Expelled, Then What? What Nigeria's Bullying Cases Teach Us About Consequences

March 2026 brought another disturbing reminder of the reality of bullying in Nigerian schools. Videos emerged showing older boarders assaulting younger pupils. At Igbinedion Education Centre in Benin City, a boy was kicked and beaten by older boys while other students stood by and watched. The video spread rapidly across social media.

At around the same time, earlier videos from the bullying incident at Lead British International School in Abuja resurfaced. Once again, there was enormous national outrage. Schools were under pressure to show that their anti-bullying policies were more than words on paper and that children actually had reporting systems they could trust and use.

I've written about the incident, the authorities, the children who witnessed it and the parents. But this time, I want to focus on a question that often disappears as soon as expulsion letters are issued. What happens to the children who did the bullying? And does removing them from one school actually make children safer?

The story behind the video

The school responded quickly. Its statement, reported by Legit.ng, said, "Our school community will never tolerate this kind of behaviour." The students involved were expelled.

A week later, however, a statement from the Edo State Police Command made me look at the case differently. According to The Nigeria Lawyer, the police said, "Following a thorough and painstaking investigation, the Command confirms that all individuals directly connected to the incident have been identified." Those implicated, it said, "are being charged to the family court in accordance with extant laws guiding juvenile justice and child protection."

The police statement also told us some of what happened before the video. A disagreement between students the previous day had become physical, and a parent who intervened was herself confronted. The beating captured in the video happened the following day "in what has been identified as a revenge assault, which was recorded and posted by one of the students."

None of that excuses what happened to the boy. Nothing does. But it tells us something we should not ignore. The video was not where the story began. It was where a chain of anger, insults and retaliation finally became visible to the rest of us. Somewhere along that chain, the adults around these children either did not see what was developing or were unable to stop it.

The police themselves ordered a safe schools operation "with a mandate to identify the gap in supervision and leverage lessons learnt in this matter, to prevent a recurrence." That is an important part of the response, because punishment alone cannot tell us where the system failed.

Why expulsion is not the end of the story

When a bullying video goes viral, expulsion can feel like justice. It is immediate. It is visible. It tells frightened and angry parents that the school has acted. Joseph Ayodele of the African Principals Conference Initiative told Vanguard that "we view the school's swift response as a gold standard for institutional accountability."

But in that same interview, he raised the more difficult question. He said a national week of action would examine "whether Restorative Justice, based on "Secure Base" principles, is more effective than traditional punitive measures (suspension/expulsion) in securing Nigerian schools." His conclusion was that "schools must move away from the 'rush to expel'" and "adopt Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) and specialized training in student well-being."

I believe both things can be true at the same time. There are behaviours so serious that a child may no longer be able to remain safely in a particular school. Other children have a right to protection, and schools have a responsibility to act.

But the expelled child does not vanish. He goes somewhere else. He may arrive at another school carrying the same anger, the same habits and the same ways of dealing with conflict, along with a reputation that follows him, while the new school may know very little about what happened or what support he needs. Expulsion can protect one school. By itself, it does not protect children everywhere else.

Understanding why children bully

Trying to understand why a child bullies is not the same thing as excusing the bullying. For me, the point of understanding is prevention. If we want to stop the next incident, we have to understand what drives the behaviour we are trying to change.

Olugbenga Adelekan, a college counsellor and designated safeguarding lead in Lagos, told NewsTimes that "Bullies generally have low self-esteem and target others to feel in control." He added that "Some students bully to gain social rank, especially in secondary schools between senior students and junior ones."

He also spoke about what children may be learning outside school: "Students that witness aggression at home or in their community replicate what they have seen adults do." The Edo police made a similar appeal, urging parents and schools to "take greater responsibility in the moral upbringing and supervision of their children and wards," while "advising students to shun violence and report grievances through appropriate channels."

That final phrase is the one I keep coming back to, because the Benin case began with a grievance. Children will have disagreements. They will feel insulted, angry, embarrassed and wronged. The question is what they know how to do with those feelings. If a child does not believe there is a trusted adult who will listen, take the problem seriously and intervene fairly, that child may decide to settle the matter himself. Sometimes that means fists, and sometimes it also means a phone camera.

What real consequences look like

In my work with schools, I have found that consequences are most likely to change behaviour when the child is required to understand and repair the harm that has been done.

That may involve a supervised meeting with the victim, but only if the victim wants one and it can be done safely. It may mean writing a full account of what happened and what led to it. It may mean counselling, a clear behaviour plan, a named adult responsible for monitoring the child and regular communication with parents. It should also mean removing privileges where appropriate, particularly any position of authority that allows a senior student to exercise power over younger pupils.

And yes, when the behaviour is serious enough, suspension or expulsion may still be necessary. But if a child is moving to another school, there should be a proper handover. The next school should know what support, supervision and intervention that child needs. Otherwise, we have not solved the problem. We have simply moved it.

Restorative work is not soft. Facing the harm you have caused, taking responsibility for it and doing the difficult work of changing your behaviour can be far harder than packing your belongings and leaving.

The victim must come first

Any conversation about rehabilitation must begin with the child who was hurt. If that child does not feel safe, then the system has failed.

Ayopo Somefun of the Parent Teacher Association of Unity Colleges in the Southwest told Vanguard that "A victim of bullying should have a guardian in his or her school to speak out to." He was equally clear that "When a student speaks out on bullying, the school must be able to shield the victim from further bullying."

That protection cannot end when the disciplinary meeting is over. Children who report bullying need to know who will check on them the next day, the next week and the next month. They need to know what happens if friends of the bully retaliate. They need to know that speaking up will not make their lives worse.

Somefun also made an important practical point about cameras. CCTV can help, he said, "but you find out that some of these bullying activities take place in private areas where cameras may not be installed." That is why safeguarding can never simply mean installing more cameras. Dormitories, bathrooms and the areas behind hostels are precisely the places where thoughtful adult supervision matters most. Children need adults, not only lenses.

Policies children can trust

Nigeria now has a national anti-bullying policy, and the Federal Government has urged students, in the words of the Universal Basic Education Commission, "If you see something, say something." But children will only say something if they believe something useful will happen afterwards.

Adelekan's warning is important: "Many schools have rules on paper, but there is no clear reporting system that students can trust." Ayodele expressed the same idea differently: "a functional anti-bullying policy is not just a document, but a lived commitment to student safety." That, for me, is the real test.

After March 2026, these are the questions I would ask any school. When a child bullies another child, what happens after the punishment? Who works with that child, and for how long? How is the child who was hurt protected, supported and followed up? When two children have a grievance, where can they take it before anger becomes violence? And do the children in the school actually know the answers to those questions?

The March videos showed the country one terrible moment. But terrible moments have histories. If all we do is punish the few minutes that were captured on a phone, we risk missing the days that came before them. We also risk sending a child away without changing anything that might prevent him from doing the same thing somewhere else.

Real safety demands more from schools than a swift punishment after a video goes viral. It requires adults who notice what is happening before the camera comes out, systems children trust enough to use, consequences that protect victims and serious work with the children responsible for causing harm. We have to deal with the whole story, not only the part the rest of us happened to see.

References

1. Ukanwa, Ezra. "Igbinedion School Takes Action Against Students Caught on Viral Video Bullying Another Student." Legit.ng, 14 March 2026. https://www.legit.ng/nigeria/1701165-igbinedion-school-takes-action-students-caught-viral-video-bullying-student

2. Wahab, Adesina. "Bullying: Parents, schools have more work to do to stop it, Stakeholders." Vanguard, 19 March 2026. https://www.vanguardngr.com/?p=2844366

3. Chioma, Unini. "All Suspects Arrested: Police Charge Students To Family Court Over Igbinedion School Bullying." The Nigeria Lawyer, 21 March 2026. https://thenigerialawyer.com/all-suspects-arrested-police-charge-students-to-family-court-over-igbinedion-school-bullying/

4. NewsTimes. "Bullying In Schools: The Silent Crisis Destroying Young Lives." June 2026. https://newstimes.com.ng/2026/06/bullying-in-schools-the-silent-crisis-destroying-young-lives/

5. Federal Ministry of Information and National Orientation. "FG Intensifies Nationwide Anti-Bullying Campaign, Urges Students To Speak Up, Strengthens Safe Schools Initiative." 22 July 2026. https://fmino.gov.ng/fg-intensifies-nationwide-anti-bullying-campaign-urges-students-to-speak-up-strengthens-safe-schools-initiative/