By Damilola Faustino
Sex is unbearably delicious, sweet and pleasant. The climax is heavenly. God has wired the human body to desire, have and enjoy sex. But there is a caveat, you should only have sex with your legally married partner. Shior…God has said His own…haq…haq…haq…
Our own is whether we are married or not, we are allowed to have sex indiscriminately notwithstanding the age, and if it is consensual or not. This is why a 40-60-year-old man would rape a toddler, this is why a father sleeps with his daughters and this is why lecturers demand sex from female students. Men like this need to go see a shrink!
There is another set of individuals who are worse off-those who camouflage their indiscriminate sexual escapades and inordinate acts by adorning the religious toga.
This is the case of Dr. Boniface Igbeneghu, a now-suspended pastor of Foursquare Church and a senior lecturer at one of Nigeria’s prestigious University, University of Lagos (UNILAG). But his unbridled libido, his sheer disrespect for women, his religious deception, and his disregard for university rules and regulations has landed him in hot water.
Dr Igbeneghu, who has now been suspended by UNILAG, was caught on camera explicitly and uncouthly soliciting for sex from a 17-year-old posing as a student and seeking his help for securing admission into the university.
His downfall was as a result of an investigation carried out by BBC Africa Eye and was tagged Sex for Grades. In it, reporter Kiki Mordi and a team of undercover female reporters used hidden cameras to document how top lecturers at the University of Lagos conduct themselves with female students. Dr Igbeneghu who had become notorious for demanding to sleep with female students in exchange for grades was one of them.
Dr Igbeneghu is not alone in this #SexForGrades scandal. Across all faculties and departments in Nigeria’s higher institutions; lecturers leverage on their privileged position to pray on female students.
Unfortunately for these students, they have only two choices: it is either they grant the lecturer’s wishes or fail to graduate with fellow course mates. Many choose the former while others drop out like Mordi. There is no system or structure for students to report sexual harassment safely and anonymously. So, the act continues unchecked despite the damning revelations by the BBC Africa Eye team.
Remember Professor Richard Akindele of Obafemi Awolowo University who demanded to have sex five times to pass female student? The Professor was dismissed and charged to court. Nigeria’s snail wheel of justice means we are nowhere near a logical conclusion of that case.
Despite this, the lecturers are becoming more daring and are unrelenting in their female student’s harassment.
Lecturers are supposed to have impeccable ethical and moral standards. This appears to have been jettisoned in Nigeria’s high institutions.
Hence, the management of these institutions as a matter of priority must set up an impregnable reporting system so that any female student that is being harassed by a lecturer can report without fear of being victimised.
Perhaps, establishing a sexual harassment office under the Department of Student Affairs will go a long way and also the University management should send all their lecturers for a mental check-up to determine their state of mind and also train them on how to manage female students.
Sexual harassment of female students is imbedded in Nigeria’s educational system and it will take years to be resolved. However, with everyone watching (online and offline) the lecturers who pray on students and take them to cold rooms, it is a matter of time before they will be exposed.
