Senate reintroduces Bill against Sexual Harassment



Against the backdrop of new wave of rampant cases of sexual harassment from randy male lecturers in some Universities against female students, the Senate Wednesday , reintroduced the bill against the immoral act.

The Senate had during the 8th National Assembly in 2016 debated and passed a bill to that effect but couldn’t secure similar feat from the 8th House of Representatives which crippled the bill from passage by the National Assembly, let alone , transmitting it  to the President for assent .

The bill titled, “Sexual Harassment in Tertiary Education Institution Bill 2016” as passed by the 8th Senate then,  stipulated  five-year jail term or N5m fine for any lecturer  convicted for the offence.

The bill, which was sponsored by Ovie Omo-Agege (then of Labour Party but now APC Delta Central) , also proposed a fine of N5 million in the alternative.

It also made provisions for lecturers and educators who may be falsely accused by their students to initiate processes by which students could be punished for false accusation.

Omo-Agege who is now the Deputy Senate President had in his lead debate on the bill then,  said the menace of sexual harassment had been there for a long time unchecked which must be frontally tackled by required punitive measures as provided for in the bill.

Apparently worried by the increasing spate of the immoral act in the Tertiary Instititution , the 9th Senate through Omo – Agege , has reintroduced the bill and passed it for first reading as listed on its Order Paper of Wednesday , 9th October, 2019.

The latest of such immoral act was the one recently reported from the University of Lagos which has led to suspension of two senior lecturers suspected to be involved .



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