By Ismail Auwal
A non-governmental organisation, Centre for Awareness on Justice and Accountability (CAJA), has called for the speedy assent of the Sexual Harassment Prohibition Bill by the president.
It said this would address the sexual abuse cases wreaking havoc in the country’s institutions of learning.
The Executive Director of CAJA, Comrade Kabiru Saidu, made the plea in Kano at a learning event on sexual harassment in Nigerian tertiary institutions.
The dialogue was organised in collaboration with cluster members in Kano State.
Dakata in an interview with SAHELIAN TIMES said sexual harassment has become a pandemic that shouldn’t be addressed on the margin.
A lecturer at Bayero University, Dr. Ibrahim Garba Muhammad, urged the legislators to incorporate measures that will address attempts by students to blackmail their teachers and to extend the bill beyond tertiary institutions to all workplaces.
Dr. Muhammad argued that since sexual harassment occurs in all sectors, lawmakers should expand its scope beyond collegiate settings.
A student representative at the dialogue, Hauwa Ahmad Muhammad, who was angered by the continuing ASUU strike, hoped that lawmakers would not approach the bill as the nation is treating the strike.
” We are members of the Anti-sexual Harassment Advocacy Cluster, a consortium of different Civil Society Organizations working to contribute in addressing the prevalence of sexual harassment in tertiary institutions in Nigeria.”
Dakata identified the Centre for Awareness on Justice and Accountability (CAJA) Kano State, Youth Alive Foundation (YAF) Abuja, Village Debbo Care Initiative (VDCare) Kaduna State, Sefjamil Media and Development (SMD) Kano State, Joint Association of Persons with Disability (JONAPWD), Gombe State Chapter, Women`s Rights and Health Project (WRAHP) Lagos State and Connected Development—Akwa Ibom State (CODE) as members of clusters working on the project.
The cluster is advocating for the Presidential Assent of the Anti-Sexual Harassment Bill (An Act to Prevent, Prohibit and Redress Sexual Harassment of Students in Tertiary Educational Institutions and for Matters Connected Therewith, 2019), which has been passed by both Senate and House of Representatives.
” The cluster is currently implementing a project titled addressing the Prevalence of Sexual harassment in Tertiary Institutions in Nigeria.”
“The focus of the project is to work with all relevant stakeholders to galvanize action aimed at addressing Sexual Harassment in Tertiary Institutions in Nigeria,” he said.
