Shun sex-for-marks, NSUK VC warns lecturers

Vice chancellor of Nasarawa State University Keffi (NSUK), Professor Suleiman Bala Mohammed has vowed to dismiss any lecturer caught harassing female students on campus.

The VC said this while delivering a goodwill message at a seminar organised by the Centre for Gender Studies of the university in Keffi.

Represented by deputy vice chancellor (academics) of the institution, Professor Akinwumi Olayemi,  Mohammed said the laws of the university were quite clear on the issue of sexual harassment.

“The sanction for any staff found culpable of the offence is instant dismissal from the institution and the management would make sure the law is enforced to serve as deterrent to others,” Mohammed said.

The VC commended the centre for organising the seminar and promised to support in championing the cause of fighting Gender Based Violence (GBV) in the country.

In her welcome address, Hajiya Hauwa’u Mainoma, the Director of the Centre, called on the federal government and other stakeholders to urgently take steps towards addressing gender-based violence in the country.

She explained that the seminar was first of its kind by the centre since its inception in 2017.

She said  the increasing rate of sexual and other forms of violence in institutions informed the centre to put together the event aimed at creating awareness on the menace.

Mainoma called for stiffer punishment for perpetrators of gender-based violence, adding that it will create equal opportunity for all to put their God-giving potential to good use.

In a presentation, Professor Charity Angya, former vice chancellor, Benue State University, Makurdi, said gender-based violence goes beyond mere physical attacks on someone based on the person’s gender.

Angya observed that both gender suffer violence in one point or the other in Nigeria, but that more women are molested than men.

She explained that gender-based violence exists more in work places and academic environment due to high discrimination in careers and field of studies.

“Education is a right and government must abolish any custom or tradition militating against girl-child education in the country.

“Such move will naturally address the violence that women go through in the society,” she said

The former VC advised that men should massively take on careers and courses hitherto assumed to be exclusively reserved for women and vice-versa, as a panacea to ending gender-based violence in Nigeria.

She stressed that gender-based violence is a menace that has bedevilled the society to the extent that it affects the survival of education in Nigeria, adding that the guest speakers were carefully selected based on their contributions and expertise.

She then expressed gratitude to the university management especially the VC for providing a conducive atmosphere for the sustenance of academic activities. She said measuring the academic performance of any higher institution of learning is the quality of intellectuals in it,

The seminar has as its theme: ‘Gender Based Violence and the Survival of Education in Nigeria’.

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