Prof. Suleiman Mohammed, Vice-Chancellor (VC) of Nasarawa State University Keffi (NSUK), has vowed to dismiss any lecturer caught harassing female students on campus.
The VC said this on Thursday, while delivering a goodwill message at a seminar organised by the Centre for Gender Studies of the university in Keffi.
Represented by Prof. Akinwumi Olayemi, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academics) of the institution, Mohammed said the laws of the university were quite clear on the issue of sexual harassment.
“The sanction for any staff found culpable of the offence is instant dismissal from the institution and the management would make sure the law is enforced to serve as deterrent to others,” the VC said.
He commended the centre for organising the seminar and promised to support in championing the cause of fighting Gender Based Violence (GBV) in the country.
In her welcome address, Hajiya Hauwa’u Mainoma, the Director of the Centre, called on the Federal Government and other stakeholders to urgently take steps towards addressing gender-based violence in the country.
She explained that the seminar was first of its kind by the centre since its inception in 2017.
According to her, the increasing rate of sexual and other forms of violence in institutions informed the centre to put together the event aimed at creating awareness on the menace.
Mainoma called for stiffer punishment for perpetrators of gender-based violence, adding that it will create equal opportunity for all to put their God-giving potential to good use.
In a presentation, Prof. Charity Angya, former Vice Chancellor, Benue State University, Makurdi, said gender-based violence goes beyond mere physical attacks on someone based on the person’s gender.
Angya observed that both gender suffered violence in one point or the other in Nigeria, but that more women are molested than men.
She explained that gender-based violence exists more in work places and academic environment due to high discrimination in careers and field of studies.
“Education is a right and government must abolish any custom or tradition militating against girl-child education in the country.
“Such move will naturally address the violence that women go through in the society,” she said
The former VC advised that men should massively take on careers and courses hitherto assumed to be exclusively reserved for women and vice-versa, as a panacea to ending gender-based violence in Nigeria.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the seminar has as its theme: ‘Gender Based Violence and the Survival of Education in Nigeria’.
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