The National Assembly has considered a bill which prescribes a five-year jail term for lecturers who engage in sexual relations with students.
The bill which was sponsored by Senator Ovie Omo-Agege representing Delta Central on the Labour party platform and co-sponsored by 46 other senators passed for its first reading in the Senate on Wednesday.
The bill, according to the senators, if passed is aimed at annihilating any form of sexual relationship between lecturers and students.
Speaking to newsmen after the plenary, the bill sponsor, Omo-Agege said the tertiary education system needs sanitisation in order to properly operate in the hug standards expected.
He maintained that male lecturers who view their female students as ‘prize’ will get up to five years but not less than two years jail term with no option of fine.
“When passed into law, it makes it a criminal offence for any educator in a university, polytechnic or any other tertiary educational institution to violate or exploit the student-lecturer fiduciary relationship for sexual pleasures.
“The bill imposes stiff penalties on offenders in its overall objective of providing tighter statutory protection for students against sexual hostility and all forms of sexual harassment in tertiary schools.
“The bill provides a compulsory five-year jail term for lecturers who sexually harass students.
“When passed into law, vice chancellors of universities, rectors of polytechnics and other chief executives of institutions of higher learning will go to jail for two years if they fail to act within a week on complaints of sexual harassment made by students.
“The bill expressly allows sexually harassed students, their parents or guardians to seek civil remedies in damages against sexual predator lecturers before or after their successful criminal prosecution by the State.
He added that: “The bill also seeks to protect, from sexual harassment, prospective students seeking admissions into institutions of learning, students of generally low mental capacity and physically challenged students,’’
The bill sponsored by Omo-Agege and others reads: “an educator shall be guilty of committing an offence of sexual harassment against a student if he/she has sexual intercourse with a student.
“He or she shall be guilty if he has sexual intercourse with a student or demands for sex from a student or a prospective student as a condition to study in an institution.
“He or she shall be guilty if he has sexual intercourse with a student or demands for sex from a student or a prospective student as a condition to the giving of a passing grade.
“He or she shall be guilty if he solicits sex from or makes sexual advances at a student when the sexual solicitation or sexual advances result in an intimidating, hostile or offensive environment for the student.
“He or she shall be guilty if he directs or induces another person to commit any act of sexual harassment under this Act, or cooperates in the commission of sexual harassment by another person.
“He or she shall be guilty if he grabs, hugs, rubs or strokes or touches or pinches the breasts or hair or lips or hips or buttocks or any other sensual part of the body of a student.
“He or she shall be guilty if he displays, gives or sends by hand or courier or electronic or any other means Unclad or sexually explicit pictures or videos or sex related objects to a student.
“He or she shall be guilty if he whistles or winks at a student or screams or exclaims or jokes or makes sexually complimentary or uncomplimentary remarks about a student’s physique.’’
The bill however provides provision for false accusation by students on which grounds the student will face dismissal from school with no prescribed jail term.
The bill provides only one exemption which is in cases where the student had prior to gaining admission into the tertiary institution been married to the lecturer.