Tessy Igomu

In the past several days, the major topic for public discourse in Nigeria has been the sexual exploitation of female students in the nation’s ivory towers. This followed a revealing documentary by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).

Many people averred that what allows the malaise to thrive is the culture of silence embraced by victims of such harassment.

However, over the years, several female students have come out, armed with evidences to expose randy lecturers that go about coercing students for sex. Stories of several exploitative lecturers abound and they are quite distasteful and sordid.

Years back at the University of Lagos (UNILAG), a lecturer, Afeez Baruwa, allegedly raped a female admission seeker in one of the study halls of the university when she went to write her post -UTME examinations. The father of the 18-year-old victim, it was gathered, had handed her to the lecturer, who was his friend.

He was arraigned before an Ikeja High Court on a one-count charge of rape and he was subsequently sentenced to 21 years in prison in 2015.

After his conviction, another female student wrote a letter to the university authorities claiming that Dr Baruwa also tried to rape her while supervising her project. She alleged that the convicted don tore her dress and threatened that she would never graduate from the school if she refused his sexual overtures.

In 2016, the Federal Polytechnic, Bida, Niger State, suspended a lecturer in the Department of Public Administration for raping a student. Despite being caught in the act, the institution put the suspect on paid suspension. Till date, no one is sure of the outcome of the investigation carried out by the Niger State Police Command.

A professor at the University of Port Harcourt, River State was once reportedly caught red-handed having sex on a desk with a student in one of the classrooms at night. The act was recorded on video.

Another lecturer at the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, was apprehended at a private female hostel in Samaru, Zaria. He was discovered to have sneaked into the hostel, disguised as a woman, with hijab. Later findings showed that he was having an amorous affair with one of the female students. His intention, it was learnt, was to top her grade as well as prevail on other lecturers to give her good grades.

At the University of Calabar, a senior lecturer was accused of harassing a 16-year-old female Diploma student. In this case, it was report that the Head of Department in the Faculty of Law in the same university, Dr Eni Alobo, took to his Facebook wall threatening to publicly name the randy lecturer if he did not stop the harassment of the girl young enough to be his granddaughter.

The lecturer, as gathered, was asked to supervise the teenager’s project, but he allegedly insisted he must have sex with her before handling her project. All entreaties by lecturers on behalf of the victim had fallen on deaf ears until the post went viral.

A few years ago, a sex scandal trailed one Prof Richard Akindele, a lecturer at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, following a leaked telephone conversation between him and a female student, Monica Osagie. In the clip, the professor promised to upgrade the marks of the student after he must have had a five-round sex romp with her. The student rejected the condition, choosing to fail than have the professor sleep with her. A committee was later set up by the institution to investigate the matter. The professor was later sentenced to two years in prison by an Oshogbo High Court.

At the Osun State University, Oshogbo, a senior lecturer in the Department of Languages and Linguistics, Dr. Olabode Ajoniyi was caught on video having sex in a hotel room with a female student identified as Mercy Ikwue.

He was said to have been mounting pressure on the student for sex until she agreed to meet with him at the hotel. She was said to have taken a laptop with which she recorded the sexual act, which her friends posted on social media. Consequently, the lecturer’s appointment was terminated by the University’s Governing Council headed by Mallam Yusuf Ali.

On July 17, 2010, a lecturer at the Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Edo State, Dr. Peter Otubu, was embroiled in another sex-for-marks scandal with Ivie Judith, a 400-level engineering student.

Otubu, a Catholic Knight of Saint Mulumba (KSM), was publicly stripped in the student’s residence while allegedly attempting to have sex with her.

Judith was later found guilty of “breaching her matriculation oath” by the two committees set up to investigate the case and suspended for six semesters. Otubu was fired by the university in October 2010.

Reports have also revealed that male students are not spared this amorous onslaught, as many of them are also sexually harassed by female lecturers. Some male students that refused to be mentioned said they are not bold enough or are ashamed to speak out about it. They also said no one would believe their stories.

They also said after refusing to succumb to sexual advances by some female lecturers, they find themselves failing and re-sitting for courses they could have passed, noting that in most cases, they find themselves not graduating with their peers.

A male student of the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA) said he was made to carry over a course for two years. He narrated that after failing a particular course in 200 Level, he approached the elderly female lecturer and he was told point blank that she would like to have a feel of him sexually.

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“I was too stunned to respond and had to leave her office. When I confided in a course mate, I was further shocked to hear him say that the lecturer demanded same from him. I carried the course over until she left the school. And by the time I re-wrote it with the new lecturer, I had an A,” he said.

Since the latest scandal broke, many have continued to wonder why lecturers, who are husbands, fathers and even grandfathers and who ought to be part of a student’s character and career-moulding processes, should bring themselves to disrepute by demanding sexual gratification.

Based on reports and confession of students, lecturers demand as much as N10, 000 to ‘settle or sort’ and have a major or elective course marks upgraded.

But some lecturers still insist on sleeping with students after collecting money, while others just insist on only sexual gratification.

Angered by the rising scandal, Prof. Stella Okunna, Nigeria’s first female Professor of Mass Communication, lamented that the sordid practice thrives due to the prevailing culture of silence in the society.

She vowed to deal with any lecturer that pressures any of her students for sex, promising to get to the end of the matter as long as the student finds the courage to come forward.

“These men think women are just there for the taking. Some of them are sexual perverts and predators. Unfortunately, they tend to pick on the dull ones that can’t pass their exams and make good grades. It is the height of insensitivity because, as a lecturer, you should be helping them. Though, sometimes, these girls actively seek out these lecturers, the bulk of it comes from the lectures involved,” Okunna said.

A retired lecturer, Mrs. Cecilia Ikoku, said the moral fabric holding society together was being eroded by some lecturers who are expected to be mentors. She lamented that it was unfortunate such has been happening in an environment supposedly meant to build virile intellectuals in the country.

She lamented that the age-long sexual harassment of female students was a silent disease negatively impacting on academic excellence in Nigeria’s tertiary institutions and urged the authorities to identify the bad eggs and show them the way out.

Most social critics maintained that the Nigerian society is one that had never treated sexual offences as real crimes, adding that more often than not, victims of sexual harassments or exploitation are blamed for the crimes.

Already, President Muhammadu Buhari has demanded that stricter laws are made to prevent girls from being abused in the nation’s schools. He said the recent exposé on sexual harassment has spurred an amendment to the laws regarding the issue in the National Assembly, assuring that the proposed amendment passed by the legislature would get his support as long as they conform to the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, who described sexual harassment in tertiary institutions as condemnable, said he hoped the recent investigative report would help energise support for the suspended bill he sponsored in 2016, advocating jail terms for lecturers that make sexual advances towards students.

In the bill, co-sponsored by 46 other senators, teaching staff could face up to 14 years in jail for having such amorous alliance. It also advocated a two-year jail term for vice chancellors, rectors of polytechnics and other chief executives of higher institutions if they fail to act within one week on complaints of sexual harassment made by students.

The bill was, however, protested by lecturers in their numbers who described it as a violation of their rights.

Calling for the rejection of the bill then, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), through its president, Biodun Ogunyemi, said it would undermine the autonomy of universities.

Mr Lanre Arogundade, journalist and director, International Press Centre, said sexual harassment in universities had continued to work at cross-purposes with the attainment of the educational dreams of many females. He also noted that it strips victims of self-worth and esteem.

“This scandal that has reached an alarming level and requires emergency intervention from key stakeholders in the educational sector,” he said.

Arogundade said it was time ASUU took a lead in investigating the several allegations as the union was always at the forefront of agitation for improved educational system and good governance. He also stressed that ASUU’s intervention would give some assurance to parents that the tide of sexual harassment could be checked and tamed.

“ASUU should also investigate and make recommendations. Certainly, it is a two-way thing, as the ladies can sometimes be culpable because they have also been accused of seducing lectures. Lecturers should also report such overtures. The university should put in place mechanisms where complaints can be launched by sexually harassed female students; a system that can protect their identity and save them from being victimised.

“The university system is meant to bring out the best in students. Those not doing well academically should be engaged and helped to become better. The fear of failure usually drives students to the acts of sexual exploitation and, in extreme cases, some might even commit suicide. The powers that be should be humane in addressing these concerns.”