- Uniabuja’s firing of professor for alleged sexual harassment commendable
It is heart-warming that Nigerian universities have begun to take action against the epidemic of sexual harassment ravaging their institutions.
One of the latest is the University of Abuja (Uniabuja), which has dismissed several lecturers for a variety of offences.
Perhaps the most significant of these firings was that of Professor Adeniji Adedayo Abiodun of the university’s Department of Animal Science.
A former Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture, Abiodun was found guilty of seeking to have an inappropriate relationship with a female student, falsification of academic records, and the aiding and abetting of examination malpractices.
He had allegedly threatened a female student with failure in a course he taught her unless she gave in to his sexual advances.
The student had reported the matter to the police in July, and they arranged a sting operation for the professor. He was caught in a hotel in Abuja and the case was reported to the university authorities.
Abiodun was formally queried by the university and an eight-person disciplinary committee investigated the matter. At its 85th Regular Meeting, the University Council confirmed the committee’s recommendation that his appointment be terminated.
Coming so soon after the infamous Sex for Grades documentary broadcast by the Africa Eye unit of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Uniabuja’s decisive action demonstrates an increasing determination to come to grips with a vice that has come to infest the nation’s tertiary institutions and undermine their collective reputation.
The university did not allow itself to be diverted by irrelevant issues such as the seniority of the individual involved, the perceived need to “protect” the image of the university or punish the ostensible presumption of a student who dared to report a professor for alleged misconduct.
It did not attempt to suppress the results of the police investigation, and moved swiftly to activate standard protocols when the case came to its notice.
All parties were allowed a fair hearing, and the recommendations of the panel were duly ratified by the appropriate university body.
This should be the standard template for dealing with all cases of sexual harassment in Nigeria’s tertiary and other institutions: a durable reporting system, the conduct of comprehensive investigations, the acquisition of conclusive proof, and an unobstructed disciplinary process.
Given the commendable actions of Uniabuja so far, it is important that matters be brought to a logical conclusion by instituting legal proceedings against Professor Abiodun.
It is not enough to merely terminate his appointment with the university; the allegations against him transcend simple violations of university regulations.
Sexual assault, forgery and fraud are all punishable under the country’s laws, and it is critically important to the anti-sexual harassment struggle that the professor has his day in court.
When such cases are diligently prosecuted, the impunity which often characterises the actions of lecherous lecturers will begin to disappear.
Even the most predatory professor will realise that the price to be paid for sexual misconduct may simply be too high to be worth the risk. A laudable precedent was set with the two-year jail sentence given to Professor Richard Akindele of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, for similar offences in December 2018.
Universities should facilitate this process by making sexual harassment and similar offences easier to report and investigate.
Victims must be guaranteed anonymity; those they accuse must receive a fair hearing. No part of the process should be skewed in favour of either party. Where culpability is established, nothing should stop cases from going forward. And the terminal point of all cases should be the nation’s judicial system.
When the tide of sexual harassment is stemmed, Nigeria’s schools can regain the moral credibility that is the basis of the certificates and degrees that they issue.
