Uyo secondary schools organise peace summit amid recurring student clashes

Some secondary school students at the Uyo peace summit

Five public secondary schools in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, have organised a peace summit to promote peaceful coexistence and address inter-school clashes, cultism and other forms of violence among students.

The maiden summit, held on Wednesday and hosted by the Principal of the Community Comprehensive Secondary School, Four Towns, Uko Udo, brought together students, school administrators, security officials and community leaders.

The participating schools were Community Comprehensive Secondary School, Four Towns; West Itam Secondary School, Ekit Itam II; Community Secondary Commercial School, Ikot Oku Ubo; Secondary School, Offot Ukwa; and Community Secondary School, Aka Offot.

The details of the event was posted on Facebook on Wednesday.

However, three schools – Uyo High School, Christian Secondary Commercial School and Government Technical School, Ewet Offot – notorious for inter-school clashes did not attend the summit.

The three schools have experienced recurring clashes among their students, apparently fuelled by their proximity to one another.

An official who attended the summit but requested anonymity because they were not authorised to speak publicly said the initiative was designed to bring public secondary schools within the Uyo metropolis together to address recurring clashes.

The official described the initiative as a welcome development and said it would be rotated among participating schools.

“The peace summit is going to rotate among the participating schools. Next year it will be hosted in Community Secondary School, Aka Offot,” the official said.

According to a statement issued by the host school’s media unit, the summit featured goodwill messages and admonitions from education officials, security personnel, community leaders and youth representatives.

Those who addressed the gathering included Okwuzulike Vincent, the divisional police officer of ‘D’ Division, Itam; Effiong Tom, permanent secretary of the State Secondary Education Board; and Joseph Udo, the zonal director of education in Uyo.

The village heads of Effiat Offot and Atan Offot, as well as principals and parent-teacher association representatives, also attended.

The speakers emphasised tolerance, discipline and brotherhood as necessary conditions for peaceful coexistence among students.

The president of the National Association of Akwa Ibom State Students, Torobong Obot, urged the students to shun cultism, gangsterism and other social vices.

She warned that cultism could destroy young people’s futures and bring shame to their families and schools.

The summit comes amid concerns about violence, cultism and indiscipline in Akwa Ibom’s public secondary schools.

In February 2020, the state government shut a secondary school following a violent student protest that led to arrests.

In another report that month, Akwa Ibom lawmakers expressed concern about cultism in schools, with one lawmaker lamenting that teenagers were carrying axes instead of books.

More recently, in September 2026, the state Ministry of Education barred three students from gaining admission into public or private schools over alleged attacks on teachers and other school workers.

The peace summit’s organisers hope that bringing together students from different schools would help reduce hostility and encourage dialogue.

The initiative’s planned rotation could provide a platform for continued engagement among schools.

However, the absence of three institutions from the maiden gathering leaves questions about how broadly the effort will be adopted.