- The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has said sexual harassment at tertiary institutions is worse than the current coronavirus. It said it should be stopped with stiffer penalties for offenders having destroyed many lives and future of many students.
The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has said sexual harassment at tertiary institutions is worse than the current coronavirus. It said it should be stopped with stiffer penalties for offenders having destroyed many lives and future of many students.
On the contrary, the National President, Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi called for a review of existing laws on sexual harassment rather than formulating new ones by the National Assembly.
They spoke, alongside many other stakeholders at a public hearing on “Sexual harassment of students in tertiary educational institution prohibition bill” organised by the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters, chaired by Senator Bamidele Opeyemi (APC Ekiti Central) in Abuja, yesterday.
National President of NANS, Akpan Edet, who described sexual harassment as endemic which should be urgently dealt with by the Federal Government in view of its long-term effects on the victims, maintained that lecturers have no excuse of being attracted to commit the offence with students’ “provocative dresses.”
Represented by Victor Essien of the Nasarawa State Polytechnic, Lafia, the students’ leader, said sexual harassment is more than just a special kind of bullying, adding that aggression related to sexuality are less common than bullying but have more adverse effects.
He said his administration has been putting great effort into anti-bullying campaigns in tertiary institutions across the country “because of the way sexual harassment gets less attention in the country.”
But ASUU national president said the union was not in support of sexual harassment in any form, adding that if there was a law that addressed issues related to sexual harassment, why waste time on another law.
Ogunyemi said: “Are there no laws that would address this same problem we are concerned. I think the answer is yes. We have the Act of 2015. We should reconcile this bill with that act to cover our new areas of concern. Are we also going to formulate a separate law to address corruption in universities; are we going to formulate other laws to address sexual harassment in the police.”
