THE NIGERIAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY
ISSN: 0331-4111 e-ISSN: 2736-075X
Volume 23, No. 2, November 2025
Pages 70-87
DOI: 10.36108/NJSA/5202.32.0250
Infrastructural Factors affecting Safety and Security in Public Secondary Schools in Oyo State, Nigeria
Lilian I. Nwokocha, Francisca C. Anyanwu and Adisa B. Iyanda
Department of Health Education, University of Ibadan, Nigeria
Abstract
The paper examined infrastructural factors that predict safety and security in Oyo State public secondary schools, which like in other Nigerian states epitomise dilapidation and neglect. The dependent variable was disaggregated into four elements namely, nature of building, neighbourhood contexts, classroom arrangement, and emergency exit. Anchored in David Houston’s Risk Theory of Safety, the paper adopted survey research design and the mixed-methods approach was used for data collection. Results indicate that the four variables jointly and relatively affected school safety and security. Also, safety and security of staff and students were taken for granted and at best ascribed to dependence on divine protection, in the absence of perimeter fence, dilapidated classrooms, damaged electrical fittings and slippery floors. It recommends that government should improve infrastructures and public secondary school learning environment generally, and that schools should be located in neighbourhoods that are devoid of noise, distractions and hoodlums, as well as sited far from motor parks and markets.
Keywords: Infrastructure and school safety, security linked to divinity, dilapidated classrooms, improved learning environment