Don’t buy costly phones for students, Yusuf advises parents

A Professor at the Department of Sociology, University of Ilorin, Noah Yusuf, has advised parents and guardians to be careful with the quality of materials, particularly phones, they buy for their children and wards in order not to expose such young people to kidnappers, robbers and other criminals.

Prof. Yusuf, who is also the Vice Chancellor of the Al-Hikmah University, Ilorin, gave this advice recently while addressing a forum in Ilorin.

The renowned academic explained that the kinds and qualities of phones and similar materials purchased for youths, particularly those who are still in school, have been found to be attractive to criminals, which encouraged them to either rob or kidnap such students in order to steal such property from them.

Prof. Yusuf added that while the phone is now very essential for students as it aids teaching and learning, he explained that less expensive ones, which would serve the same functions, can be bought for the students and thereby save them from criminally minded individuals and groups.

He added that buying phones worth N1 million or with higher sums for students is not advisable since such students can make do with phones that are not as expensive.

Citing a recent case, Prof. Yusuf said that a female student of his University was robbed of her hugely expensive phones twice by her boyfriend who believed that he would make much money if he was able to dispossess the girl of her expensive phone.

Prof. Yusuf explained that following the first case of robbery, the parents of the girl bought her a better and more expensive phone after the theft of the first one only for the boyfriend to arrange for the theft of the second phones.

He also advised parents to cultivate the habit of paying unscheduled visits to their children and wards for them to know the kind of friends they move with and attitudinal changes for such to be swiftly corrected.