Issues as Senate passes sexual harassment bill

• Gender based group reacts against the sexual, violence bill

Tuesday last week, the Senate passed a bill to prohibit sexual harassment in tertiary institutions in Nigeria. The “bill for an act to prevent, prohibit and redress sexual harassment of students in tertiary educational institutions, and for matters concerned therewith, 2019,’’ was sponsored by Deputy Senate President Ovie Omo-Agege and 106 other senators.

It has 25 clauses and seeks to create equal learning opportunities for students of tertiary institutions in an atmosphere devoid of sexual harassment. It is also to promote ethical standard of education and respect for human dignity.

The bill was passed following the consideration of a report of the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters, chaired by Senator Opeyemi Bamidele (Ekiti Central).

In his report, Opeyemi stated that sexual harassment had reached an epidemic level in tertiary institutions. He blamed the rising cases on the absence of legislation on such unholy activities.

According to him, the committee observed that sexual harassment in tertiary institutions was one of the major factors responsible for the decline in academic excellence in the country, as hard work, merit and transparency have been compromised.

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) had opposed the bill for failing to take cognizance of the various extant legislations that deal with issue of sexual harassment.

But Bamidele stated that contrary to ASUU’s claim, the committee found that there were no such laws.

“This legislation is meant to address incidents of sexual harassment in tertiary institutions only. There are other laws that address sexual offences in respect of persons under the age of 18, such as the Child Rights Act, 2003,” the lawmaker stated.

Section four of the bill lists what constitutes an offence of sexual harassment, stating that an educator is liable when he or she violates the ‘fiduciary duty’ of care.’

The bill mandates an educator to observe fiduciary duty of care to every student by not exploiting their relationship for personal gains, sexual pleasure or immoral satisfaction.

An educator also commits an offence when he or she has sexual intercourse with a student or demands same from a student or prospective student; intimidates or creates a hostile or offensive environment for the student by soliciting for sex or making such advances; directs or induces another person to commit any act of sexual harassment or conspires with another person to commit such act; grabs, hugs, kisses, strokes or touches, pinches the breasts, hair, lips, hips, buttocks or any other part of the body of a student; displays, requests, gives or sends by hand, courier, electronic or any other means, pornographic or suggestive of explicit messages, whether by text, pictures, videos or other sex-related objects to a student; whistles or winks at a student, screams, exclaims, jokes or makes sexually complimentary or uncomplimentary remarks about a student’s physique.

The bill further stated that it will not be taken as a defence that an affected student consented to the commission of the offence. Also, it shall not be necessary to prove the intention of the accused person or the condition under which the act of sexual harassment was carried out.

The bill recommends that if convicted, any person who commits any of the above listed offences (first category) shall be sentenced to 14 years of imprisonment or made to pay a fine of N5million, or both.

In the second category, any person who commits any of the offences shall, on conviction, be sentenced to two years imprisonment or made to pay a fine of N1m, or both.

The bill states that where a student makes a sexual harassment complaint against an educator, the administrative head of an institution shall establish an independent committee, in consultation with the highest management body of the institution.

The committee shall have seven members of staff and representatives of the Student Union Government of the institution, including a chairperson, who shall not be less than the rank of a senior lecturer or deputy director in the Federal Civil Service, and a secretary, who shall not be less than the rank of a lecturer or deputy director.

Furthermore, the administrative head of an institution who fails to comply with the provisions of subsections (1) and (2) commits an offence and shall be liable to two years imprisonment or a fine of N5million, or both.

The bill states that where a sexual harassment complaint is made, the administrative head of the institution shall, within 14 working days, refer it to the probe panel. Failure to do so attracts a fine of N5m.

And the probe panel has 45 working days to reach a final written decision after receiving a complaint.

Where the complaint of a student is proved, the bill states that the investigative committee shall recommend any of the following to the institution’s highest management body for implementation: the prosecution or dismissal of the educator reasons for the dismissal shall be stated in writing and given to all the parties; reduction in the rank of the educator. Reasons for the reduction shall be stated in writing and given to all the parties; ensure appropriate restitution for the student.

It, however, states that an educator or student shall be entitled to apply to a High Court for judicial review of the final decision of the probe panel if dissatisfied with its decision.

It also states that the institution’s investigative proceedings and final decision shall not prevent criminal prosecution or civil proceedings in a court.

The bill further states that at the completion of an investigation, if the probe panel finds or determines that the complaint is false and malicious, a disciplinary action may be taken against the student in line with the internal disciplinary procedure of the institution, which may include but not restricted to expulsion from the institution.

Again, the administrative head of an institution shall ensure that a student who makes a sexual harassment complaint is adequately protected from any form of victimisation by the affected educator or any other educator or person within the institution or in another institution.

The bill states that any educator or person in an institution where sexual harassment is alleged or in another institution, who victimises a student in respect of sexual harassment complaint, shall be liable to the same punishment as the educator whom the student originally complained against.

Gender based group reacts against the sexual, violence bill

Gender-based groups have reacted to the Sexual and Violence Acts passed into law recently, noting that they are not pleased with it because of its weak punitive measures.

The founder, Wanda Adu Foundation, Wanda Ebe said, though happy that the Bill has been passed but are, however, not satisfied because the punitive measures are not strong enough stating that the bill sounds like a campaign and a way of sensitizing the general public on what were documented in the Violence Against Person’s Prohibition bill (VAPP).

She noted that the aspect of violence against a child which includes, rape, molestation and the likes were ignored but the bill focused more on adults, which is the tertiary institutions adding that nothing is said about punitive measures for paedophiles and this is not good enough.

“We have been calling for punitive measures because paedophiles are on the increase, family sexual abuse is on the rise, we have had situations where minors are raped even a threemonth-old and there is nothing said about it, instead they focused more on the adult. We want it to be broad and capture every aspect. They focused more on tertiary institutions, what about children in primary and secondary school?”

She also said the punitive measures are too mild compared to what they have been calling for adding that they have asked for life imprisonment and chemical castration as a punitive measure but instead, the bill states two years and 14 years imprisonment as punishment.

“This is not enough because the offender can come out of prison and become more violent because they have been sex staffed.”

However, the Convener, Women in Media, Olori Janet Afolabi said, it is a welcome development, timely and laudable but it shouldn’t be as restrictive as it is presented now.

She said, it is restricted to cover only the tertiary institutions but urged that it should be expanded to include every other woman and girl.

“We have heard situations where little girls and older women have been raped so, it should cover every woman and child both in primary and secondary schools.”

He urged the National Assembly to look at other genderrelated bills and act accordingly adding that once it is passed into law, we are sure that offenders cannot go unpunished.

“Crime in itself cannot be totally eradicated but it can be reduced and we know that this will help reduce violence against women.”