Oga Lecturerby David Arome
ALTHOUGH Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) affects people of all genders, women and girls remain the worst-hit in society. According to the World Health Organization (WHO)| 2021 report, one in every three women has experienced some form of gender-based violence in her lifetime. As women and girls struggle with SGBV at the University of Jos (UNIJOS), several factors limit their chances of securing and getting justice.
One Sunday evening in November 2021, Amina John (not real real name), a final-year student of the University of Jos, left her hostel for the main campus to study, ahead of her final year examinations. It was the last semester of the year and John was looking forward to the end of her stay at the university.
A short while into the journey, she was accosted by five men who forced her to an unknown location and raped her. Her assailants also stabbed her in the back and left her in the bush, where she lay in a pool of blood.
“At a point, I felt as if I was at the end of my life. The ordeal is better imagined than experienced,” she said.
John was rescued three hours later by a passer-by who took her to the UNIJOS clinic where she received medical treatment.
Her treatment took about two weeks, and during this time, John missed her final examinations at the university, resulting in an extra year in school.
“In the hospital, while trying to recover from the ordeal, each time I reflect on spending an extra year in school, it throws me off balance with much pain and psychological trauma.”
Despite her pain and loss, John told this reporter that she could not pursue justice, particularly because she did not know if there were reporting mechanisms put in place by her institution to address such issues.
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How female students struggle with Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in UNIJOS
Like John, many students have had similar experiences. However, many of them go unreported, and this may be due to the absence of adequate reporting channels for SGBV in the university.
Nemi Ngbade (not real name), a Computer Science student of UNIJOS, was attacked on September 2022 on her way to the campus for a 7.00 am lecture.
She had flagged down and boarded a commercial vehicle headed in her direction. However, the occupants of the cab were criminal gangsters masquerading as transporters to lure and attack unsuspecting passengers, popularly known as “one chance” operators.
She did not know that what seemed like a routine ride would turn into a terrifying ordeal, and she entered the car innocently believing it was just another ordinary commute.
As the vehicle moved towards the main campus, the young men struck up a conversation about campus life and events, luring Ngbade into their seemingly friendly banter. She felt at ease, thinking she was among fellow students. However, as they neared the campus, the driver veered into another route, leaving Ngbade puzzled and anxious.
Concerned about the unexpected change of route, she repeatedly asked the driver for an explanation, but there was no response from the driver. At that point, she realised that she was in trouble. Panic set in as she attempted to escape, but one of the men seized her by the neck while another brought out a knife, threatening to kill her if she dared to scream.
Overwhelmed by fear, Ngbade pleaded to be released, but her captors showed no mercy. She struggled to free herself from their grip, but they were relentless.
“Till date, that harrowing incident remains fresh in my memory. I had heard of such tales from afar, but I never imagined it happening to me,” she said.
As her tormentors sensed her growing weakness, they forcibly took her phone and bag, stabbed her on the neck, pushed her out of the vehicle and sped away, leaving her stranded on the roadside, gasping for breath.
She was fortunate enough to have been rescued by a driver, who spotted her from a distance.
Ngbade was swiftly rushed to UNIJOS Teaching Hospital, where she received urgent medical care. Her recovery took a gruelling month, during which she missed numerous lectures, tests, and her industrial training defence, resulting in a heartbreaking drop from first-class to second-class.
According to an online survey by this reporter, female students are more vulnerable to SGBV on campus than males, a reflection of previous studies that establish the disadvantaged position of female students in institutions of learning.
SGBV remains a form of human rights violation and discrimination against women and girls in society that is grossly underreported. SGBV survivors on campus undergo pain and trauma that throws them off balance and causes instability in their academics and health.
Students condemn absence of reporting mechanisms
Many students of UNIJOS condemned the levity with which SGBV cases are handled at the institution.
Damilola Sodiq, a third-year student of Quantity Surveying at the University of Jos, noted that there is no dedicated desk for SGBV on campus but rather a general complaint desk, which negates the effort for proper follow-up with SGBV cases in the institution.
“As long as I can remember, since I have been on the campus, there have not been any programs or activities on SGBV prevention,” he said.
According to Damilola, survivors of SGBV are often reluctant to report as they are sometimes threatened by their oppressors.
He added that the way forward is proper awareness of SGBV among students, prevention strategies, and the creation of a special SGBV desk in the student affairs and security units to handle SGBV cases effectively while providing a safe space to protect survivors.
Jennifer James, a 200-level student of Science Laboratory Technology, noted with displeasure that the system does not make adequate effort to safeguard students from SGBV. She said survivors are exposed to threats, insecurity, and mental trauma that affect their health and academics in the long run. She added that there is no dedicated unit or desk to handle SGBV cases on campus.
“SGBV situation is not getting any better, as nothing much has been done to stir up awareness and sensitisation among students to keep them up to speed with trends in SGBV matters and put a model in place to checkmate such occurrences in the school,” Jennifer noted.
Many students of the university who responded to the survey believe that SGBV is witnessing an upsurge on the campus. Of the respondents, 34 indicated that SGBV had gotten worse, followed by 28 respondents who indicated it was still the same, Ten respondents indicated it was the same as last year and none of the respondents said it was better.
Speaking the same vein, David Chukwuka, a student and member of the Man O’ War at UNIJOS, sheds more light on SGBV on campus. The Man O’ War is an interdisciplinary organisation saddled with the responsibility of handling any kind of student’s case on campus.
Chukwuka noted that there is no special unit in the organization dedicated to SGBV handling; it is just a general complaint system in which the organization functions.
According to Chukwuka, “there are procedures for filing complaints on campus; they start with us, then we forward them to security, and then they are transmitted to the school senate for action. Within the Senate, there is an interdisciplinary committee that handles complaints and metes out appropriate punishment. The female students are more prone to SGBV, based on the complaints received so far.”
He said students felt more comfortable sharing their plight with Man O’ War members and suggested that the school management should clearly spell out what constitutes gender-based violence.
Chukwuka also stated that priority should be given to the thorough handling of GBV cases, and students should be made aware of the punishments attached to such issues.
“Prevention of SGBV starts with addressing the norms that tolerate SGBV. Prevention and elimination of SGBV remain key elements in the quest to create a balanced society where girls, women, and students can achieve their full potential and contribute positively to the growth and development of society,” Chukwuka said.
Lecturers identified as perpetrators
At the UNIJOS and many other Nigerian universities, SGBV is not only perpetrated by unknown assailants. Many female students also have to deal with inappropriate sexual advances from lecturers.
The online survey also revealed that a significant number of students at UNIJOS identified lecturers as the primary perpetrators of gender-based violence. Out of the 74 respondents, 65 or 88 per cent pointed to lecturers as the main culprits, while four respondents attributed SGBV to cultists, and five respondents identified the perpetration to fellow students.
A BBC Africa Eye investigation into sexual harassment by a UNILAG lecturer in 2019 attested to lecturers as key perpetrators of such abuses on university campuses in Nigeria.
Also, recently, several female Law students at the University of Calabar (UNICAL) staged a protest within the school premises against sexual harassment by the Faculty Dean, Cyril Ndifon.
Ndifon was accused of sexual harassment and assault and was suspended by the school authorities over the allegations.
Although he described the allegations as lies and the handiwork of his enemies, Ndifon had been suspended in 2015 for similar reasons after a final-year student accused him of raping her in his office. Ndifon has again been suspended by the UNICAL authorities.
Research carried out on SGBV in universities in Abuja and published in the World Journal of Public Health also established that lecturers remain one the major perpetrators of SGBV on university campuses in Nigeria.
In the quest to change this long-aged narrative on SGBV on our campuses, more is needed from the university management, NGOs, and CBOs in advocacy and sensitisation of students on SGBV, prevention strategies, reporting platforms, creating safe spaces for survivors, setting up SGBV support desks on campuses, strengthening and push for assenting to the Anti-Sexual Harassment in Tertiary Bill 2019.
This story was supported by the Media in Gender Project of the CJID, in partnership with NWTF