Victoria OparaMORE lecturers were accused of sexual harassment by students tertiary institutions in 2023 than any other year in the last five years.
According to a survey by Oga Lecturer, at least 43 lecturers were accused or indicted for sexual harassment between 2018 and 2023.
Based on media reports tracked by Oga Lecturer, at least 15 lecturers were accused in 2023.
They include Cyril Ndifon, former Dean of Law Faculty at the University of Calabar, and Balogun Olaniran, a lecturer at the Tai Solarin University of Education (TASUED), who have been arraigned by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) for sexual harassment.
Following a protest against Ndifon’s behaviour by female students of UNICAL which led to his arrest, other students of the school took to social media to name four other lecturers, alleging that they had also been involved in sexual harassment.
The four lecturers are Frank Enor, Otora Agbor, Elvis Okorn, and Okoi.
In the same year, the Federal College of Forestry, Plateau state, suspended four lecturers, and the University of Lagos (UNILAG) suspended a senior lecturer, Kadiri Akeem Babalola, for sexual harassment.
Two tertiary institutions, Ambrose Ali University in Edo State and Kogi State Polytechnic, also dismissed one lecturer each for sexual harassment and victimisation of female students, while the Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK) sanctioned two lecturers over similar allegations.
The spike in reported cases coincides with the setback facing the passage of a bill seeking to criminalise sexual harassment in Nigerian universities, which was first introduced over eight years ago.
Though the bill was passed by lawmakers in 2023, a new Assembly was inaugurated barely a week after.
Presidential assent was not granted in the short period between the passage and the inauguration, and for the current president to assent to the bill, it has to be re-introduced and passed, like all other bills not assented to before the dissolution of a previous Assembly.
In 2022, at least five lecturers were indicted for sexual harassment. Two of them were dismissed by the University of Abuja, while the Elechi Amadi Polytechnic in Rivers State suspended a lecturer, Tamunotonye Solomon.
Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) probed allegations of sexual harassment against a lecturer Joseph Ayo Opefeyitimi and found him liable, while UNILAG suspended its Principal Assistant Registrar Babatunde Oseni.
There are almost as many cases of sexual harassment in 2021 as in 2023.
Twelve lecturers were dismissed by various schools in 2021, including Adebayo Mosobalaje and two others sacked by OAU, Musa Baba Abubakar and Adebusoye Michael Sunday sacked by Federal Polytechnic Bauchi, Boniface Igbenegbu and Samuel Oladipo, both fired by UNILAG following a documentary by BBC News.
The University of Port Harcourt, Kwara State University, Covenant University and Kaduna State University each dismissed one lecturer for sexual harassment.
The University of Nigeria (UNN) and Federal University Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE) also suspended one lecturer each in 2021, bringing the total number traced by Oga Lecturer to 12.
Imo State University (IMSU), OAU, and Ajuru University of Education suspended five lecturers in 2020, and it was reported that Ambrose Ali University, Edo state, suspended a staff member in 2019 over allegations of sexual harassment.
There were also three reported cases of sexual harassment by lecturers in 2018 involving one lecturer each from OAU, Lagos State University (LASU) and UNILAG.