HARVEST OF SEXUAL MISCONDUCT IN IVORY TOWERS
David Marchant sexually harassed his former graduate student, Jane Willenbring, when they were working at an isolated field camp in Antarctica in 1999 and 2000, when Willenbring was 22 years old.
Reactions
Reactions for the sex for grades BBC documentary had been quite revealing on the part particularly of women of all shades, who in no mistaken words, have come out to admit of their experiences of the act in their university days as they call for the sack and imprisonment of all those indicted in the film.
First Lady of Ekiti State, Erelu Bisi Fayemi, who said she suffered sexual harassment as an undergraduate at an exclusive screening of the BBC Africa Eye undercover investigation documentary on Monday, said she was lucky not to have been a victim of rape in the hands of her university teachers.
She said: “I was also a victim of sexual harassment in my university days but I was lucky not to have given in to the demands of sexual predators. While watching the BBC’s undercover investigation, I cried and laughed. I cried at what the young ladies were passing through in the hands of lecturers and I also laughed at the audacity these sexual predators have. I think it is time to speak out and also support victims of these atrocities. This has to end.”
She urged states and higher institutions of learning to come up with a robust sex offenders register to not only shame sexual predators but also prevent them from going to perpetrate such evil in other places. According to her, once such a record was in place, people would think twice before harassing anyone sexually.
Similarly, a former acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Ibim Semenitari, said she was sexually harassed by a male lecturer as an undergraduate, remarking on Facebook Tuesday morning that she was just 15 years old when her lecturer at the University of Benin sexually harassed her.
“I was 15 when I got into the university at first try. I studied hard. I was a staunch member of the Christian Union. I didn’t go to lecturers’ offices. I was from a home where I was well provided for and well-loved by my family, so, I didn’t have any problem but I was harassed and it cost me two years of my university education and I had to change faculty,” she said on the social media. Mrs. Semenitari studied English Language and Literature from 1982 - 1989 at the University of Benin.
Immediate past Senate President, Bukola Saraki, called on President Muhammadu Buhari to revisit the sexual harassment bill passed by the eighth Senate, stating that the ‘Sexual Harassment in Tertiary Education Institution Prohibition Bill’ prescribes a five-year jail term for any lecturer, educationist or person in a position of authority in any tertiary institution in Nigeria found guilty of sexual misconduct. He urged the institutions concerned to conduct robust investigations not only on the accused but also into all other reports and complaints that may be made afterwards.
For Soni Irabor, an acclaimed broadcaster and Public Relations Consultant, “outrage is an understatement!” He remarked on the social media: “…To think that no lesson was learnt from the OAU, Ife saga that happened not up to two years ago is surprising. I shudder at the thought that a man, who is assigned the duty of grooming a young woman spiritually and emotionally, is the same man destroying the very foundation of a fellow human being old enough to be his daughter! Very scary! I can’t wait to see how the law and the church will handle this case. Thank you BBC for having the foresight and the courage to do what we could not do here in Nigeria. Our fate is in your hands dear God, please do not abandon the helpless”.
ASUU
While many have blamed the umbrella body of the University teachers for not coming out strongly to condemn sexual misconduct among lecturers and students, in an official response to the OAU case, the National President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Professor Biodun Ogunyemi, said any academic staff member found guilty of sexual harassment, after undergoing due process, should be made to face the wrath of the law. He also stated that those found guilty would enter the union’s Book of Dishonour.
However, Nigerians are still waiting to see Prof. Akindele”s name entered in the Union’s Book of Dishonour.
UNILAG
The expose had forced the University of Lagos (UNILAG) into ‘action’. It has suspended Dr. Igheneghu along with one other lecturer, constituted a panel to investigate the allegations and ordered the immediate shutdown of the Staff Club, ‘Cold Room’ mentioned in the documentary for further investigation. But many wonder why it has taken the University till now to do something about the notorious club long fingered as a notorious centre for female student’s molestation by lecturers.
The Foursquare Gospel Church, where Professor Boniface Igbeneghu, was a serving pastor, immediately wedged the big stick against him, asking him to step down from all ministerial assignments.
Why Sexual Harassment Persists in Tertiary Institutions
The ugly trend has continued because not all erring lecturers and students were sanctioned and made to face the music to serve as deterrent to all like it is in the developed world. Besides, it remains a surprise why in this age of ICT, students in the nation’s tertiary institutions were still made to submit assignments and examination scripts in hard copies instead of online? E-copy submission of scripts and assignments will go a long way to reduce the ugly trend.
Also tongues are wagging as to why university authorities have continued to gloss over the ugly practices in such centres in the campuses as the UNILAG ‘Cold Room’, Guest Houses, Staff Clubs, offices, hotels and lecturers’ residences. There must be something that meets the eye.