By Kemi Yesufu
For persons with moral conscience and gender activists, justice was served when a lecturer at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Richard Akindele was given a two-year jail term for sexual harassment.
In 2018, a Federal High Court in Osogbo, Osun State sentenced Akindele to prison after he pleaded guilty to four counts filed against him by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission. The Commission had investigated sexual harassment allegations levelled against the professor by a female student, Monica Osagie.
The ICPC has powers to investigate and prosecute offenders who corruptly use their offices to demand, obtain or receive any property or benefit from another person (Section 8 ICPC Act) or those who use their offices to gratify to confer a corrupt or unfair advantage upon themselves or another person (section 19 ICPC Act). The ICPC Act recognises the demand for sexual gratification as an offence for which the Commission may prosecute an offender. This is because sexual favours fall under “benefits” such that when a person in a position of power or authority uses this power to demand sexual favours corruptly, it is an abuse of power punishable under the Act.
The implantation of relevant sections of the ICPC Act in the arrest and prosecution of Mr. Akindele shows that laws can be effectively used to deal with and ultimately deter lecherous lecturers from sexually harassing students.
But how well-informed is the media about relevant laws or the lack of these legislations and policies for the protection of female students from sexual harassment and sexual assault? This is the question, Owerri-based Feminist NGO, Alliances For Africa (AFA) tried to answer by organising a two-day training for senior journalists on the legal framework to address sexual harassment in educational institutions in Nigeria.
AFA’s Director for Programmes, Blessing Duru explained in her welcome address to participants, that the meeting held in Abuja between 15-18th August was in response to the requests by journalists who attended the organisation’s consultative meeting in July, to be further enlightened on laws and policies protecting female students from sexual harassment. Duru stressed the need for the government and the media to treat sexual harassment as the epidemic it has become. She disclosed that between the time of AFA’s last meeting with journalists and her welcome address, the number of complaints recorded from engagements on sexual harassment in 12 institutions by AFA was shocking. She said more students will speak about their experiences if they are adequately protected and their complaints are well investigated with guilty persons fully prosecuted.
Duru called on the media to continuously enlighten the public on what constitutes sexual harassment, how to prevent it and how to seek legal redress when an individual is sexually harassed or assaulted. She noted that certain socio-cultural practices across many Nigerian communities allow for the crossing of boundaries in ways that are not acceptable in other parts of the world. Nevertheless, she called on the media to lead the push for change and the jettisoning of these offensive practices.
Lead facilitator for the training Barr. Mojirayo Ogunlana started with educating participants on relevant state, national, regional and international human rights frameworks. Among the international laws and protocols listed by the facilitator are the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, better known as the Maputo Protocol, and the Convention of the Rights of the Child. While CEDAW and the Maputo Protocol are yet to be domesticated in Nigeria, the Convention of the Rights of the Child has been domesticated by Nigeria at the national level as the Child’s Rights Act (CRA), with 34 out of 36 states of the federation adopting different versions of the act. Also, the implementation level of the CRA has recorded varying degrees of success at the sub-national level.
National laws which protect the rights of citizens in Nigeria are contained in The 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (As amended) along with other subsidiary legislations, the Criminal Code which governs southern Nigeria, and the Penal Code which governs northern Nigeria. There are also relevant laws for the protection of citizens such as the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act (VAPP) which mirrors the Maputo Protocol.
Ogunlana, a specialist in digital and gender rights also tutored journalists on Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) as a human rights issue. She reminded participants of the basic definition of sexual harassment to mean any unwelcome sexual advances, request for sexual favours or any visual, verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature. She decried the fact it is only Lagos State which has existing legislation criminalizing sexual harassment under its Criminal Law 2015 with a three-year jail term for any person found guilty of the crime.
Speaking on sexual harassment in schools. Ogunlana described it as unwanted conduct of a sexual nature that can occur online and offline and both inside and outside of school, which makes the school environment unconducive for learning. Students who have experienced sexual harassment often speak of how it undermines their sense of personal dignity and safety, disrupts their education, and interferes with their ability to reach their full potential in life.
According to a 2018 World Bank survey, 70% of female graduates from Nigerian tertiary institutions have been sexually harassed in school by their fellow students and lecturers. CJID, a non-governmental organization also carried out a study and found that 34.2% of the 160 students surveyed said that sexual violence was the most prevalent form of gender-based violence.
Sexual harassment is often seen as experiences female students have to endure with little or no complaints to avoid being targeted or stigmatized. Despite being a deeply religious and conservative society, female students across Nigeria have to put up with a wide range of inappropriate behaviour, from ogling, touching and commenting about body parts, to sexual proposition, coercion, assault and rape. In some cases, female students say they have experienced different forms of sexual harassment at different times during their stay in school both from lecturers and students.
Sexual harassment is a form of sexual violence and sexual violence refers to an act which would be considered a sexual offence under the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act.
Group exercises at the training showed that journalists came to the understanding that sexual harassment and SGBV are crimes against women and impinge on their rights. There was a consensus that the media must improve on the reportage and presentation of sexual harassment as well as SGBV stories. This is while stories of sexual harassment must be followed up from the beginning to the conclusion of these stories. The media was also counselled by Ogunlana to avoid sensationalism when reporting sexual harassment and SGBV stories. She noted that the media has the power to inspire a change in societal understanding and attitudes towards sexual harassment. According to her, media sensationalism may draw attention but can also distort the reality of the cases, whereas factual reporting helps build a more informed and empathetic public.
More on the challenges of reporting sexual harassment and SGBV, participants agreed that journalists often face threats, they lack insurance or other forms of protection and when a media house gets sued over stories the reporter becomes a witness in court for long-drawn cases. Sometimes reporters are used as scapegoats by the media houses they work for. Journalists also have to deal with unwilling survivors, unprofessional and corrupt security personnel handling cases as well as institutional cover-ups.
Another facilitator at the programme, the legal adviser to the Nigerian National Committee of the International Press Institute (IPI Nigeria), Tobi Soniyi, urged participants to be cautious of the Cybercrime Act which has been weaponised by the police, government, and individuals against journalists in the course of investigations and when they publish certain news on social media
Some of the solutions proffered by participants on the challenges faced by journalists include legal protection for media practitioners, physical protection for journalists (e.g. from security personnel) and journalists improving their understanding of relevant laws governing journalism and the areas of reportage. Similarly, participants agreed that sexual harassment or SGBV stories must be based on facts and that journalists should strictly adhere to the ethics of their profession.
Beyond the 2-day training organised by AFA during which the participating journalists recommitted themselves to combating sexual harassment through humane and professional reportage, parents, stakeholders in the education sector, gender activists and students themselves should embrace the laws and policies to protect young people, most especially girls who are in school to receive an education and not to be inhumanly turned into sex slaves in the process.
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