What would you do if your lecturer makes sexual advances at you?

Not everyone is bright academically, so some students put in extra effort to have better grades. Even at this, some of the students still get sexual advances, whether wanted or unwanted, from their lecturers for reasons best known to the lecturer. The question is: what would you do if your lecturer makes sexual proposals at you?’’

The law in Nigerian universities concerning intimate relationship between a lecturer and their student is quite obvious. It is illegal to seek sexual favours in exchange for grades. It is also sexual harassment for a lecturer to intimidate a student into having sexual relations with them.

This goes both ways and applies to female lecturers who also seek sexual favours from male students in exchange for good or better grades. Although it is rare in the case of a male student being harassed, it is not entirely nonexistent. So, what would be your reaction or response to a sexual proposal from your lecturer? LifeXtra takes a look.

Tony Ezenna, who resides in Owerri, told LifeXtra that it would not be wise to have any kind of intimate relationship with one’s lecturer. “In my opinion, I will not agree to date my female lecturer. When I was in school, I didn’t have any female lecturer that wanted me to sleep with her for better grades. I didn’t hear of anything like that throughout school, but I would have said no if something like that ever happened,” he said.

Ifeoma Mokeme, a Lagos resident, said it’s a normal thing for lecturers to proposition their students. “That is not a new thing at all. In fact, this is happening to me right now. I am in school but I will not mention the school. I failed two courses in 100 Level; I did it and failed it again in 200 Level, so I went to see the lecturer to ask what happened. This man told me to my face that I will not pass that course until I agree to be intimate with him. I tried to resist but it did not work, I had to give in. I didn’t want to have an extra year. That is what these lecturers do,” she said.

Bauchi-based Halima Aliyu told LifeXtra that her religion does not permit her to do things like that and that even if it did, she would not agree to have intimate relations with her lecturer. “My religion is against that, I can’t do it. Apart from that, it is a dirty and shameful thing to do. Although I have heard of these things happening, it has never happened to me. I am still in school anyways but so far, nothing like that has been asked of me.”

Blessing Awosusi, who just graduated from a tertiary institution in Edo state, told LifeXtra that she would not agree to such proposition. “I just graduated and the truth is I know several people that had to have intimate relationships with their lecturers. Some tried to fight it but the school did nothing about it and they ended up having about 2 extra years. The system is corrupt; no one tried to help these girls back then. Although some girls offered their body for better grades, some didn’t and the few that protested this proposition paid for it dearly. If it had happened to me, I don’t think I would have refused because who wants to fail? I am glad I scaled through,” she said.

Kingsley James, who resides in Lagos, told LifeXtra that he had an encounter with a female lecturer who wanted to be intimate with him back in school. “I had this female lecturer who wanted a relationship with me when I was in school. She said that she likes me and would want us to be together and she also made it clear that nothing would happen if I refused her proposal. And to be utmost surprise, I refused and she didn’t hold it against me. I was surprised because I knew of a female colleague who was being sexually intimidated by her male lecturer. He made life really hard for her when she refused. He badmouthed her to other lecturers and those other lecturers gave her a hard time. She graduated with our set but her grades were not what they ought to be.”