s contact. He assumed a hostile posture and ordered the reporter out of the school.

    “Please, you may take your leave! If there is any need to contact our lawyers later, we can book an appointment with you,” he said.

    Thus at exactly 2:15 pm, the reporter took his leave with Balogun marching briskly beside him to ensure that he (reporter) did not stop by to speak to any student or member of staff.

    As he marched the reporter to the gate, the following conversation ensued:

    Reporter: “The parents also alleged that the school management forced her (the victim’s) colleagues to write false statement on how the incident happened. They claimed you coached her colleagues to write that she was running when she fell and that nobody pushed her.”

    Balogun: “Which of her colleagues?”

    Reporter: The victim’s colleagues who were present at the time of the accident.

    Balogun: (Silence)

    Reporter: “So when can we book the appointment with your lawyer?”

    Balogun: “Don’t worry, we will contact our lawyer. When we do so, whatever the lawyer says, we will let you know.”

    Reporter: “We don’t have time, because the story will go to press soon and we need to get the school’s account.”

    Balogun: “You just don’t rush to the press. It is not done anywhere.”

    Reporter: “I was here yesterday (Tuesday) but I was told you had left the premises before I got here.”

    Balogun: “Please, forward a letter to us to book an appointment with our lawyer.

    Reporter: This is the press sir. We don’t need you to contact your lawyer on our behalf. We can always do that. We will save time if you can put a call to your lawyer now.”

    Balogun: “The owner of the school has contacted the lawyer. And I have told you, our lawyers are speaking to their lawyer. Nobody should publish anything.”

    As the reporter drove out of the premises, Balogun was seen discussing with the school security personnel, pointing to the reporter’s car.

  • Bullying not allowed

    Even by his account of what happened, Dino Melaye, the Senator representing Kogi West, further exposed how his conduct did not help matters. He was reacting to public criticism of his reported wild behaviour during a Senate executive session to discuss the ongoing trial of Senate President Bukola Saraki and Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu who are accused of forgery by the Federal Government.

    Melaye told reporters at the National Assembly that he was stating his own side of the story to counter “misinformation in the public sphere” about how he allegedly threatened to beat up Senator Oluremi Tinubu (Lagos State Central) during the closed-door meeting.

    Melaye said: “When I stood up and I made my submissions that day in the Senate, all I did was to pacify my colleagues and asked that the case in court be withdrawn because already there is a resolution of the Senate that the rules of the Senate were not forged and since there was a resolution of the Senate that the rules of the Senate were not forged, then, I said, all those who have gone to court should go and withdraw their names from court and that if at the end of the day there were  those who refused to withdraw their names from the court we should penalise them by suspending them. I said that.” He added:  “But I did not use any insolent, abusive, degrading or mannerless language…”  Is that so? Maybe Melaye didn’t understand the effect of his words.

    To be fair, Melaye quoted himself faithfully, perhaps thinking that what he claimed to have said made sense. But did his words make sense? How can any sensible individual argue that a so-called resolution by the Senate should be regarded as the final word on a matter that is beyond what the Senate thinks or what it wants the public to think? A case of forgery against the Senate’s leadership is not strictly an internal matter and cannot be seen as such.

    Certainly, Melaye spoke unreasonably when he tried to give an order that the senators who had taken the matter to court should withdraw from the case, or else, face suspension. His thinking was unbecoming, particularly considering his position as a senator. Indeed, he was talking rubbish!

    So, if someone, in response, allegedly described him as a “thug” in view of his bullying conduct, was that description off the mark?  Also, if someone, in response, allegedly called him a “dog”, doesn’t that depiction fit the bill?