A non-governmental organization known as the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) has called on the Nigerian legislature to pass into law the Sexual Harassment Tertiary Education Institution Bill.
The CISLAC made the plea at an advocacy campaign in Abuja, the nation’s capital.
According to the group, the law will prevent and deter teachers and lecturers from demanding sex as a gratification for Academic grades on female students.
The programme officer of the project to tackle sexual exploitation in tertiary institutions in Nigeria, Mrs Bathsheba Tagwai identified sexual Exploitation as another form of Corruption
“The campaign is aimed at creating awareness amongst the students of the selected tertiary institutions of learning on the issues around sextortion, create physical and electronics complaint and reporting platforms on sextortion for redress.”
The Executive Director of CISLAC, Mr Auwal Rafsanjani represented by Mr Emir Suljovic maintained that the sensitization is one of the activities being carried out by the centre towards the implementation of the Sextortion Project with the support from the German Agency for International Cooperative (GIZ).
He pointed out that the centre brought together students of tertiary institutions across FCT to enlighten them on the issue of Sextortion in tertiary institutions in Nigeria from the anti-corruption perspective.
“All forms of corruption that involved money and that is where issue of sexual exploitation comes to play.
“Many Nigerians are not aware of their fundamental rights and as such, cannot tell when it is violated or know where to go seeking redress. Also, the fear of stigmatization by society which is very common and the fact the perpetrators are usually high profile individuals who are either lecturers or non-academic staff who have some influence or power within the institution or the society makes a lot of victims reluctant to report.”
Highlights of the event were presentations on how to use the TIMBY APP developed by CISLAC for reporting sextortion, presentations by ICPC and SOAR Initiative on the importance and benefits of psychological therapy for victims of sexual harassment and young people in general.
PIAK
