Civil society activists are worried about the high prevalence of sex for grades in tertiary institutions. A group is building a multiple stakeholders platform and a strategic national advocacy campaign to address the issues.
However, survey has showed that 51.7% of female undergraduates had suffered one form of sexual violence or another in school.
This has prompted the re-introduction of a bill on sexual harassment sponsored by the Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege and 106 senators.
The 8th Senate under the leadership of Bukola Saraki had in 2016, passed the “Sexual Harassment in Tertiary Education Institution Prohibition Bill” which was also sponsored by Mr Omo-Agege and 57 other senators.
The bill was, however, rejected by the House of Representatives when it was sent for concurrence.
Lawmakers at the lower chamber argued that the bill did not take care of other spheres of the society like work place, religious institutions among others – an argument which was adopted by many members of the House.
The bill was revived in response to last week’s report by the BBC that exposed a University of Lagos (UNILAG) lecturer, Boniface Igbeneghu, of demanding sex from an undercover female reporter posing as a student.
According to the bill co-sponsored by 106 Senators, Any person who commits any of the offences is guilty and on conviction be sentenced to an imprisonment term of up to 14 years but not less than 5 years,without an option of a fine.
