The Director-General, National Centre for Women Development (NCWD), Mary Ekpere-Eta has expressed happiness over the passage of the Bill to criminalize sexual harassment of female students in tertiary institutions in Nigeria by the Senate.
Ekpere-Eta who spoke in response to Tuesday passage of the bill said it stands as a poignant moment in the push for women empowerment.
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She said her agency fully supported the bill, which will act as a legal framework for protecting female students from unprofessional lecturers who practice and promote the dehumanizing culture of sex-for-grades.
She said, “We commend the Senate and the sponsor of the Bill, the Deputy President of the Senate, Sen Ovie Omo-Agege for spearheading this pivotal bill. We enjoin the House of Representatives to pass the bill on time, in order for President Muhammadu Buhari to sign it into law in the nearest future.”
Ekpere-Eta also expressed concerns over sexual and other violence against women and girls.
“We still have places in our country where girls are overlooked when poor families are compelled to pick the children who will be sponsored in school. We have stories of girls dropping out of school because they or other girls they know were raped on footpaths that lead to their schools. We also have girls who are married off at a young age to save money in their homes. It is girls who are sent out to hawk wares to augment their family’s income, despite the fact that they are exposed to danger,” she said.
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