Fred Itua and Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
The Senate, yesterday, passed the controversial sexual harassment bill, saying it was geared towards protecting students of tertiary institutions in Nigeria from abuse.
The passage of the bill followed the consideration of the report of the Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters, chaired by Opeyemi Bamidele. Bamidele, in his presentation, said of the bill: “this legislation is meant to address incidences of sexual harassment in tertiary institutions only, as there are other laws that address sexual offences in respect of persons under the age of 18 years such as the Child Rights Act 2003.”
“The bill attracted unprecedented support from not only senators, as demonstrated by 106 senators that co-sponsored the bill, but an overwhelming number of Nigerians who see the bill as a necessary legislative intervention that will bring sanity and good order to the educator-student relationship in our tertiary institutions. The bill is not targeted at a particular community, the educators, and it does not interfere with the autonomy of universities–rather, it is intended to reposition and strengthen our tertiary educational institutions to maintain the core values of etiquette and excellence,” he said.
The Ekiti lawmaker said, with its passage, the legislation would bridge the gap and give legal backing to any internal rule in educational institutions to check incidence of sexual harassment.
He said, contrary to claims by university lecturers that there were extant laws that sufficiently address sexual harassment in tertiary institutions, the committee found that there were no such laws.
“By enacting this bill into law, the Nigerian government would be fulfilling part of its obligations undertaken through the ratification of the United States Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), African Charter on Human and People’s Rights, the Protocol to the African Charter on the Rights of Women in Africa, and African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, among others,” he said.
Lawmakers during the clause-by-clause consideration of the bill, however, differed on the retention of Clause 7 in the bill.
Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, who proposed an amendment to the clause, argued that it was unnecessary for the prosecution to prove the intention of the accused person, or the condition under which the act of sexual harassment was carried out. The clause provides for strict liability, which makes it necessary for prosecutors to prove the intention of the accused, as well as the condition under which the act of sexual harassment was carried out.
According to him, the commission of sexual harassment was sufficient to try any educator accused of a sexual offence.
Senate Leader, Yahaya Abdullahi, and Abdullahi Adamu, however, argued on the contrary that, should, a bill make it unnecessary for the prosecutor to prove the intention of any accused person in a sexual harassment trial, same would lower the requisite standards obtainable in criminal proceedings.
James Manager added that going ahead to pass the bill without making it compulsory for prosecutors to prove the intention of the accused person in a sexual harassment case may expose educators to blackmail.
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives has charged the Federal Government to immediately set up special courts to try sexual offences and gender-based violence.
The House, while condemning rising cases of rape and other gender-based violence in the country in recent times, urged relevant government agencies to set up accelerated hearing mechanisms and prosecution for rape as well as sexual and gender-based violence cases currently in various courts.
This followed the adoption of a motion by Unyime Idem calling on the Federal Government to establish special courts to try sex offenders and perpetrators of gender-based violence in the country. Idem, in his lead debate, stated that, recently, there had been an upsurge in rape and gender-based crimes across the country. He said there was the urgent need for government to take steps to arrest the ugly situation, especially as rape “is a gross violation of human rights, right to dignity, right to life, right to sexuality.”
The lawmaker noted that “Nigerian Police Force has reported a surging record between January 2020 and May 2020 of over 717 rape cases formally reported. That is an average of 143 cases per month and around five cases per day. And these are only reported cases; your guess of the unreported ones is as good as mine. Definitely, there are also thousands of unreported cases.”
He expressed worry that, the society could be heading for doom. Idem, while canvasing legislation that that would prescribe stiffer punishment for rape, especially as there was “unalloyed support for death and capital punishment for the rapists,” said it was imperative to ensure speedy trial of suspects.