CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background to the Study
Indiscipline may be said to be as old as the time when men started to organize him into society and consequently made laws to order the affairs of men in a social set up. In the Holy Scripture Cain exhibited some form of indiscipline when he out of envy murdered his brother Abel in their abode. According to Oxford Advanced learners Dictionary (7th editions) failure is lack of success in doing or achieving something. It is pertinent (relevant) to know that everybody in every walk of life is afraid of failure. According to American Heritage (R) Dictionary, failure is lack of discipline or restraint (control) while failure to fulfill promise is called indiscipline. We have heard of people engaging in indiscipline behaviour on daily basis. Many of our students today especially those in our secondary school exhibit various forms of indiscipline in form of juvenile delinquency. This could be in the form of arson, murder and robbery etc. these acts involve both adult and youths, the rate of indiscipline tends to be on the increase in the modern world. Africa is not an exception of this general increase in the young stars, negative attitude to constituted authority.
This rate of indiscipline tends to be on an increase despite the various measure taken by successive government most especially Nigeria, to curb the menace among our students so as to bring about a socially stable society. We read our newspapers and hear from the electronic media of students in the country committing all forms of crimes raging from the violation of parental regulations to truancy, stealing, assault, robbery and other socially undesirable behaviours. Available information shows that our students are most frequently implicated in the acts of indiscipline that in every five caught for a criminal offence; there are usually young stars. These offence ranges from drugs and robbery. During the military rule, several measures were put in place to curb the trends, on its assumption to power on the 31st December 1983, the government of general Mohammuadu Buhari (Rtd) made it known that one of the causes of our problems in our country (Nigeria) was indiscipline and as such, the war against indiscipline (WAI) was introduced into all aspects of the life of the nation. Also our past head of states, General Sani Abacha (Lt) on assumption I office (1993) launched the war against indiscipline and corruption (WAIC). President Olusegun Obasanjo also launched independent corrupt practices commission (ICPC) and economic financial crime commission (EFCC). This was aimed at checking the various corrupt practices in our society. Despite all these commendable effort of our youth are still very much indiscipline. The Nigeria youth is yet to embrace the principles behind the war against indiscipline and corruption programme even when he is supposed to have great roles to play in the success of the programme. There is often the saying that our youths are the leaders of tomorrow, but from what happens on a daily basis, one is forced to wonder if actually the youths are the future leader of tomorrow, if they could actually be entrusted with the leadership roles of the futures, people from various works of life have expressed concern. Olusegun Obasanjo formal president and head of state of the Federal Republic of Nigeria lamented over the rate of indiscipline in the Nigeria society. He pointed accusing fingers to most youths and adults noting that they suffering from what he called social, moral, political and economic indiscipline. Also formal head of state general Ibrahim Babaginda confirmed the obvious fact that the rate of indiscipline and crime among youths was growing fast. He said moral decadence is threatening the nation as evidenced by the get rich quick syndrome that pervaded all facts of the society. Crimes of violence in which our young stars are involved in indication of the malaise which affects most of our communities. (Daily Times 26th December, 1985. pp 1). The problem of indiscipline among students is fast becoming a canker worm that is eaten deeper and deeper in to the fabric of our society and thereby constituting a greater threatens to the stability of the nation.
Indiscipline of various types has eaten deep into the fabric of the social system, it is a problem that is increasing at a fast rate and needs prompt attention. We have come to notice that hardly any family exists without a child possessing one trait of indiscipline or the other. It is either the child steals, is rude, not well mannered, runs away from classes, and or at time if the child is a female, it may be that she posses indulgent illiant sexual acts which may create great concerns for the parents. It is also possible that the child is one way or the other drug addict. In whatever way it is viewed whether the child exhibits any of these features or many others, which are socially undesirable, such a child is certainly a problem to the family and the society at large. It is also sad, to note that student indiscipline has had a lot of negative effects on the school system and learning, many academic calendar are being disrupted as a result of this indiscipline many students now form themselves into gangs, they threaten the life of
