The University of Benin management in Edo State has established a committee to probe sexual harassment allegations against a professor from the Department of Philosophy.
This was stated in a circular that B. D. Jonathan, the secretary of the investigation committee, distributed to media on Saturday.
The committee asked staff members and students who had any relevant information or who had witnessed any related incidents to come forward and share it, even though the professor’s name remained anonymous.
The circular read, “The Vice-Chancellor has set up a committee to investigate the allegations of sexual harassment against a Professor from the Department of Philosophy.
“The committee, to actualise its mandate, is requesting all staff and students with relevant information or who have experienced any incident related to the allegation to please come forward and share as it will assist the committee in ensuring a thorough and fair investigation.
“Be rest assured that your identity will be protected, and all information will be treated with utmost confidentiality.”
It was learned that the university made its decision as a result of a lecturer being called out on social media by an anonymous female graduate.
The university alumna further claimed that while an undergraduate, the aforementioned professor subjected her to unrelenting sexual harassment.
Early in August 2024, Abia State University in Uturu suspended Dr. Udochukwu Ndukwe, a lecturer in the Department of Mass Communication, for three months after receiving complaints about her sexual harassment directed at a female student.
In the last five years, 39 lecturers in the country’s higher education institutions have been accused of sexual misconduct and fired.
In 2018, the World Bank Group’s Women conducted a survey which revealed that 70% of female graduates from higher education institutions in the nation had experienced sexual harassment during their school years. The primary perpetrators of this harassment were their classmates and lecturers.
Despite the Senate passing a bill in 2021 that stipulated a 21-year prison sentence for lecturers who were deemed disruptive, the majority of the lecturers who were charged and found guilty subsequent to the bill’s passage were fired.
