The Nation Newspaper

Tag: #Sexforgrades

  • Sexforgrades: Why we must speak up

    By Adedimeji Quayyim Abdul-Hafeez

    The BBC investigative report titled: ‘Sex for grades: Undercover in West African universities” recently hit our television screens, bringing to light some of the realities in our tertiary institutions. The sexual exploitation of students by lecturers couldn’t have come to light at a better time.

    Truth be told, the pillage for sex in exchange for marks and grades by lecturers is not a new thing on Nigerian campuses. ‘Cold Rooms’, which may have been a relatively new term to Nigerians, had existed in all sorts of places on campuses – from staff offices, staff hotels, staff clubs, pavilions, student hostels – and other places where students are sexually devoured far from the gaze of the public. Exploitation also comes in different forms – it may be the lecturer exploiting the students or students exploiting the lecturer.

    On the other hand, it may even be both parties exploiting each other by bartering sex for marks, as well as pleasure for good grades. Men and women across all strata of the society have encountered one form of sexual exploitation or the other when they are trapped in circumstances in which they desperately need help.

    Sex abuse transcends our campuses – the hydra-headed monster lurks in corporate bodies, institutions, government parastatals, among others. It all comes in various guises and garments to get under the skirt.

    Well, the saddening thing is that voices are stifled in silence to enclose the woes this menace encloses in its garbs. No one is willing to talk about it. We all bow and cower to intimidations, threats, fears and reprisals. Most stories on abuse fade into clouds of hearsays, masking the plights of victims. Students cower under fear and threats of failure, suspension, and expulsion from these lecturers. These had hindered justice for tthe victims, while the abusers struts the street with impunity.

    As students, we all have rights against sexual exploitation. No individual has the right to stifle our voices in the expression of the infringements to our fundamental rights. Section 39(1) of the 1999 Constitution enshrines the right of our free will to hold opinions and express them in public. It provides that: ‘every person shall be entitled to freedom to hold opinions and impart ideas and information without interference.’ These criminals should be brought to book and this is the only way to achieve this.

    Victims of various forms of abuses ought to be protected from the machinations of these evil lecturers. All of us needn’t’ be whistle-blowers or witnesses in courts before we get protection from government. Victimised students should be protected and anonymity should be ensured when these stories are told. Due investigations should be carried out and lecturers responsible for such misconduct arrested and if found guilty, flushed out of the system.

    Also, the identities of these lecturers should be made public to serve as a deterrent to others. Only then would the student be confident to tell their stories of exploitation from these wolves and predators in deceptive garbs.

    Students should rise in unison in this present crusade. Let’s tell the whole world how our rights are being violated. Let’s tell the public how we are intimidated to subjection by these ‘predators’ evil whims. We all owe the society justice. We all have the duty to bring these men to book. Let’s cleanse the society of this filth.

    • Abdul-Hafeez is a Campus Journalist and a student of law. quayyimadedimeji@gmail.com.

  • 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.