The Senior Special Assistant to President Bola Tinubu on Students Engagement, Sunday Asefon, has promised that the President will act on the Sexual Harassment Prohibition Bill currently before him.
Asefon made the promise in Abuja on Friday during a meeting with some student representatives who presented pens to the President through him.
They are asking that the pens be used in assenting to the bill, in commemoration of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence.
The meeting was facilitated by the Gender Mobile Initiative, an organisation working to address gender and sexual violence in the education sector.
The presidential aide noted that a collective effort is needed to curb sexual harassment in tertiary institutions, adding that the message of the students would be delivered to the President.
“I receive these pens in good faith and will deliver the message accordingly. I assure you that the President who is our father, would do the needful on this bill,” Asefon said.
He added, “We have heard a lot of cases of sexual harassment by lecturers on female students and the female students with boldness reported these cases but because of the lecturers’ influence, the cases are swept under the carpet.
“This bill will give judgment to criminalise sexual harassment offenders. And I want to assure you that my office will collaborate to renew the fight against sexual harassment and sex-for-marks in our institutions.”
On her part, a former Students Union President at the University of Abuja, Benita Olaniyan, called on the President to prioritise the signing of the bill to stop all forms of abuse and violence in schools.
“Education system is supposed to be a safe place for learning but students have been harassed and sexually molested.
“Students across higher institutions of learning in this country, in their goodwill, have donated these pens to the President and we believe there will be stricter punishment for offenders,” Olaniyan said.
On November 27, 2023, the GMI asked Tinubu to sign the Sexual Harassment Prohibition Bill for Tertiary Institutions into law.
Recently, there have been rising cases of sexual harassment of students by lecturers and secondary school teachers in Nigeria.
In August, students of the University of Calabar called out the Dean of the Faculty of Law, Cyril Ndifon, over allegations of sexual harassment.
The allegation led to the suspension of the Dean by the management of the institution.