Nigeria: Sexual harassment destroying institutions of learning –NGO

*Ms Omowumi Ogunrotimi, Executive Director of the Gender Mobile Initiative, advocates intervention and concerted effort by government and individuals to tackle the rising cases of sexual harassment, particularly in institutions of learning

Emmanuel Akosile | ConsumerConnect

The Gender Mobile Initiative (GMI), a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), urged intervention and synthesised effort by government and individuals to tackle the reported rising cases of sexual harassment, especially in institutions of learning in Nigeria.

Ms Omowumi Ogunrotimi, Executive Director of GMI,

Ogunrotimi made the call at the inauguration of the ‘Sexual Assault Prevention and Consent Education Module’ to serve as one of the organisation’s proactive steps at tackling the menace.

The event, held virtually, was organised and supported by Ford Foundation, to expose participants to learnings which would transform into actionable steps, agency report said.

She stated: “We consider this an evolutionary approach to driving systems change because normative and cultural shifts are fundamentally critical to achieving systems change.”

Ogunrotimi also noted it is expected that institutions will adopt the module, and the consistent use of it will enable peoples attitude to move from one that facilitates rape, to the one that promotes consent.

The GMI Executive Director further said: “This module was developed in partnership with institutions of higher learning and I am excited about the commitment of institutions to institutionalise this module.

“We consider this an evolutionary approach to driving systems change because normative and cultural shifts are fundamentally critical to achieving systems change.

“This, we believe, is achievable through consistent education that will transform prevailing adverse norms.”

She said: “We are building a winning coalition that has the potential to catalytically transform other parts of the system.

“We thank our partners, BIGIF, WRAPA, Yaradua Foundation, ICPC, NFSAN, FUOYE and the groupings of young people who are using their authentic voices to speak against sexual harassment.”

Likewise, Mr. Iseoluwa Akintunde, who reviewed the module said it was time issues of sexual harassment was put in the front burner of government’s activities and also school curriculum, report stated.

Akintunde said there was a global movement of outright prohibition of sexual harassment in higher institutions and that Nigeria could not be left behind.

He noted: “If Nigerian tertiary institutions can adopt some of the reflections we have made in this module, wholesale, and tune it to their specific cultural and sociological campus context, I think they would have taken a huge step in fighting this ‘epidemic’.

“We hope that this module will be distributed to lecturers, hostel wardens and friends across various campuses and we hope also that they download the Gender Mobile campus pal app for reporting sexual harassment.”

Akintunde also said: “Having this module and app will guide them at all times and we are taking campuses together because anyone that has passed through an institution of higher learning must have harassed someone or have been harassed, or know someone who has been harassed.

“As society moves forward, the boundaries of what is accepted begins to move forward also.

“There was a time we cannot have conversation about sexual harassment in tertiary institutions and cannot talk about relationship between students and lecturers, but today, we have moved forward.”

He added: “I expect that as society begins to move forward, we will also adopt policies that reflect the changes in our understanding of these issues, as the module will be updated periodically to reflect constant social changes.”

The virtual event also saw six female finalists battle in the grand finale of the Gender Mobile 2022 sexual harassment prevention awareness debate for students.

In the end, Ayisat Adama of Bayero University Kano (BUK) emerged the overall winner, as Oterai Emamoke from University of Port Harcourt, in Rivers State, finished as the first runner-up, while Ladipo Fehintola from Adeleke University, Ede, in Osun State, ended the debate as the 2nd runner-up.

The finalists were rewarded with cash and gifts worth over N300,000, NAN said.