OAU and UNIABUJA remove four professors and 14 others for sexual misbehavior.

 OAU and UNIABUJA remove four professors and 14 others for sexual misbehavior.

Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife

According to The  review of media reports, 18 teachers in the country's tertiary institutions have been indicted and sacked for sexual misconduct in the last year.

Sexual harassment has been a recurring issue in Nigerian institutions, with a survey conducted by the World Bank Group's Women in 2018 revealing that 70% of female graduates from Nigerian tertiary institutions were sexually harassed in school, with the main perpetrators being classmates or lecturers.

Despite the fact that the Senate enacted a bill in 2021 requiring randy academics to serve 21 years in prison, The MEDIA says that majority of the lecturers who were indicted and found guilty after the bill was passed were simply fired.

According to reports collated by The New York Times,In June 2021, a lecturer in the Department of Media and Theatre Art at the Federal University of Oye-Ekiti was suspended for sexual misconduct.

In the same month, the University of Lagos reported the expulsion of two instructors for committing a similar offense.

In August of that year, a lecturer in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature at the University of Port Harcourt was fired for sexual misconduct.

In October 2021, two instructors from the Departments of Nutrition/Dietetics and General Studies at the Federal Polytechnic, Bauchi, were fired for sexual misconduct.

For impregnating a female student, a lecturer from the Department of Sociology at Ignatius Ajuru University of Education was fired.

The Kwara State University, Malete, announced the sacking of a lecturer in December 2021.OAU began another investigation into complaints of sexual harassment against a professor in the Department of Linguistics and African Studies in April 2022. Two professors at OAU have been affected so far.

Prof Abdul-Raheed Na'allah, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Abuja, announced the firing of two academics for sexual misconduct in June 2022.

They're both professors.

The Yaba College of Technology is investigating sexual harassment charges against one of its instructors.

In an interview with The MEDIA, Ayodamola Oluwatoyin, the Programme Director of Reform Education Nigeria, argued that explicit sexual harassment rules should be made available in higher institutions.

"One of the challenges we are having is that we do not have clear leadership," Oluwatoyin remarked.We still report incidences of sexual harassment in our tertiary institutions, which is really awful."

Ben Goong, a spokesman for the Federal Ministry of Education, told The MEDIA that while the ministry does not get involved in the day-to-day operations of tertiary institutions, it is always present when policy issues arise.

"When it comes to the day-to-day operations of tertiary institutions, the government stays out of it." That is a matter for the National Universities Commission, the National Board for Technical Education, and the institutions' governing councils.