Over 51 percent of female undergraduates have suffered one form of sexual violence or another in school, findings of a survey conducted by a consortium of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) led by Youth Alive Foundation (YAF) has shown.
The national survey, carried out in 19 tertiary institutions across six states, sampled over 3000 students.
Speaking at a press conference in Abuja, in the wake of the BBC video on Sex for Grade, Executive Director of the YAF, Dr. Udy Okon, said the survey provided evidence of the prevalent rate of sexual harassment in higher institutions in Nigeria with 51.7 respondents saying they have been sexually abused.
She said the survey was part of the Youth Participation Against Corruption (Y-PAC), a DFID funded project aimed at strengthening integrity in tertiary institutions, which identified sex for grades as the most prevalent corrupt practice in tertiary institutions.
“We are concerned about Nigeria’s inability to draw on international policy frameworks in addressing sexual harassment of female students in tertiary institutions,” Dr. Okon said.
She said the foundation was building a multiple stakeholders platform and a strategic national advocacy campaign in support of the immediate passage of the “Bill to Prevent, Prohibit and Redress Sexual Harassment in Tertiary Educational Institutions,” which was earlier passed by the senate in 2016 but failed to receive concurrence from the House.
The Bill was represented by the senate on 9th October 2019.
The Deputy Senate President, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, who was represented by his Special Assistant on Legislative and Plenary Matters, Patrick Okuneh, said he sponsored the new bill with 106 senators as co-sponsors to show that senate was ready to act against perpetrators of sexual harassment in tertiary institutions.
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