Senate Propose 14-year Jail Term For Harassment In Tertiary Institutions

The Senate, on Wednesday, debated a bill which proposed up to 14 years jail term, with a minimum of 5 years, without an option of fine for any educator who commits s#xual offences in tertiary institutions.

According to a statement from Ezrel Tabiowo, Special Assistant (Press) to President of the Senate, the bill, which scaled second reading on the floor of the Senate, was sponsored by the Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege.


The proposed legislation titled “A Bill for an Act to Prevent, Prohibit and Redress S#xual Harassment of Students in Tertiary Educational Institutions and for other matters connected therewith 2019” has 27 clauses.


The bill defines s#xual offences as including; s#xual intercourse with a student or demands for s#x from a student or a prospective student or intimidating or creating a hostile or offensive environment for the student by soliciting for s#x or making s#xual advances.

Other forms of s#xual harassment identified in the bill are; grabbing, hugging, kissing, rubbing, stroking, touching, pinching the breasts or hair or lips or hips or buttocks or any other sensual part of the body of a student; or sending by hand or courier or electronic or any other means naked or s#xually explicit pictures or videos or s#x related objects to a student, and whistling or winking at a student or screaming, exclaiming, joking or making s#xually complimentary or uncomplimentary remarks about a student’s physique or stalking a student.


Senator Omo-Agege, in his lead debate, said “the most effective way to deal with the offence of s#xual harassment in our tertiary institutions is to penalise the very impropriety of the act, with or without consent.”
According to him, s#xual harassment must be defined in tertiary educational institutions as statutory rape with strict liability for offenders to be prosecuted easily.


On the extension of the bill to primary, secondary schools, worship centres and work place, Omo-Agege said doing so will not be necessary because the Criminal and Penal codes already adequately deals with these categories with sufficient clarity.


He, however, stressed that the bill prescribes expulsion for students who falsely accuse educators of sexual harassment.
He said: “An educator whose character is maligned is at liberty to sue for defamation under the law of defamation which is well-settled in our jurisprudence and needs no duplication in this bill.”


From Daily Trust