In the last four years, at least 28 lecturers at the Nigeria’s colleges and universities have been charged with and fired for sexual misconduct.
Sexual harassment has been a problem in Nigerian colleges and universities for a long time. A survey done by the World Bank Group’s Women in 2018 found that 70% of female graduates from tertiary institutions in Nigeria had been sexually harassed in school, mostly by classmates and teachers.
According to The PUNCH, despite the Senate passing a bill in 2021 requiring randy teachers to serve 21 years in jail, it is believed that the majority of lecturers indicted and found guilty after the bill was approved were merely fired.
Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, topped the list of universities with the most lecturers indicted for sexual misconduct, according to reports collated by PUNCH.
After what seemed like a protracted procedure, the OAU stated in April 2018 that Professor of Accounting Richard Oladele had been suspended without pay for possible sexual harassment.
Three instructors from the English Language, International Relations, and Accounting Departments were also fired by the institution in 2021 for sexually harassing students.
A lecturer at the distance learning center named Monday Omo-Etan was suspended by the university in February 2020 as a result of sexually assaulting a female student who was 19 years old.
A lecturer in the Department of Archaeology and Tourism, Dr. Chigozie Odum, was suspended in February 2021 by the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, due to charges of sexual misconduct.
A lecturer in the Department of Media and Theatre Art at the Federal University of Oye-Ekiti was similarly fired for sexual misconduct in June 2021.
The administration of the University of Lagos announced the expulsion of two lecturers for comparable offenses in the same month.
The firing of a lecturer from the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature for sexual misconduct was revealed by the University of Port Harcourt in August of that same year.
Two lecturers from the departments of nutrition/dietetics and general studies were fired in October 2021 as a result of sexual misconduct, according to a separate announcement made by the Federal Polytechnic, Bauchi.
Ignatius Ajuru University of Education’s Department of Sociology lecturer was fired for having an unmarried female student.
Kwara State University, Malete, reported in December 2021 that a lecturer had been fired for intimidating a student in the Department of Pure and Applied Sciences.
The Elechi Amadi Polytechnic in Rivers State declared in January 2022 that an instructor had been fired for harassing a female student.
OAU reopened an investigation into claims of sexual harassment against a lecturer in the Department of Linguistics and African Studies in April 2022. Two professors at the institution have so far been impacted.
The expulsion of two academics for sexual misconduct was announced by Prof. Abdul-Raheed Na’allah, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Abuja, in June 2022. They are both academics.
