Stephen Enoch
In an effort to combat the prevalence of sexual harassment in Nigerian tertiary institutions, members of the Anti-Sexual Harassment Advocacy (ASHA) cluster, a coalition of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), have urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to sign the Sexual Harassment of Students in Tertiary Educational Institutions (Prohibition) bill into law.
The Cluster made the call at an interactive session with journalists and CSOs on Friday to further deepen discussion on the issue of the role of media in curbing the menace of sexual harassment in tertiary institutions.
Speaking on behalf of the Cluster at the event in Kano, Kabiru Dakata the Executive Director of the Centre for Awareness on Justice and Accountability (CAJA), stated that the bill seeks to prevent and protect students against sexual harassment by educators in tertiary institutions.
He said: “The bill has been transmitted to President Tinubu for his assent, stressing that the media is crucial at this point of the drive for the law.
“Cases of sexual harassment in our tertiary institutions are becoming alarming and we have discovered that most institutions do not have internal policies to address the menace of sexual harassment.
“Signing of this bill will address this issue specifically as well as other related issues of sexual harassment.
“I call on the media to join hands with us to make this a reality as they play an important role in signing this bill by the president and ultimately reducing the cases of sexual harassment in our institutions.”
On her part, Evelyn Ugbe, a Cluster member said a series of reports have alluded that 70% of perpetrators of sexual harassment on campuses are usually lecturers and male students.
“There are also male students that are sexually harassed on campuses, so this bill will address sexual harassment by both males and females.
“We want the CSOs and Media to work collaboratively towards the signing of this bill,” Evelyn said.
