• The Membership Club
  • #EndSARS Dashboard
  • PT Hausa
  • About Us
  • Advert Rates
  • Careers
  • Contact Us
  • Digital Store
Tuesday, January 31, 2023
Premium Times Nigeria
  • Home
  • Gender
  • News
    • Headline Stories
    • Top News
    • More News
    • Foreign
  • Investigations
  • Business
    • News Reports
    • Financial Inclusion
    • Analysis and Data
    • Business Specials
    • Opinion
    • Oil/Gas Reports
      • FAAC Reports
      • Revenue
  • Opinion
  • Health
    • News Reports
    • Special Reports and Investigations
      • Health Specials
    • Features and Interviews
    • Multimedia
    • Primary Health Tracker
  • Agriculture
    • News Report
    • Special Reports/Investigations
    • Features and Interviews
    • Multimedia
  • Arts/Life
    • Arts/Books
    • Kannywood
    • Lifestyle
    • Music
    • Nollywood
    • Travel
  • Sports
    • Football
    • More Sports News
    • Sports Features
  • Projects & Partnerships
    • AUN-PT Data Hub
    • #EndSARS Dashboard
    • Parliament Watch
    • #PandoraPapers
    • Panama Papers
    • Paradise Papers
    • AGAHRIN
  • Home
  • Gender
  • News
    • Headline Stories
    • Top News
    • More News
    • Foreign
  • Investigations
  • Business
    • News Reports
    • Financial Inclusion
    • Analysis and Data
    • Business Specials
    • Opinion
    • Oil/Gas Reports
      • FAAC Reports
      • Revenue
  • Opinion
  • Health
    • News Reports
    • Special Reports and Investigations
      • Health Specials
    • Features and Interviews
    • Multimedia
    • Primary Health Tracker
  • Agriculture
    • News Report
    • Special Reports/Investigations
    • Features and Interviews
    • Multimedia
  • Arts/Life
    • Arts/Books
    • Kannywood
    • Lifestyle
    • Music
    • Nollywood
    • Travel
  • Sports
    • Football
    • More Sports News
    • Sports Features
  • Projects & Partnerships
    • AUN-PT Data Hub
    • #EndSARS Dashboard
    • Parliament Watch
    • #PandoraPapers
    • Panama Papers
    • Paradise Papers
    • AGAHRIN
Premium Times Nigeria
BUA Group Ad BUA Group Ad BUA Group Ad
National president of ASUU, Biodun Ogunyemi in an interview with Premium Times

National president of ASUU, Biodun Ogunyemi in an interview with Premium Times

‘The bias is too much’, ASUU chairman condemns anti-sexual harassment bill

byQueenEsther Iroanusi
February 17, 2020
Reading Time: 4 mins read
9

The chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, Biodun Ogunyemi, has described as biased, the proposed anti-sexual harassment bill for higher institutions.

He said the bill will stigmatise lecturers in universities.

Mr Ogunyemi made the comment during the public hearing of the bill in Abuja on Monday.

The hearing was organised to enable individuals, civic and academic groups to air their views, raise concerns as well as suggest amendments to the bill.

The bill

The bill titled: ‘A Bill for an Act to prevent, prohibit and redress Sexual Harassment of students in tertiary educational institutions and for matters concerned therewith, 2019’, was reintroduced in the Senate on October 9 and scaled second reading on November 6.

It is sponsored by the Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, and 106 other senators.

The bill seeks to promote and protect ethical standards in tertiary institutions. It also seeks to protect students against sexual harassment as well as prevent sexual harassment of students by educators in tertiary institutions.

The bill also proposes up to 14 years jail term for offenders.

Atiku-Okowa AD

PREMIUM TIMES reported in detail the provisions of the bill.

The bill was reintroduced to the Senate two days after a BBC documentary exposed two lecturers of the University of Lagos, and a lecturer of the University of Ghana for sexual harassment. The documentary sparked reactions from many Nigerians who described the issue as a norm in Nigerian universities.

The Concerns

At the hearing, several participants took turns to comment on the bill as they raised concerns about it.

For the ASUU chairman, the provisions of the bill is biased against lecturers. He said if it is allowed, teachers will be discredited.

NAHCON State AD NAHCON Tour Operator AD NAHCON Cargo Operator AD

Kogi AD

TEXEM Advert

“By so doing, we shall also degrade the value and integrity of our certificate. Does ASUU supports sexual harassment? No. In 2016, we spoke along the same line.”

Mr Ogunyemi said there are other problems in the universities that need immediate attention.

While he kicked against new laws to tackle sexual harassment, he asked that the autonomy of universities should be respected and that the institutions have laws to handle such issues.

Dangote adbanner 728x90_2 (1)

“We should reconcile this bill with that Act. What does it take to review that Act to cover our new area of concern? If we have a law that addresses issues related to sexual harassment, why are we wasting time talking about another law? Are we also going to formulate a law to address corruption in the universities?

“Are we also going to formulate another law to address sexual harassment in the police, in the National Assembly? Did we need to wait for this long for Professor Akindele to be jailed? Did we?

“We are saying laws should not be made ad-hoc. If we are not careful, we will have laws that address warders that harass prisoners, laws that address potential or prospective employees.

“This bias is too much. It’s like we are stigmatising those who should be the custodians of our innovations and progress. This bill has failed to take cognizance of extant legislation that currently deals with the issues of sexual offences.

“We need to also understand the autonomy of the university. We are saying we should not discredit our custodians of knowledge and make them lose confidence in what they are doing. Because if we do so, we will pay dearly before we recover from it,” he said.

In her speech, Jummai Audi, the Director-General, Nigerian Law Reform Commission, declared support for the bill.

She, however, expressed worry that it is restrictive to only tertiary institutions and suggested that the provisions be extended to primary and secondary schools.

She also demanded that a committee outside the institutions be set up to ensure implementation of the provisions of the bill.

Ms Audi said those in charge of disciplinary action in the universities are colleagues and in most cases, do not intervene. She further said penalties should not be restricted to lecturers but ad-hoc staff, visiting lecturers, among others. This is even as she called for penalties for students who harass lecturers.

Classification of offences into ‘felony’ is unnecessary and should be deleted, she added.

Isa Chiroma, the Director-General, Nigerian Law School, Abuja, said the bill is long overdue.

He, however, complained that the bill targets a certain group of persons and should be extended to headmasters that harass students in secondary schools.

Victim yet to collect certificate

Monica Osagie, a lady who was harassed in Obafemi Awolowo University in 2018, said she is yet to collect her certificate. This is after she exposed a randy professor, Richard Akindele, which led to his dismissal from the university.

Ms Osagie leaked a phone recording, which showed Mr Akindele asking for sex ‘five times’ from the post-graduate student for a pass in an examination.

OAU set up a committee and mandated it to submit its report. It also issued a query to Mr Akindele.

On June 20, the university announced the dismissal of Mr Akindele after he was found guilty of misconduct and in December 2018, he was sentenced to two years in prison.

In her remark, Ms Osagie stressed the need to provide a middle-man between lecturers and students.

“Instead of students interacting with the lecturer, there should be a middleman, probably a graduate, a PhD holder where the lecturer doesn’t have to interact with the students. It is not always true that students also harass lecturers.

“It was said that students maliciously get lecturers involved. That’s not possible because it always goes through a panel. The panel would find out if truly the student maliciously incriminated the lecturer. Hope you know most lecturers are in cohort with each other,” she said.

She further said she was denied her certificate for exposing Mr Akundele.

“I was denied my certificate because Professor Akindele went to jail. They said if she could incriminate Akindele then she is not going to get her certificate. They kept saying, ‘She failed; she’s not going to get her certificate. She can either come back and resit all the courses again,’ and that’s not possible.”

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • WhatsApp
  • Telegram
  • LinkedIn
  • Email
  • Print



Support PREMIUM TIMES' journalism of integrity and credibility

Good journalism costs a lot of money. Yet only good journalism can ensure the possibility of a good society, an accountable democracy, and a transparent government.

For continued free access to the best investigative journalism in the country we ask you to consider making a modest support to this noble endeavour.

By contributing to PREMIUM TIMES, you are helping to sustain a journalism of relevance and ensuring it remains free and available to all.

Donate



TEXT AD: Call Willie - +2348098788999






PT Mag Campaign AD

Previous Post

Osun govt. speaks on Oluwo, Agbowu face-off

Next Post

Fake CBN governor bags three years imprisonment for fraud

QueenEsther Iroanusi

QueenEsther Iroanusi

QueenEsther Iroanusi covers the National Assembly for PREMIUM TIMES. She is a 2018 Female Reporters Leadership Programme fellow of the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism. She has a degree in French. She can be reached on Twitter @QueenExtha

More News

APC and PDP

EXCLUSIVE: Three House of Representatives members from Katsina ditch APC, join PDP

January 30, 2023
_Uyo_Urban_Ward_2,_crowd_outside_a_classroom_at_Government_School,_Ikot_Ntuen_Oku

SPECIAL REPORT: Few weeks to elections, Nigerians go through harrowing experiences to collect PVCs

January 30, 2023
A cartoon used to illustrate the editorial on fuelling public service corruption with unpaid retirees benefits

EDITORIAL: Fuelling public service corruption with unpaid retirees benefits

January 30, 2023
APC presidential candidate Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Nigeria's president Muhammadu Buhari. [PHOTO CREDIT: Bashir Ahmad]

PT State of the Race: Enemy or Friend: Tinubu’s topsy-turvy relationship with Buhari

January 29, 2023
Godwin Emefiele, governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

UPDATED: CBN extends deadline for use of old naira notes

January 29, 2023
Nigeria Police officers on duty

Gunmen attack Nigerian police checkpoint, kill three officers

January 29, 2023
Read All Comment

Our Digital Network

  • PT Hausa
  • Election Centre
  • Human Trafficking Investigation
  • Centre for Investigative Journalism
  • National Conference
  • Press Attack Tracker
  • PT Academy
  • Dubawa
  • LeaksNG
  • Campus Reporter

Resources

  • Oil & Gas Facts
  • List of Universities in Nigeria
  • LIST: Federal Unity Colleges in Nigeria
  • NYSC Orientation Camps in Nigeria
  • Nigeria’s Federal/States’ Budgets since 2005
  • Malabu Scandal Thread
  • World Cup 2018
  • Panama Papers Game
  • Our Digital Network
  • About Us
  • Resources
  • Projects
  • Data & Infographics
  • DONATE

All content is Copyrighted © 2022 The Premium Times, Nigeria

No Result
View All Result
  • Digital Store
  • Home
  • News
    • Headline Stories
    • Top News
    • More News
    • Foreign
  • Investigations
  • Gender
  • Business
    • News Reports
    • Financial Inclusion
    • Analysis and Data
    • Business Specials
    • Opinion
    • Oil/Gas Reports
      • FAAC Reports
      • Revenue
  • Health
    • COVID-19
    • News Reports
    • Investigations
    • Data and Infographics
    • Health Specials
    • Features
    • Events
    • Primary Health Tracker
  • Agriculture
    • News Report
    • Research & Innovation
    • Data & Infographics
    • Special Reports/Investigations
    • Investigations
    • Interviews
    • Multimedia
  • Arts/Life
    • Arts/Books
    • Kannywood
    • Lifestyle
    • Music
    • Nollywood
    • Travel
  • Sports
    • Football
    • More Sports News
    • Sports Features
  • #EndSARS Dashboard
  • AUN-PT Data Hub
  • Projects
    • Panama Papers
    • Paradise Papers
    • Parliament Watch
    • AGAHRIN
  • Opinion
  • PT Hausa
  • The Membership Club
  • DONATE
  • About Us
  • Advert Rates
  • Dubawa NG
  • Careers
  • Contact Us

All content is Copyrighted © 2022 The Premium Times, Nigeria