Death penalty for kidnappers
By Ezrel Tabiowo and Taiye Odewale
Abuja
Stringent punishment awaits randy and morally bankrupt male lecturers in tertiary institutions, as the Senate yesterday recommended a 5-year jail term without any option of fine for any of them found guilt y of harassing female students sexually.
A Bill to that effect titled: “Sexual Harassment in Tertiary Institutions Bill 2016,” co- sponsored by 45 senators, passed first reading at the Upper Chamber yesterday.
The Bill, according to its lead sponsor, Senator Ovie Omo- Agege, “seeks enactment of an Act to Make Provisions for the Prohibition of Sexual Harassment of Students by Educators in
Tertiary Educational Institutions in Nigeria and for Matters Connected Therewith, 2016.
The senator, at a media briefing, disclosed that the major intension of the Bill, was to restore morality, discipline and sanity between male educators and female students in higher institutions in the country.
He explained that the Bill, when passed, “would serve as the needed legal framework of domesticating the honour code existing between lecturers and students in tertiary institutions in United States of America into our own penal code here.”
The lawmaker further said, after careful and detailed research on the menace of sexual
harassment of female students by male lecturers in the nation’s varsities and other tertiary institutions, the need for such law was imperative, to stop the trend of turning the institutions from citadel of knowledge to prostitution centers.
“After careful and detailed research on the menace over the years, our position as proposed in this Bill, is that since the female students being negatively influenced by male lecturers into sexual relationship are not capable of giving voluntary consent to that arrangement, there
is need for potent law to stop the immorality,” he said.
Consequently, as stated in the Bill, an educator “shall be guilty of committing an offence of sexual harassment against a student if he/she has sexual intercourse with a student who is less than 18 years of age.
“Has sexual intercourse with a student or demands for sex from a student or a prospective student as a condition to study in an institution or as a condition to the giving of a passing grade or the granting of honour and scholarships.
“Grabs, hugs, rubs or strokes or touches or pinches the breasts or hair or lips or hips or buttocks or any other sensual part of the body of a student; displays, gives or sends by hand or courier or electronic or any other means naked or sexually explicit pictures or videos or sex related objects to a student or whistle or winks at a student or screams or exclaims or jokes or makes sexually complimentary or in complementary remarks about a student’s physique.”
The senators added in the proposed Act that penalty for the offences listed shall be five-year jail term for any convicted person.
“Any person who commits any of the acts specified in Section 4 of this Act is guilty of an offence and shall, on conviction, be sentenced to imprisonment of up to five years, but not less than two years without any option of fine.”
Similarly, to curb the wave of kidnapping across the country, the Senate also recommended death penalty for kidnappers.
This was sequel to its consideration of a report on the crime compiled by a committee headed by Senator Abu Ibrahim (APC, Katsina South).
In the course of debating the report, the senators adopted a prayer recommending a death sentence for abductors in the country.
The recommendation for death penalty, as adopted by the Senate, was made by Sen. Adamu Aliero (APC, Kebbi Central).
While contributing to the report, the Senate Minority Leader, Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom, PDP), regretted that kidnapping escalated in the country when ex-governor, and now Minister of Labour, Dr. Chris Ngige, was kidnapped around 2002.
Other recommendations adopted by the Senate were that “the funding of the security agencies should be taken as a priority project, bearing in mind that the practice of envelop budget for security agencies have proved ineffective.”
“Efforts should be geared towards creating employment opportunities for our teeming unemployed youths and security agencies should embark on training and retraining of personnel for effective capacity building,” he said.
The Senate also tasked “state governments to enact laws to enable security agencies to prosecute kidnappers and other crime related offences in their jurisdictions.”
It, in addition, recommended that “synergy and intelligence sharing among security agencies should be vigorously pursued; the Inspector-General of Police and Director-General of the Department of State Security in particular and other security agencies should be
encouraged to do more.”
“It appears the security agencies have not been able to perform optimally due to inadequate funding to enable them procure modern technology and equipment. It appears to be unnecessary and unhealthy rivalry amongst the security agencies leading to lack of required
synergy and intelligence sharing on time.”
The Senate, however, regretted that “relations of the victims are always ready to pay ransom which tends to encourage the criminals.”
The session was presided over by the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki.