No to #Sexforgrades

By Lekan Otufodunrin

The credit for BBC Africa on its recent #Sexforgrades report is not for telling us what we don’t know about the shameful act of lecturers sleeping with students to give them marks and other benefits, but offering us a graphic video of a block buster equivalent of a Nollywood film of how low those supposed locus parentis can stoop for the lure of the flesh.

For those who have always wondered how the lecturers go about making demands for  immoral relationship with students they are supposed to be role models to, the report exposed how a professor and pastor almost slept with a lady who posed as an admission seeker in his office after leading her in a prayer of repentance!

We saw a renowned professor in Ghana wondering why a lady who wanted his help with her post graduate studies was always formal with him during discussion and didn’t know of being violently kissed.

How about the other Ghanaian lecturer who asked to be a side guy of lady who also posed as an admission seeker?

Expectedly, the shameless lecturers after being caught in the act they assumed they have perfected over the years are claiming they have done no wrong. The world is waiting to see how they will claim their innocence in the court of law and whatever integrity they still lay claim to after being caught on camera.

The Nigerian media, despite its limitations, have done many reports of brazen sexual escapades of lecturers in our higher institutions. Even at primary and secondary schools, there have been reports of teachers demanding sex to pass their students.

While there have been some cases of lecturers penalised for abusing the powers they have over their students, many notorious sex perverts have usually got away due to the lack of will by the authorities of their institutions to call the offenders to order. Some of the randy lecturers are so sure they are untouchable that they brag about what they do and dare their victims to report them. Instead of getting justice, some victims have suffered for daring to call out the lecturers who molested them.

But for the damming audio telephone evidence against Professor Richard Akindele of the Obafemi Awolowo University, (OAU) Ife, the case against him that resulted in a two-year jail sentence might have been buried like others before it. The student reported the professor to other lecturers but no one was willing to confront him.

If earlier reports by the Nigerian media did not generate public outrage like the one by the BBC, the media are not to blame. They did their best within their limited resources and expected the authorities concerned to act.

With the new BBC exposé, it is hoped that misdemeanour of lecturers like those exposed in the report will be taken more seriously by university authorities who are always quick to deny allegations against their lecturers.

It is commendable that both institutions involved in the report acted swiftly by suspending their staff and setting up panels to investigate the case. The outcome of the findings of the panels and their recommendations will confirm how serious the institutions are about their anti-sexual harassment policies.

Lecturers trading sex for grades is a big dent on the image of higher institutions and raises a question mark about the certificates they issue.

For those who argue that some female students are to blame for seducing lecturers, my response is that the lecturers should blame themselves for falling for the temptation.