Omo -Agege rallies support for bill prohibiting sexual harassment in tertiary institutions

Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ovie Omo – Agege has rallied the support of his colleagues, parents and stakeholdersfor a smooth passage of a bill aiming to prohibit sexual harassment in tertiary institutions and work places in the country.

He said concerned parents and youth should help energize support for proposals towards enacting the law against sexual harassment in higher institutions.

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A statement issued by his media office on Wednesday, explained why he decided to reintroduce the Sexual Harassment in Tertiary Institution Prohibition Bill, which he first proposed before the 8th National Assembly.

The statement quoted the senator who represents Delta Central Senatorial District, as vowing to ensure that the energized concerns of all fathers, mothers and youth accelerate the success of the bill towards becoming an effective law against sexual harassment in Nigeria.

“It is a problem that has caused academic injustice, depression and countless other negative effects on individuals and the society in various parts of the world but the key to lasting change is for us to begin it within our own environment.

“I applaud the First Lady, Hajia Aisha Buhari, the First Lady of Ekiti state, Erelu Bisi Fayemi, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and all those who stoutly rose in support of the BBC’s commendable journalistic endeavour that is effectively beaming light on a hidden menace.

“I am wholly convinced that the unique student-educator relationship of authority, dependency and trust should never be violated. By the maxim of loco parentis, educators are like parents.

“They owe a special fiduciary duty of care to students under their authority – students who trust and depend on them to shape their future career paths.

“It must therefore be extremely offensive to a reasonable mind where an educator treats students as perquisites of his office. As a father, it is an issue that I cannot just accept. It is a shame on our conscience as a people; we will stop it.

“In 2016, with the support of several colleagues in the Senate, I tabled the bill on the prohibition of sexual harassment in tertiary institutions which provides for a five-year jail term or a fine of N5 million for any lecturer convicted for sexually harassing male or female students.

“The bill also criminalizes any act of neglect or failure by administrative heads of tertiary institutions to address complaints of sexual harassment within a specified period and it also made provisions to adequately, punish anyone found to have levelled false allegations of harassment against lecturers and educators.

“I see myself, not only as a representative of my senatorial district, but as a representative of every parent who has a daughter that will one day, pass through our tertiary institutions.

“Nobody’s daughter deserves to be treated as fringe benefit for anyone in position of trust and responsibility; the psychological trauma of sexual harassment has existed for too long and that is why we are reintroducing the new bill to make prosecution of sexual offenders easier for prosecutors and remove the vexatious argument of consent as a defence to perpetuate evil.

“I feel proud and further motivated. What we all collectively need at the moment is urgent action, especially for the passage of the Bill for the Prohibition of Sexual Harassment in Tertiary Institutions into law,” Senator Omo-Agege stated.

While describing the scourge as sexual harassment in the nation’s tertiary institutions as unacceptable, he said it was high time the trend is nipped in the bud.