Criminal elements now enrolling in universities

Universities are respected institutions of higher learning and are believed to host the best brains in the education system.

It would, therefore, be expected that the few who secure places in the institutions are disciplined people whose only motivation is to acquire knowledge.

But a recent incident where students at a private university turned into criminals, and abducted their female colleague for ransom and later brutalised and killed her in the most shocking manner possible beggars belief.

lethal cache

It was even more shocking for the institution’s leadership to admit it was not the first incident of its kind there. And a few years ago, a cache of lethal weapons used to commit crimes were discovered in a student’s room at one of the hostels at the University of Nairobi.

It is time universities went out of their way to ensure that those registered in their institutions are genuinely there to learn. They must work with students and come up with effective security measures to deter sociopaths from using their names as cover. The latest incident points to a moral decadence within the institutions of higher learning. Law enforcement agencies must also focus more attention on students in these institutions.

Perhaps time has come for universities to take more interest in those they admit for studies, even if it means using security agencies to vet those they suspect of perpetrating crime.

The institutions have a duty to ensure that their facilities are not used as hideaways or breeding grounds for criminals.

The university in question might not be able to control what its students do outside the campus, since it does not host them, but it can and should insist that lecturers take strict roll calls and identify those who do not attend classes, despite enrolling for courses. a major motivator for crime is the pressure on male students by their peers to impress their girlfriends by living flashy lifestyle that they can only sustain by engaging in crimes.