SP Ahmed Lawan
Senate
SP Ahmed Lawan
Senate Proposes 14-year jail term for sexual predators
in tertiary institutions
The Senate on Wednesday debated two critical bills – the sexual
harassment bill and President Muhammadu Buhari’s Finance bill,
2019.
The bills, which scaled second reading on the floor of the
Senate, were sponsored by the Deputy Senate President, Ovie
Omo-Agege and Senate Leader, Abdullahi Yahaya, respectively.
The proposed legislation titled “A Bill for an Act to Prevent,
Prohibit and Redress Sexual Harassment of Students in Tertiary
Educational Institutions and for other matters connected therewith
2019” has 27 clauses.
The bill proposes up to 14 years jail term, with a minimum of 5
years, without an option of fine for any educator who commits
sexual offences in tertiary institutions.
The bill defines sexual offences as including: sexual
intercourse with a student or demands for sex from a student or a
prospective student or intimidating or creating a hostile or
offensive environment for the student by soliciting for sex or
making sexual advances.
Other forms of sexual harassment identified in the bill are
grabbing, hugging, kissing, rubbing, stroking, touching, pinching
the breasts or hair or lips or hips or buttocks or any other
sensual part of the body of a student; or sending by hand or
courier or electronic or any other means naked or sexually explicit
pictures or videos or sex related objects to a student, and
whistling or winking at a student or screaming, exclaiming, joking
or making sexually complimentary or uncomplimentary remarks about a
student’s physique or stalking a student.
Senator Omo-Agege, in his lead debate, said “the most effective
way to deal with the offence of sexual harassment in our tertiary
institutions is to penalise the very impropriety of the act, with
or without consent.”
According to him, sexual harassment must be defined in tertiary
educational institutions as statutory rape with strict liability
for offenders to be prosecuted easily.
On the extension of the bill to primary, secondary schools,
worship centres and work place, Omo-Agege said doing so will not be
necessary because the Criminal and Penal codes already adequately
deals with these categories with sufficient clarity.
He, however, stressed that the bill prescribes expulsion for
students who falsely accuse educators of sexual harassment.
He said, “An educator whose character is maligned is at liberty
to sue for defamation under the law of defamation which is
well-settled in our jurisprudence and needs no duplication in this
bill.”
The Senate also on Wednesday considered President Muhammadu
Buhari’s Finance Bill, 2019.
Leading debate on the bill, Senator Yahaya Abdullahi (APC, Kebbi
North), said the bill essentially seeks to promote fiscal equity by
mitigating instances of regressive taxation; reforming domestic
laws to align with global best practices; and introducing tax
incentives for investments in infrastructure and capital
markets.
The bill also seeks to support small businesses in line with
ongoing ease of doing business reform, and raising revenues for
government by various fiscal measures, including a proposal to
increase the rate of Value Added Tax from 5 percent to 7.5
percent.
According to Abdullahi, the additional revenues to be made by
the Federal Government when this bill becomes law will be used to
fund health, education and infrastructure programmes.
“It is absolutely essential to intensify the revenue generation
efforts of this administration and its commitment to ensuring that
the inconvenience associated with any fiscal policy adjustments is
moderated such that the poor and the vulnerable, who are most at
risk, do not bear the brunt of these reforms,” Abdullahi said.
Other bills which scaled second reading on the floor are: A Bill
for an Act to provide for the establishment of the Federal
University of Education, Kontagora, sponsored by Senator Aliyu Sabi
Abdullahi (APC, Niger North), and A Bill for an Act to establish
the Federal College of Education, Illo, sponsored by Senator Yahaya
Abdullahi (APC, Kebbi North).
Signed:
Ezrel Tabiowo
Special Assistant (Press)
to President of the Senate