Senate passage of anti-sexual bill and need for support

The Senate last week Wednesday debated the sexual harassment bill which scaled second reading, drawing applause from many Nigerians who over time had expressed concern on the rising cases of sexual harassment of female students in the nation’s tertiary institutions by lecturers.

Sponsored by the Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, the proposed legislation titled “A Bill for an Act to Prevent, Prohibit and Redress Sexual Harassment of Students in Tertiary Educational Institutions and for other matters connected therewith 2019” which has 27 clauses proposes up to 14 years jail term, with a minimum of 5 years, without an option of fine for any educator who commits sexual offences in tertiary institutions.

The bill defines sexual offences as including: sexual intercourse with a student or demands for sex from a student or a prospective student or intimidating or creating a hostile or offensive environment for the student by soliciting for sex or making sexual advances.

Other forms of sexual harassment identified in the bill are grabbing, hugging, kissing, rubbing, stroking, touching, pinching the breasts or hair or lips or hips or buttocks or any other sensual part of the body of a student;

or sending by hand or courier or electronic or any other means naked or sexually explicit pictures or videos or sex related objects to a student, and whistling or winking at a student or screaming, exclaiming, joking or making sexually complimentary or uncomplimentary remarks about a student’s physique or stalking a student.

This Bill is for our students, especially daughters and wives, who deserve tertiary learning environments devoid of sexual harassment.

Sexual harassment in our campuses is a repugnant challenge to our values as a people. For far too long, sexual predators masquerading as educators have plied the corridors of our nation’s higher institutions unchecked.

In 2013, the National Universities Commission (NUC) agreed that of over 50 corruptions perpetuated in our universities, “Sexual harassment seems to rank extremely very high among corrupt practices uncovered in our universities.”

In 2014, the International Journal of Applied Psychology noted that “ In Nigeria, sex for grades in the tertiary institutions is a reality and the male lecturers in particular, perceive themselves as thin gods and such unprofessional behaviour can be perpetuated unchecked.”

Therefore, it is most offensive to suggest that mere suspension or termination of appointments is the appropriate remedy for the animalistic offence of sexually harassing another person.

Senator Omo-Agege, in his lead debate, said “the most effective way to deal with the offence of sexual harassment in our tertiary institutions is to penalise the very impropriety of the act, with or without consent”, hence The Daily Times agrees in totality with the proposed jail term for offenders.

Sexual harassment must be defined in tertiary educational institutions as statutory rape with strict liability for offenders to be prosecuted easily.

We are also of the opinion that there is need for an extension of the bill to cover primary, secondary schools, worship centres and work places.

We note that it is an established fact that some students, especially females harass educators by their mode of dressing and there is need for the Bill to protect educators been sexually harassed by their students overtly or covertly.

A student pays a price for saying “No” to a predator’s demand for sexual favours, whereas the reverse is the case if a student were to harass an educator. The educator pays no price for saying “No” to the student.

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The reality is that where students dress more indecently and provocatively to induce an educator and the educator turns down such advances, such student may falsely accuse the educator of harassment.

We are therefore of the opinion that the bill should be strict in its recommendation of expulsion for students who falsely accuse educators of sexual harassment.

In addition, an educator whose character is maligned is at liberty to sue for defamation under the law of defamation which is well-settled in our jurisprudence.

While kudos must be given to Senator Omo- Agege and other 105 senators for their input in the bill, all well-meaning Nigerians including civil society and religious based organisations must support the passage of the bill and President Muhammadu Buhari must not keep such bill when passed on his table without assenting to it on time.