Kaduna lawmaker pushes for sex-for-grade legislation

Mrs. Comfort Anwe of Kaduna State House of Assembly has reiterated her commitment to ensuring legislation against sex-for-grade in tertiary institutions across Nigeria.

She expressed her intention to sponsor a bill for possible punitive measure against the scourge. Anwe, who is the deputy minority leader of the house, disclosed this yesterday when she visited the Deputy Vice Chancellor (DVC), Academics, Kaduna State University (KASU).Describing the recurrence of sex-for-grade as a wake-up call, she called for proactive steps to address the issue.

“There is need to investigate the issues around the subject matter and those lecturers engaging in this kind of habit, to clean the university of things like that,” she told journalists.The lawmaker called on KASU and the state government to hold a joint public hearing on the vexed issue.

“I would be discussing this phenomenon with my members with a view to finding a lasting solution by passing a law in addition to whatever the tertiary institutions are doing in the state to guarantee the safety of our children, especially our daughters,” she said.According to her, the synergy between stakeholders to address the scourge will go a long way to showing that Kaduna does not tolerate sexual harassment in any form.

“We must step into this, so that girls can have a conducive environment to study. We entrust these girls into their (lecturers) hands and they will be our future mothers. So, if they are molested, nothing good will come out of them.”The DVC, Prof. Abdullahi Ashafa, described sex-for-grade as a sad development, saying that the scourge was tarnishing the image of lecturers and the tertiary institutions in the country.

“Kaduna State University has risen to the occasion. We have established a committee with broader terms of reference to investigate possible occurrence of such heinous act, which might be buried without our knowledge. And any lecturer found wanting will be dealt with according to the law establishing the university,” he said, adding that no such case had been reported in the institution.

Meanwhile, Ebonyi State government, yesterday, condemned the harassment of female students of State Special School for the Blind, Opefia, in Izzi council of the state.It warned that it would not fold her arms and watch the ugly incident.

Special Assistant to the Governor on Women Affairs, Mrs. Chinyere Udoku, who gave the warning when she visited the school, assured the blind students of conducive environment for their studies.Some female students of the school were reportedly molested sexually by the people of the area who usually invade the school through various entrances due to lack of perimeter fencing.