Although the University of Lagos has since dismissed the lecturers, Boniface Igbeneghu and Samuel Oladipo implicated in the sex-for-grades scandal by the BBC Eye investigation, but a cross-section of Nigerians say more needs to be done to check the menace.
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A Businessday Whatsapp survey finds that more adoption of technology, establishing efficient complaints board, enacting sexual harassment bill, encouraging more enrolment and separating the functions of lecturers who teach from those who administer examinations will help to curb the growing trend of sexual harassment of students in Nigerian higher institutions.
Ola Andrew, a media professional, says there must first be a law in our institutions to check the ugly trend, saying, “Having done that, there is a need for a system where there’s no direct contact between lecturers and students, a situation where exams are written, marked and graded electronically. In this way, changes can be tracked and reviewed for whatever reason.”
Andrew also calls an independent body outside the school system (or government-backed body such as Economic and Financial Crimes Commission) could be set up and through this body, victims can report cases and have them followed up based on the law of the land and of the institution.
Some of the students who spoke with Businessday prefer different lecturers grade their examination, different from lecturers who conduct lectures, while others call for an automated system to mark their grades.
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“The grading system for students should be 100 percent automated, especially in an era such as we have now, in that the examinations should be set in an objective format where the grading will require very low human input. This will ensure transparency,” Collins Omeruo, a student at the University of Nigeria Nsukka, says.
Omeruo also calls for an active complaints committee to handle complaints from students and staff alike, noting, “I think if their employers (the government, especially) will set up and make effective and ethics committee to handle complaints from students and staff alike, and place a very serious penalty for such that’s a huge step.”
“When exams are conducted electronically no student would visit the lecturer to see how he or she did before the score sheet is sent to the School Senate for approval,” notes Shedrack Peter Ebebe, a registrar’s representative at Capital Trust Broker Limited.
Many Nigerians have expressed outrage over the scandal, and while many call for prosecution of lecturers involved, some offer practical suggestions.
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Abubakar Suleiman, on his social media post, says, “Let’s separate the evaluation process so those who teach don’t grade (or degrade) our children.”
Some respondents to Businessday’s questions call for improved security on university campuses. “In my opinion, action should be taken in order to ensure the protection of students no matter their age or class, and in a case in which a student’s security is violated, measures must be taken (such as increased protection and security by installing cameras all over the school area or by disciplining the person guilty of the deed),” says Glory Frank Onyehara, a student at Virgen de la Vega, Spain.
