The Senate has passed for concurrence a bill prescribing up to 14 years imprisonment for educators found guilty of sexually harassing students in tertiary institutions across the country.
The bill, titled “Sexual Harassment of Students in Tertiary Educational Institutions (Prohibition and Prevention) Bill, 2025,” was transmitted from the House of Representatives and sponsored by the Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele (APC, Ekiti Central).
The bill seeks to provide a strong legal framework to prevent sexual misconduct in academic environments and ensure accountability among educators.
Bamidele explained that the legislation aims to “protect students from all forms of sexual misconduct and abuse within academic environments while providing clear legal frameworks for enforcement and punishment of offenders.”
According to him, “This bill will help safeguard the integrity of our educational system and preserve the trust that must exist between teachers and their students.”
The proposed law spells out severe penalties for offenders. Clause 4 of the bill stipulates that any educator who commits an act of sexual harassment as defined in subsections (1), (2) and (3) shall be liable to imprisonment for a term not less than five years and not exceeding fourteen years, without the option of a fine.
“Offences under subsections (4), (5) and (6) attract imprisonment of between two and five years, also without an option of a fine.
“Among the acts defined as sexual harassment are: Having sexual intercourse with a student or demanding sex from a student or a prospective student.
“Making sexual advances, whistling, winking or making sexually flattering remarks about a student’s physique.
“Sending or displaying naked or sexually explicit pictures, text messages or videos to a student.
“Touching, hugging, or pinching a student’s breasts, hips, or other sensual parts of the body.”
The bill also provides that consent cannot be used as a defence, as long as the sexual act occurred within the educator-student relationship. The only exception is when the educator and student are legally married.
It further empowers students to initiate civil action for breach of fiduciary duty.
“A student who is sexually harassed by an educator has the right to sue the educator for damages in addition to any criminal prosecution,” the bill reads.
For complaints, the legislation allows petitions to be filed by the affected student, the student’s guardian, lawyer, or anyone with interest in the student’s welfare. Such petitions are to be addressed to the Nigeria Police Force or the Office of the Attorney-General, with copies submitted to the administrative head of the institution and its Sexual Harassment Prohibition Committee.
However, once criminal proceedings commence under the Act, institutions are prohibited from conducting parallel disciplinary actions on the same matter until the court concludes.
During consideration of the bill, several lawmakers hailed it as a landmark step toward curbing sexual misconduct in schools.
Senator Adams Oshiomhole (APC, Edo North) argued that the scope should not be limited to educational institutions.
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“There is no need to restrict sexual harassment issues to students,” he said. “We should craft this law in a way that gives it universal application to workplaces and other sectors as well.”
In response, the Deputy Senate President, Barau Jibrin (APC, Kano North), clarified that the Senate could not expand the scope since it was a concurrent bill from the House of Representatives.
“We cannot make substantive changes at this stage,” Barau said.
“Moreover, there are already existing laws that address harassment in workplaces and other environments.”
Lola Ashiru, the Deputy Senate Leader, who acted on behalf of Bamidele, thanked his colleagues for their support, describing the passage as “a major victory for the protection of young Nigerians in learning environments.”
He added, “This law will not only punish offenders but will serve as a deterrent to those who have made harassment a culture within our schools.”
With the Senate’s approval, the bill now awaits transmission to the President for assent, setting the stage for a new legal regime to curb sexual harassment and restore sanity to Nigeria’s educational institutions.
