Cleric wants bill on sexual harassment extended to govt offices, banks
Umuahia, MRev. Christian Anokwuru, on Sunday called for the Bill on sexual harassment in the nation’s tertiary institutions pending before the National Assembly to be extended to government offices and financial institutions.
Anokwuru made the call in Umuahia in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
NAN recalls that the bill which is sponsored by Sen. Ovie Omo-Agege (LP-Delta Central) and co-sponsored by 46 other senators passed First Reading on the floor of the Senate on Wednesday.
He praised the bill, adding that it would protect female students from harassment by randy lecturers.
“While I applaud the bill, I suggest that it should also be extended to government offices and financial institutions,” Anokwuru said.
He contended that sexual harassment, though prevalent in tertiary institutions, had also reared its ugly head in government offices and financial institutions.
Anokwuru said that instances abound regarding some morally depraved politicians and government officials, who sexually harass their female staff.
He said that those that resisted were often subjected to one punitive measure or other, including stagnation in a particular position.
The clergyman observed that some commercial banks “wittingly or unwittingly’’ exposed their female staff to sexual harassment by giving them “high and unrealistic targets’’ to meet.
“This category of workers should also be protected by the bill when it is finally passed into law,” he said.
