Sunday Asefon, senior special assistant to President Bola
Tinubu on student engagement, says he will ensure the s#xu@l harassment
prohibition bill is signed to end abuse in Nigeria’s tertiary institutions.
Asefon spoke on Friday when he received representatives of
the Nigerian students who presented pens to be used to assent to the bill in
Abuja.
The meeting was facilitated by the partnership between the
Nigerian students and the Gender Mobile Initiative (GMI), an organisation
working to address gender and s#xu@l violence in the education sector.
The presidential aide said a collective effort is needed to
curb s#xu@l harassment in Nigerian tertiary institutions, adding that the message of the students would
be delivered to the president.
“I receive these pens
in good faith and will deliver the message accordingly. I assure you that the
president who is our father, would do the needful on this bill,” NAN quoted
Asefon as saying.
“We have heard a lot of cases of s#xu@l harassment by
lecturers on female students and the female students with boldness report these
cases but because of the lecturers’ influence, the cases are swept under the
carpet.
“This bill will give judgment to criminalise s#xu@l
harassment offenders.
“And I want to assure
you that my office will collaborate to renew the fight against s#xu@l
harassment and sex-for-marks in our institutions.”
On her part, Benita Olaniyan, former students union
president at the University of Abuja, called on the president to prioritise the
signing of the bill to stop all forms of abuse and violence in schools.
“Education system is supposed to be a safe place for
learning but students have been harassed and s#xu@lly molested,” Olaniyan said.
“The students across higher institutions of learning in this
country, in their goodwill, have donated these pens to the president and we
believe there will be stricter punishment for offenders.”
On November 27, the GMI
asked Tinubu to sign the s#xu@l harassment prohibition bill for tertiary
institutions into law.
Recently, there have been rising cases of s#xu@l harassment
of students by lecturers and secondary school teachers in Nigeria.
In August, students of the University of Calabar called out
Cyril Ndifon, the dean of the faculty of law, over allegations of s#xu@l
harassment.
The allegation led to the suspension of the dean by the
management of the institution.
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