Presidency Establish a Students Complaint Unit in response to sexual harassment in schools

In order to provide students experiencing sexual harassment in higher education with a direct channel to file complaints, the Presidency announced that it will shortly create what it called the “Students Complaint Unit.”

When it was revealed, it called attention to the alarming prevalence of sexual harassment problems in schools nationwide, particularly in higher education, and urged individuals who were experiencing these problems to report them directly to the unit.

The revelation followed President Bola Ahmed Tinubu receiving pens collected from students at all of the nation’s postsecondary educational institutions in order to expedite the bill known as the Sexual Harassment Prevention, Prohibition, and Redressal in Tertiary Institutions from being signed into law.

Remember that this year the House of Representatives and the Senate successfully passed the bill that had previously faced setbacks at the hands of the previous National Assembly?

While accepting the pens from student representatives in Abuja on Friday, Sunday Asefon, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Student Engagements, announced that his office would soon be launching the students’ complaint unit.

The presentation marked the end of a 16-day campaign dubbed the “Donate a pen to Mr. President Campaign,” which was organised by students in Nigeria in collaboration with Gender Mobile Initiative, a non-governmental organisation dedicated to supporting government initiatives to combat gender-based and sexual violence, especially in educational settings.

“I also want to use this medium to announce to you that my office will be unveiling the Student Complaint Unit soon,” he said, expressing regret that some female students who had experienced sexual harassment were afraid to report it to the authorities.

“A webpage will exist. The focus of the unit is student complaints. It is not necessary for either of us to know each other. All you have to do is report using the website we will provide if you have any concerns about sexual harassment or sex for marks from instructors or oppressors, and we will handle it from there.”

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu assured the students that efforts were being made to pass the bill on gender violence and that he would not only sign it but also keep addressing their concerns.

As far as I’m aware, the reason the President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is considering this bill is because of his love and enthusiasm for Nigerian students.

He is a passionate education enthusiast, and as a result, he signed the Students’ Loan Bill as one of his first official acts as president. Since then, he has been making every effort within his purview to make sure that relations with Nigerian students on all of our campuses are positive.

“Mr. President, as you are undoubtedly aware, took all of our postsecondary institutions out of IPPIS a few days ago. You must also be aware, I’m sure, that the same Mr. President has also halted the 40% of our tertiary institutions’ Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) remittances.

“I am going to deliver your message to Mr. President, and I can assure you that Mr. President, who is our father, will do the necessary,” he said, acknowledging that he had received the message in good faith.

“There have been cases where students have been harassed but were afraid to report it, and in other cases when a report is made, nothing would happen, presumably due to the accuser’s relationship with the institution’s head,” he continued. This has to end. That is what this bill aims to fix. The president would stop at nothing to prevent sexual harassment of Nigerian students, particularly female students. His government has taken all necessary precautions to keep Nigerian students safe both inside and outside of our campuses.

“Allow me to state this: my office will work with interested parties to redouble our efforts to combat sexual harassment and sex for marks on all of our campuses.”

The Sexual Harassment Prevention, Prohibition, and Redressal Bill in Tertiary Institutions, which encountered difficulties during its introduction to the national assembly in 2016, has been successfully passed by the House of Representatives and Senate this year, according to Omowumi Ogunrotimi, Lead Director, Gender Mobile Initiative.

The Sexual Harassment Prevention, Prohibition, and Redressal Bill in Tertiary Institutions, which encountered difficulties during its introduction to the national assembly in 2016, has been successfully passed by the House of Representatives and Senate this year, according to Omowumi Ogunrotimi, Lead Director, Gender Mobile Initiative.

We applaud the National Assembly’s efforts in bringing the bill to the President’s desk for ratification, as required by the constitution. Unfortunately, this bill has been sitting on the president’s desk for a while; the reason for the delay is purportedly a pen shortage.

As a result, Nigerian students started the “#DonateAPenToMrPresident Campaign” in collaboration with the Gender Mobile Initiative. In an effort to provide pens to college campuses across the country, I implore Mr. President to sign the bill right away, protecting students in learning environments.