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NANS, women groups kick as ASUU attacks sexual harassment bill at National Assembly

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Various women groups and members of the National Association of Nigeria Students (NANS) vehemently kicked against moves by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to shut down the anti-sexual harassment bill at a public hearing organised by the Senate on Monday.

The Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters, coordinated the session which was aimed at giving stakeholders, an opportunity to make their input into the proposed legislation before its eventual approval by both chambers of the National Assembly.

Representatives of the Women Rights Advancement and Protection Alternative, Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre, International Federation of Women Lawyers, female lawmakers and students’ union, among others, spoke passionately in support of the bill.

They, however, urged the Senate panel, led by the Chairman, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, to consider the interest of the stakeholders in passing the bill, sponsored by the Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ovie Omo – Agege.

For instance, the Deputy President of FIDA in Nigeria, Amina Agbaje, stressed the need to also capture the non – academic staff of tertiary institutions as part of the target of the proposed law since they also interact daily with the vulnerable female students.

She also sought an amendment to the bill that would make anybody accuse of sexual harassment to be suspended from duty immediately to avoid interference with the process of investigation.

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The Director-General, National Centre for Women Development, Abuja, Mrs. Mary Ekpere-Eta, in her submission, sought for the extension of the law to also cover pupils and teachers in both primary and secondary schools across the country.

She also sought an amendment that would make difficult for any indicted teacher or lecturer found guilty of sexual harassment, from securing job in any institutions being attended by female students.

Ekpere-Eta also suggested the involvement of representatives of the Federal Ministry of Justice, Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, the police and others in the proposed Sexual Harassment Committee.

The National Human Rights Commission in its position paper supported the recommendations of the Ekpere-Eta, but added that women groups should also be members of the committee.

The NHRC said not leaving school authorities alone to set up the committee would frustrate any attempt by the Vice – Chancellor to appoint surrogates into the panel.

The Commission also frowned at the mere rustication provided for any female student, who raised a false alarm while the law is recommending a 14-year jail term for any lecturer found guilty of sexual harassment.

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The Women Rights Advancement and Protection Alternative, in its position paper, suggested a provision which would make it mandatory for the National Assembly to demand submission of sexual harassment cases from all tertiary institutions in order to assess the effectiveness of the bill when signed into law.

There was, however, a mild drama when the leadership of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), led by its National President, Biodun Ogunyemi, kicked against the approval of the proposed sexual harassment bill by the National Assembly.

Ogunyemi’s presentation was intermittently punctured by jeers from the crowd made up of mostly women groups and students, when he said ASUU does not support sexual harassment but that it does not believe that a law should be enacted to tackle it.

He said,

Every university has structures through which disciplinary procedures are handled. Sexual harassment is a disciplinary matter. There is no university in Nigeria that does not have disciplinary and ethics committee.

“We have procedure for prosecuting. When a case is reported, there will first be handled by the administrative committee and the report would go to the council before going to the disciplinary committee made up of internal and external members.

“If we follow the procedure that we have in place at the universities, and we link with our existing laws, we can address the same problem without necessary coming up with a law.”

Ogunyemi further incurred the wrath of his hostile audience when he asked them if they would be comfortable with new laws to address new challenges and he got a resounding yes response which drew loud laughter among the stakeholders.

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Frustrated, Ogunyemi descended from the podium saying he would leave the National Assembly to do its work.

The representative of the National Association of Nigeria Students (NANS), Peter Essien, said a committee set up by the student body had so far, compiled over 2, 000 sexual harassment cases across the various Nigerian universities, which had yet to be sufficiently addressed.

The sexual harassment victim, Monica Osage, whose case led to the imprisonment of an Obafemi Awolowo University lecturer, Professor Richard Akindele, also spoke at the event.

She lamented that the OAU authorities failed to release her certificate because one of them was jailed on account of the action she took by reporting the case

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