The National Assembly will expedite action on passing the bill against sexual harassment in tertiary institutions to stem the incidents in Nigeria, stakeholders have assured.
This was even as the Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Dr Musa Adamu Aliyu, lamented the rise in incidents of sexual harassment in primary and secondary schools across the country.
The stakeholders spoke at a one-day national engagement on sexual harassment prevention organised by the Gender Mobile Initiative in Abuja on Tuesday.
Earlier, the Minister of Women Affairs, Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye; and the Minister of State for Education, Yusuf Tanko Sununu; expressed expectations that the bill for the prevention, prohibition and redressal of sexual harassment in tertiary educational institutions would be passed and assented to by the two houses and the president.
Similarly, the sponsor of the bill and Member of the House of Representatives, Akin Rotimi Jnr, said the law would be fast-tracked and passed by the representatives and the Senate without any public hearing.
He said the bill already conformed to Agenda 5 of the 9th Assembly’s Legislative Agenda under Social Sector Reforms.
The founder and Executive Director of Gender Mobile Initiative, Omowumi Ogunrotimi, said the organisation realised the importance for stakeholders to think about the prevention framework rather than the response framework of the situation.
She said, “As far back as 2019, 2020, we had a national conference where we validated this policy with a critical mass of stakeholders in the room across the National Universities Commission (NUC), National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), and even the students’ community.”