The University of Lagos has inaugurated a Varsity Scout Command as a strategy to eradicate cultism and build leadership qualities among undergraduates.
The Varsity Scout Chief Adviser for the university, Dr Karo Ogbinaka, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that the varsity scout consisted of Sea Scout, Air Scout and Regular Scout.
NAN reports that Varsity Scouts are organised into teams, which are separate chartered units from Boy Scout troop.
According to Ogbinaka, the unit would soon establish presence in some other tertiary schools to discourage vices among undergraduates, as members are prohibited to belong to cults or abuse drugs.
He gave the assurance that members of the scout would be well-trained and equipped for their tasks.
Ogbinaka, a former Deputy Dean of the university’s Students’ Affairs Unit, noted that a major task of the institution was character molding.
The former chairman, Academic Staff Union of Universities, University of Lagos Chapter, said:
“The greatest asset of any university or tertiary institution are students, and these are basically youths.
”We discovered that we do not harness the potential of our youths adequately; we need to do that through viable means.
“That is the reason we decided to float this varsity scout for undergraduates in Nigeria.
”This is not only going to be domiciled in Unilag; it is not going to capture only university students, but also polytechnics and colleges of education students.
“I have noticed that many secondary and primary school students already know about cult groups, and they aspire to join them,” Ogbinika, of the univrsity’s Phylosophy Department, said.
According to him, scout is also a platform to discover talented footballers, singers and others.
He said that members of the varsity scout would go to rural areas to impact positively on dwellers for accelerated transformation of the society.