Pass Anti-Sexual Harassment Bill to Protect Students from Randy Lecturers
Pass Anti-Sexual Harassment Bill to Protect Students from Randy Lecturers
Nigeria does not have a law that explicitly punishes sexual harassment in its tertiary institutions, making students vulnerable to randy teachers. In 2019, the Nigerian senate signed the Sexual Harassment in Tertiary Educational Institutions Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal and Redressal Bill, first introduced to the assembly in 2016. The House of Representatives has still not passed this bill into law in 2022, despite rising incidences of sexual assault in Nigerian Universities and an increase in conversations around the damning repercussions of it in our society.
What this means for students in our Nigerian universities is that they cannot seek redress specifically for the injustice of sexual assault in their schools. Nor are there any measures or guidelines in place to seek prosecution of the accused in a court of law. In 2018, an OAU professor was convicted and jailed for two years for demanding sex to upgrade his female student grades, according to a CNN in-depth reporting on this case. However, he was not punished for sexually harassing the student, he was rather charged for “demanding gratification and coercion” because at the time and till now, Nigeria had not signed the anti-sexual harassment bill that prohibits this predatory behavior.
What this means is that students remain vulnerable to sexual assault and their perpetrators and lecturers are more emboldened to prey on them. Many have gotten away with this because victims will remain silent when there is the law as a recourse.
Naija#MetooConvos, a safe and confidential platform where Nigerians share and report incidents of sexual harassment for accountability and investigation without fear is calling on the lawmakers to pass this bill and for presidential assent to make it a law, AND make universities safer for students.
Nigeria’s Senate has shown good faith and now is the time for the House of Rep members to do their part.
Sign this petition to get the House of Rep members to revisit and pass to put an end to #sexforgrades.
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