01/23/2026
BAD‑BELLEISM IS QUIETLY DAMAGING NIGERIAN ACADEMIA.
Article URL: https://doi.org/10.52589/BJELDP-QOG905BK,
DOI: 10.52589/BJELDP-QOG905BK
This article reveals how envy-driven antagonism, encompassing silent sabotage, citation erasure, gatekeeping, and exclusion, has evolved into a structural issue, rather than merely personal rivalry.
Drawing on narratives and a nationwide survey of 98 scholars, the study reveals a steady rise in academic hostility from 2019 to 2025, with gatekeeping and intellectual sabotage topping the list. Many respondents also report poor mental‑health support and declining collegial trust.
The article argues that this “cankerwormic decline” is eroding scholarly integrity from within, weakening collaboration, innovation, and ethical leadership.
MAIN MESSAGE:
If Nigerian academia is to thrive, it must confront Bad‑Belleism head‑on through ethical reforms, decolonial pedagogy, and a culture that values integrity over envy.
This article examines the phenomenon of Bad-Belleism, a Nigerian idiomatic term that denotes envy-driven antagonism, and its corrosive impact on scholarly integrity within Nigerian academia. Drawing on cultural critique, narrative inquiry, and ethical analysis, the study explores how intellectual sa...