Female students also need to speak up! They are the ones with full-grown hair of sexual fatigues but then, they are hardly brave and very grave-blind of what the future has for them. Silence over pain, our people say, is the beginning of misfortune. Many office holders in our higher institutions who are culprits of harassing students sexually go scot-free because of the high level of the timidity of the affected students.
It was an ill-fated month of scandal in April for a Nigerian Professor, Richard Akindele, a lecturer in Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), one of the prestigious universities in Nigeria. The school made the headlines with the ‘sex-for-mark’ scandal when a female student of the school, Monica Osagie, leaked the recording of the telephone conversation between her and the Professor. In the audio, the voice of the Professor was clearly heard demanding sex five times for a pass in an exam.
Expectedly, the said lecturer denied the allegation, stating that he deliberately demanded ‘five rounds of sex in one date to discourage Monica, the student from the malpractice’. However, fact-based reports subsequently disclaimed the claims of Professor Akindele. His female students, especially, affirmed that it has been Akindele’s propensity to demand to sleep with many female students for good grades. Akindele was later catapulted out of the school and sacked, but his church members pleaded on his behalf to be given the last chance. Should the randy sex-for-mark Professor be given another chance of harassing another student sexually?
Sexual harassment is ubiquitous, it happens everywhere in the world. There is no doubt about that, unless we want to hide the truth under the garment of lies. Especially in tertiary institutions, female students are commonly harassed and embarrassed sexually and morally. Particularly in Africa, students are vulnerable to sexual extortion. The malfeasance is becoming a general malady in universities, polytechnics, colleges and other higher institutions. Meanwhile, this perilous propensity is massacring the prosperous posterity of African students.
In Uganda, a similitude of what happened in Nigeria practically occurred. Rachel Njeri exposed a randy university administrator, who wanted to sleep with her in his office. According to the report by Africa Renewal (a magazine published by the United Nations), Njeri, a student of Makerere University, Uganda was quoted saying: “I tried to resist his actions but he was stronger than me. He grabbed me and threw me on the cabinet files at the corner.” This happened in April, 2018, the same month Monica revealed the sex-for-mark-lecturer in Nigeria to the world.
Flashback: In April 2016, female students at South Africa’s Rhodes University trooped out massively to express their grievances over unbearable number of rapes on their campus. The students went extra-mile to publish the names of 11 male students who had allegedly been involved in sexual violence but have not been tried in any way. Strangely enough, the Rhodes University management denied the allegations.
According to the Africa Renewal, “one in five women and one in 16 men are sexually assaulted while in college. For graduate students, 38 per cent of females and nearly one in four males reported sexual harassment from faculty or staff. Roughly half of all such instances included multiple victims of the same faculty member. About 40 per cent of female faculty members and 30 per cent of female non-faculty staff members experience sexual harassment. Colleges and universities have tried to confront the problem, but there is so much more to do. These gaps lead to costly consequences. Sexual harassment and assault drive talented faculty, staff and students away from colleges and universities.”
Breaking the Silence on Sexual Abuse
Microscopically in Africa, female students battle with the venom of the sex-for-mark-rattled-snake. They suffer the pangs of sexual abuse in their various institutions. Silently, the burning fire of the so-called harassments is killing them academically and mentally; yet, little or no effort is made to maim the tense situation of sexual extortion and exploitation. A problem without a technical solution is not a problem; it is rather a curse.
When Monica Osagie broke the silence of how the lecturer demanded to sleep with her for marks, her bold step fuelled much actions and reactions from Nigerians. The said lecturer was eventually sacked; he was dealt with despite all his defensive plots. Thereafter, several cases of sex-for-mark scandals filled the airwaves of the social media. Many female students could not bear the I-will-fail-you-if-you-don’t-sleep-with-me threat on the side of some shameless dons in our tertiary institutions.
Following Monica’s ‘shout out’ in May, 2018, a student of the University of Lagos, Nigeria Joy Nwanna, discreetly took the semi-nude picture of a lecturer who intended to forcefully sleep with her and published it. According to Premium Times, the lecturer is a Professor of English and former Vice Chancellor of Tai Solarin University of Education. As if that was not enough, another sex-for-mark scandal followed suit. This time, it was in Lagos State University. In June 2018, a lady who did not disclose her identity partnered with an NGO to expose the predatory lecturer, Sunkanmi Odubunmi in the Economics Department of the school.
Student unionists and activists have to put in more efforts to ensure sexual harassment is curbed; else, going to school would be tantamount to going to the forest of the daredevils, especially for female students in Africa. Sardonic enough, most of the females are always afraid to advocate for what troubles their minds and mindsets. This is also consequential to the academic setback for some of them. Sexual harassment is no more news to female students across higher institutions in Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa and many other countries in the African continent. Does that really mean the problem can no more have a lasting solution?
The Way Forward
African Students’ Union bodies need to show more practical and critical concerns about the disgusting acts and arts of forced sexual inducement. The campaign to stop the nausea on campuses should be the chorus in every student’s mouth across Africa. Advocacy is not enough, agitation is most needed. Peaceful protest is not enough; propelling pendulum of power needs to be posed to ensure the orderliness of the disorderliness.
A retired Nigerian Professor at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Remi Sonaiya, has said that speaking up is important, supporting and standing by victims all over is more important and taking ground-breaking steps is most especially important in higher schools.
“Unfortunately, many universities don’t have strong deterrence or punishment for abusers. Students should be encouraged to speak out when such things happened,” he said. “The good thing about such cases becoming public is that it will force the institutions to address them more seriously, if only to protect names. Sadly, our universities have not dealt seriously with the issue of sexual harassment,” he added.
Female students also need to speak up! They are the ones with full-grown hair of sexual fatigues but then, they are hardly brave and very grave-blind of what the future has for them. Silence over pain, our people say, is the beginning of misfortune. Many office holders in our higher institutions who are culprits of harassing students sexually go scot-free because of the high level of the timidity of the affected students.
Ibrahim Adeyemi is the African Regional Correspondent for the Commonwealth Students' Association and a student journalist from Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto.