A new opinion poll conducted by NOIPolls has indicated that 34 percent of adult persons in the country experienced bullying during their secondary school days.
Detailed findings show the top three as physical (65 percent), extreme punishment (46 percent) and exploitation (24 percent).
The poll stated that: “Some of the victims suffer physical and mental trauma while others lose their lives in the process. Very recently, 12-year-old, Sylvester Oromoni, a Junior Secondary School 2 (JSS2) student of Dowen College in the Lekki axis of Lagos state, tragically died under controversial circumstances leading to public outcry. The late Dowen student was reportedly said to have been bullied by the boys in his school who were quite older than him.
“It is however worrisome that out of the 34 percent who have been bullied before, 70 percent did not report the incident while 27 percent said they reported the incident.
“Of the 27 percent who mentioned that they reported it, 41 percent of them claimed that nothing was done to the perpetrators after they were reported.”
The poll stated further that cultism is the main cause of bullying as stated by 27 percent of the respondents who were interviewed while 19 percent was attributed to poor upbringing. However, 17 percent attributed it to lack of morals.
By way of solution to the menace, 31 percent respondents recommended that CCTV cameras should be installed to monitor activities in secondary schools while 14 percent advocated a policy on the menace since there are no specific anti-bullying laws and policies for implementation at the moment.
