A sad saga ended on a redemptive note on June 20, 2018, with the release of a report on a sexual scandal by the authorities of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife. In the matter of sexual harassment by a professor against a graduate student, the Obafemi Awolowo University acted courageously in line with the best traditions across the world. We commend the management of the University for their courage and conviction.
The challenge before Obafemi Awolowo University and the higher education system in Nigeria is that of instituting policies and procedures to ensure that such occurrences no longer happen or take place very sparingly.
The scandal hit the public space in April this year as an audio playback on the number one messaging platform in the country, WhatsApp. The conversation revealed a bargaining session with a lecturer asking a student to submit to five sessions of intercourse in exchange for better grades in a course the student allegedly failed. The student, in turn, demanded to know if she would get the highest possible grades for that number of sessions. The lecturer disagreed,and she backed out.
The clip spread quickly round Nigeria’s social media population, put by researchers at over 19 million. Citizens reacted with outrage. There were many questions. Where is the location of this misconduct? How could this possibly be happening? When did the rot in the university system get this putrid?
The student entrapped the lecturer in an entrapment scheme he set up for his student. The local matter assumed national and global dimensions due to the influence of the new environment of mobile and social media and their broad reach.
University Management at Obafemi Awolowo University took the appropriate step by setting up a panel to investigate the matter. That panel submitted its final report on June 14,and the University Senate acted decisively on the findings of the committee five days later. The report makes sad yet interesting reading.
First, it submitted that Professor Richard Akindele had an “inappropriate relationship” with his student, Miss Monica Osagie. It established this fact “through their conversation in the audio recording; his reply to the query; the oral evidence; and the printed WhatsApp conversations tendered before the committee.”
The lecturer “compromised his position as a teacher and examiner” as his conversations with the student were about examination scores “and inducement of favour for the alteration of examination scores.” Even as the student scored 45 percent in the paper, the lecturer made it seem she scored only 33 percent and offered to change that to a pass mark in consideration for sexual favours. The panel dismissed as unsupported by any evidence the professor’s claim that the student knew she passed with a score of 45 but sought an A grade as the reason for his sexual harassment.
The action of the professor, the panel submitted, is a “scandalous behaviour that has brought ridicule to the name of the University and has tarnished the reputation of the University, as it portrays the University as an institution where its teachers and examiners trade marks for sexual favours.”
Teachers play a significant role in the lives of students. They have legal and moral authority over the wards in their care. They also stand as exemplars for students in higher institutions concerning the conduct and practices that should guide their behaviour on graduation.
The Ife university situation touched a raw nerve in the country because of widespread allegations that such conduct is rampant in higher institutions with colleagues and authorities covering up. In the wake of the social media outing, many reports surfaced of similar incidents either with the disgraced professor or concerning others at OAU and other institutions.
It is commendable that Obafemi Awolowo University has committed to “further steps to ensure the total elimination of Sexual Harassment (SH) in the OAU Community”.
It said it would create more awareness of what constitutes sexual harassment, even as these are in its Sexual Harassment Policy approved in 2013, and emplace an implementation framework for rapid redress of such incidents. It will also add Zero Tolerance to Sexual Harassment among its core values.
Sexual harassment is usually unwelcome sexual advances, request for sexual favours and or solicitation in verbal, graphics, or physical forms as a condition for action that should not ordinarily attract such. It creates a hostile environment for learners.
Educational institutions around the world battle with sexual harassment on a regular basis. The presence of a large body of young people of both genders traditionally excites and triggers hormonal responses. Best practice across the world has been to manage it through spelt out codes of conduct and, fundamentally, decisive action to curb malpractice. Responses range from procedures by specificinstitutions to those of a group such as the American Association of University Professors. The Teachers Service Commission of Kenya Code of Conduct prohibits outright any sexual relations between students and teachers regardless of consent
Codes should be clear on standards of ethical conduct in this area including definitions of sexual harassment in its many forms, conflicts of interest, reporting and remediation procedures. End this scourge, please.
