Seniors and Juniors: The Hierarchy Behind Nigeria's Boarding School Bullying

In March 2026, Nigeria saw videos of children beating other children. At Igbinedion Education Centre in Benin City, older boarders were filmed beating a younger pupil while other children watched. Around the same time, earlier videos showing bullying at Lead British International School in Abuja began circulating again. The public reaction was enormous. Schools across the country are now under pressure to introduce proper anti-bullying policies and reporting mechanisms.

Over the past week, I have written about the children who watched, the parents, the pupils who were expelled, the children who quietly withdraw, and the adults who should have been there to protect them. Today, I want to look at something that goes much further back than these videos. It is the system of seniors and juniors that operates in so many Nigerian boarding schools, and which too many of us grew up believing was simply part of school life.

A ranking system inside the school

A few days after the Igbinedion video circulated, The Nigeria Education News published a report describing what it called "a deeply entrenched culture of intimidation and hierarchical dominance within the school." The report described an informal system "where students are categorized from D1 to D10 based on seniority and influence," and alleged that "students occupying higher ranks often impose informal 'taxes' on younger students."

These are allegations made by the report's sources, not findings that have been tested, so I want to be careful about how I present them. However, anyone who has spent time in a boarding school, in Nigeria or elsewhere, will recognise the pattern.

Older pupils have authority. Younger pupils are expected to obey. A senior might ask a junior to fetch water, run an errand or do a chore. But what happens when the junior refuses? The distance between an expectation of obedience and an act of violence can be surprisingly small. It is a distinction that adults need to take seriously.

The video itself showed "senior students at Igbinedion Education Centre viciously assaulting their juniors," as an editorial in Pegasus Reporters put it. I think the word senior is important here. These were not children who had simply fallen into an argument with strangers. They were pupils acting within a hierarchy that had taught them they had authority over younger children.

Discipline handed to children

In late March, THISDAY published a feature in which four Nigerian lawyers examined the bullying crisis. Their analysis is particularly important because it addresses the structures that allow this behaviour to continue. Olukunle Ogheneovo Edun, SAN, traced part of the problem to "the implied right senior students have to administer punishment to junior students."

Marx Ikongbeh, a legal practitioner in Abuja, went further. He described how older pupils "would arrogate to themselves the privilege to discipline the younger." He warned against "Outsourcing discipline to purported 'senior' students, who have themselves not yet transited to adulthood," and made a point that I believe every school leader should consider carefully: "that taste of power will and does lead to corruption."

I agree with him. When a school allows older children to punish younger ones, it is not teaching leadership or responsibility. It is giving authority to children who are not yet equipped to exercise it properly. We should not be surprised when that authority is misused.

Schools have adults employed to maintain discipline and safeguard pupils. That responsibility cannot simply be handed over to children because they happen to be older or have spent more time at the school.

The rite of passage we need to stop defending

One reason this system continues is that we have spent years telling ourselves a particular story about it. Ikongbeh addressed this directly. He described how boarding is often regarded "as a rite of passage, a time to toughen a child to face the rigours of society."

I have heard similar arguments from parents in many countries. I went through it and I turned out fine. It made me stronger. It taught me respect.

But I often wonder about the children whose experiences were very different. What about those who did not turn out fine? The children who left school, lost their confidence, struggled to learn or carried the effects of their experiences well into adulthood? We rarely hear their stories with the same confidence as we hear the stories of those who believe they benefited from a difficult boarding school experience.

Mandy Demechi-Asagba, President of the African Women Lawyers Association, addressed the rite of passage argument very clearly: "Torture is not and cannot be discipline, and no student should be allowed to hit any student for any reason whatsoever." She also warned that "Schools may cover up cases, and culprits rarely face punishment."

Jean Chiazor-Anishere, SAN, reminded readers that "Schools occupy a position in loco parentis" and that "they assume a duty of care over students during school hours." In a boarding school, that duty does not end when lessons finish. It includes the evenings, the nights and the weekends. It includes the dormitories, where children are often at their most vulnerable.

Ikongbeh also made it clear that schools cannot avoid responsibility: "The school must take, a good chunk of the blame." I would go further and say that protecting children is one of the most fundamental responsibilities of any school. It is not something that can be delegated to older pupils.

A state that already banned seniority

What I find particularly interesting is that Nigeria already has an example of a different approach. In January 2021, the Bauchi State Ministry of Education issued a circular, signed by the then Commissioner, Dr Aliyu U. Tilde, stating plainly: "Seniority is therefore banned in all Bauchi State boarding schools."

The instructions that followed were practical and straightforward. "Every student, junior or senior, will be responsible for his chores." Discipline problems were to be reported to prefects, house masters and school authorities rather than dealt with by older pupils. Principals were held responsible for breaches of the rules.

The Commissioner also explained why the policy mattered: "Seniority leaves permanent wounds of hate and enmity against wicked senior in the heart of the ill-treated junior." He also shared something a former student of a girls' school had told him: "Uncle, nothing stopped the brutality of the seniors like the policy of banning seniority."

I am not suggesting that one circular can solve every problem. A policy written on paper is only useful if adults enforce it consistently, during the day and at night. However, the Bauchi example is important because it demonstrates that the senior and junior system is not inevitable. It is not a necessary part of boarding school education. It is a choice, and schools can choose to operate differently.

This is not only a Nigerian story

The case at Lead British International School reminds us that this problem is not confined to one school or one city. When the earlier videos from Abuja appeared, one student's message shared online summed up the situation: "Bullying is one of the biggest issues in Lead British International School." The person who posted the videos wrote, "Please make it go viral so she can get justice."

That last sentence is particularly troubling. A child should not have to go viral before someone takes their suffering seriously. Children should be able to report bullying through their school and trust that the adults responsible will act.

I have also seen similar hierarchies in boarding schools in Europe, the Middle East and elsewhere. They may have different names and take different forms, but the underlying structure is familiar. Older children are given power, while younger children learn that keeping quiet is often the safest option. This is not an exclusively Nigerian problem. It is a boarding school culture problem, and it deserves attention wherever it occurs.

What schools can do now

If I were advising a Nigerian boarding school this term, I would begin with a few straightforward changes.

First, end the practice of seniors punishing juniors. This needs to be made clear in the school's written policies and reflected in everyday practice. No pupil should have the authority to discipline another pupil. Every member of staff needs to understand this and enforce it.

Second, make chores everyone's responsibility. If younger pupils are expected to wash older pupils' clothes, fetch their water or carry out personal errands for them, the hierarchy is already causing harm. Children should contribute to the running of their boarding house without being made servants to other pupils.

Third, rethink what leadership means. Prefects and house captains can play a valuable role in boarding schools. They can help create a sense of community, support younger pupils and alert staff when something is wrong. But their responsibility should be to care and report concerns, not to punish.

Fourth, speak honestly with parents. Many families still believe that a tough boarding school experience builds character. Schools need to explain clearly and early why they no longer support this approach. There is a difference between helping children develop independence and exposing them to intimidation.

Finally, give younger pupils a safe way to speak. A reporting system is only effective if the youngest child in the boarding house believes that telling an adult will lead to help rather than retaliation. Schools must make sure that children know who they can approach, that concerns will be taken seriously and that they will be protected after reporting an incident.

The test that matters

Nigeria now has a national anti-bullying framework in place, and schools are being asked to introduce their own policies and reporting mechanisms. These are important steps, but I do not believe they will be enough on their own. If the senior and junior culture remains unchanged, even the best-written anti-bullying policy risks becoming little more than a document sitting on a shelf while the old rules continue to govern the dormitories.

The children in the March videos did not invent this hierarchy. They inherited it from older pupils, who had inherited it from those before them. They were growing up in schools where adults had allowed these practices to continue, often because they were seen as part of tradition. That is what we need to address.

As parents, school leaders and educators, we need to be willing to question practices that previous generations accepted without much discussion. Just because something was part of our own boarding school experience does not mean it was right, and it certainly does not mean we should pass it on to another generation.

We cannot keep asking children to be brave enough to report bullying while leaving the structures that make bullying possible untouched. The work starts with us. We need to stop calling this tradition and start calling it what it is.

References

1. Edun, Olukunle Ogheneovo; Chiazor-Anishere, Jean; Ikongbeh, Marx; Demechi-Asagba, Mandy. "Bullying: Appalling Failure of Parents, Schools and the Authorities." THISDAY, 24 March 2026. https://www.thisdaylive.com/2026/03/24/bullying-appalling-failure-of-parents-schools-and-the-authorities/

2. Adeyemo, John. "EXPOSED: Inside the Culture of Bullying and D-Ranking at Igbinedion Education Centre." The Nigeria Education News, 16 March 2026. https://thenigeriaeducationnews.com/2026/03/16/exposed-inside-the-culture-of-bullying-and-d-ranking-at-igbinedion-education-centre-viral-videos-trigger-police-investigation-and-national-outrage/

3. Carl-Abu'Bakar, Oyakhamoh. "Editorial: Issues in the Bullying Scandal at Igbinedion Education Centre." Pegasus Reporters, 17 March 2026. https://www.pegasusreporters.com/2026/03/17/editorial-education-news-issues-in-the-bullying-scandal-at-igbinedion-education-centre/

4. Bello, Fateema B. "Bauchi bans 'seniority' in boarding schools." Dateline Nigeria, 28 January 2021. https://dateline.ng/bauchi-bans-seniority-in-boarding-schools/

5. Usman, Mustapha. "Outrage over allegations of bullying at Lead British School Abuja." ICIR, 23 April 2024. https://www.icirnigeria.org/outrage-over-allegations-of-bullying-at-lead-british-school-abuja/