Sex offenders will not be spared, FG warns lecturers

Tahir Mamman, the minister of education, has warned members of the academia and the university community over sexual harassment on campuses.

According to NAN, the minister gave the warning in Abuja on Thursday when he received the report of the committee on alleged sexual harassment by Cyril Ndifo, a professor at the University of Calabar (UNICAL).

Mamman stressed that the ministry would deal decisively with perpetrators of such acts.

He said sexual harassment was a serious criminal offence that must be dealt with decisively, whenever and wherever it occurred.

He said the ministry would do everything humanly possible to stem the ugly tide in institutions of higher learning.

Mamman also said the offence of sexual harassment was cancerous and must be eliminated at all costs, adding that all hands must be on deck to tackle the menace in the education system.

He maintained that the administration of President Bola Tinubu would protect the vulnerable groups within the country’s education system.

The minister said he would evoke the long arm of the law to ensure that perpetrators were adequately punished, adding that no one would be allowed to take advantage of the vulnerable groups.

“Sexual offenses units will be established in the ministry and all institutions of higher learning to deal with the menace,” he said.

During the presentation of her report, Florence Obi, the vice-chancellor of UNICAL, said the university had followed all due processes in handling the matter, including the suspension of the suspect, appropriate queries and setting up of a disciplinary committee to hear all parties.

According to her, in order to ensure a very high degree of transparency, the Public Complaint Commission (PCC) and the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) were brought on board the committee as observers.

Others, she said, were the Federation of Female Lawyers, ICPC, the chief judge of the student’s union, the high court as well as seven Civil Society Organisations (CSOs).