The tragic death of 21-year-old Mojisola Awesu of the Kwara State College of Health Technology, Offa, has filled many with deep grief. The death of any human is a sad loss but the death of young people who have their lives in front of them brings a different level of grief. The future is for the young.

She had allegedly gone to a hotel room earlier booked by another male student, Adebayo Happiness, in the hope of getting paid N15, 000 to act as his one-night girlfriend to a party.

She had reportedly informed her roommate that she was feeling very uneasy at the hotel. Her body was later found at a refuse dump and the Kwara State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) DSP Toun Ejire-Adeyemi, announced their discovery to the public.

Curiously though, reports indicate that even though the ‘contractual’ agreement was that an inter-university students’ party was scheduled to hold between the students of Summit University and Al-Hikman University, no party held at the alleged venue.

Even though suspects have been arrested, we are saddened by this unfortunate incident.

Without pre-empting police investigations, we see this incident as one of the series of gender-based violence being perpetrated in the country. While we condemn the girls for commercialising what ought to be sincere friendship if they want to engage as adults, we regret that the loss of values in the society is hurting our children.

All those involved so far, given the police report, are all above 18 and as such must be held accountable for their choices. While we mourn the dead and await thorough investigations into this tragic case, this might just re-awaken the nation’s consciousness about our core values. The students are products of the society.

The male student must have observed how patriarchal obstinacy helps perpetrate gender-based violence that stem from the lack of respect for women. It does seem that only Lagos State has a committed agency that handles gender-based and other domestic violence cases. Deterrence comes from citizens seeing that crimes are well investigated, prosecuted and justice served both to the living and the dead.

Gender-based and other domestic violence cases rarely get the justice that deters other intending criminals. All the young people involved in the crime are from different homes. The whole story epitomises the loss of family and cultural values evident in the society, even amongst most adults that ought to act as beacons and mentors to the younger ones. If the allegation that the killing was somehow linked to ritual killing is confirmed, then the chicken seems to have come home to roost.

The veneration and worship of ill-gotten wealth in the society is so evident. Parental negligence and avarice often manifest in the behaviour of their children. There is a failure of parenting in most homes, either through direct examples by such parents or in their failure to, like most holy books direct, raise their children with noble cultural values and the fear of God.

The lure of excessive wealth people don’t even need has pushed the bar of desperation to be rich. Young people now feel that respect only comes with being rich and extravagantly so. The young boys get into all forms of crime to make it and live large. The story of the jailed social media influencer, Hush Puppie, spoke loudly of the attraction to wealth no matter how badly acquired. He lived an overtly obscene public life but had millions of young followers that cared less how he made the money he was spending.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has been battling the increase in cybercrimes, especially by young boys notoriously referred to as Yahoo-Yahoo boys, a social euphemism for cybercriminals. Some young ladies on the other hand seem to have become more desperate to be associated with victimising themselves by sexualising in the new social fad referred to as hook-ups, again, a euphemism for prostitution. They now believe that it is more lucrative to sell their bodies than to do some honest work for a decent wage.

Sad as this case is, we wonder why a young lady can be persuaded to act as a girlfriend for a night to be paid N15, 000. That is a sure sign of self-disrespect. Friendship is more valuable when it is not commercialised. The issue is, how many parents are teaching the noble values of self-respect and contentment? These two values are evidently lacking in this tragic saga. Even though the parents of the alleged suspect and a few others have reportedly been arrested, we expect a thorough investigation and prosecution of the suspects as a deterrent to other criminals. (The Nation Editorial)

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