Omo-Agege urges support for S*xual Harassment Prevention Bill

Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege,
Wednesday urged Nigerians to support the National Assembly’s
efforts aimed at enacting an effective law against sexual
harassment in workplaces and educational institutions in the
country.

Omo-Agege, in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and
Publicity, Yomi Odunuga, explained why he decided to reintroduce
the Sexual Harassment in Tertiary Institution Prohibition Bill,
which he earlier sponsored during the 8th National Assembly.

He vowed to ensure that the energized concerns of all fathers,
mothers and youth accelerate the success of his bill towards
becoming an effective law against sexual harassment in Nigeria.

The Senator representing Delta Central said: “It is a problem
that has caused academic injustice, depression and countless other
negative effects on individuals and the society in various parts of
the world but the key to lasting change is for us to begin it
within our own environment.

“I applaud the First Lady, Hajia Aisha Buhari, the First Lady of
Ekiti State, Erelu Bisi Fayemi, the Academic Staff Union of
Universities and all those who stoutly rose in support of the BBC’s
commendable journalistic endeavour that is effectively beaming
light on a hidden menace.

“I am wholly convinced that the unique student-educator
relationship of authority, dependency and trust should never be
violated. By the maxim of ‘loco parentis’, educators are like
parents. They owe a special fiduciary duty of care to students
under their authority – students who trust and depend on them to
shape their future career paths.

“It must, therefore, be extremely offensive to a reasonable mind
where an educator treats students as ‘perquisites’ of his office.
As a father, it is an issue that I cannot just accept. It is a
shame on our conscience as a people. We will stop it.

“In 2016, with the support of several colleagues in the Senate,
I tabled the Bill on the Prohibition of Sexual Harassment in
Tertiary Institutions which provides for a five-year jail term or a
fine of N5 million for any lecturer convicted for sexually
harassing male or female students.

“The bill also criminalizes any act of neglect or failure by
administrative heads of tertiary institutions to address complaints
of sexual harassment within a specified period and it also made
provisions to adequately punish anyone found to have levelled false
allegations of harassment against lecturers and educators.

“I deeply appreciate the Academic Staff Union of Universities’
(ASUU) decisive change of position on this issue which they opposed
three years ago; I see myself, not only as a representative of my
senatorial district but as a representative of every parent who has
a daughter that will one day, pass through our tertiary
institutions.

“Nobody’s daughter deserves to be treated as ‘fringe benefit’
for anyone in position of trust and responsibility; the
psychological trauma of sexual harassment has existed for too long
and that is why we are reintroducing the new bill to make
prosecution of sexual offenders easier for prosecutors and remove
the vexatious argument of ‘consent’ as a defence to perpetrate
evil. The punishment of five-year jail term for those found guilty
should serve as deterrent in a society that urgently needs to
address this issue of sexual harassment.

“I feel proud and further motivated. What we all collectively
need at the moment is urgent action, especially for the passage of
the Bill for the Prohibition of Sexual Harassment in Tertiary
Institutions into law,” Senator Omo-Agege said.

While describing the scourge of sexual harassment in the
nation’s tertiary institutions as unacceptable, he said it was high
time the trend was nipped in the bud.

Recall that the proposed legislation sponsored by the lawmaker,
was passed by the 8th Senate but never got concurrence from the
House of Representatives.

Nigerians have expressed outrage over a viral British
Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) investigative video which showed
some lecturers of some top universities in West Africa sexually
harassing female students.

The Bill prohibits any form of sexual relationship between
lecturers and their students and prescribes jail term of up to five
years for lecturers who engage in sexual relationship with
students.