The Minister of Education, Prof. Adamu Adamu has advised female students across tertiary institutions in the country to avoid unnecessary contacts with their lecturers.
Adamu who made his remarks at the University of Port Harcourt during the unveiling of a policy document against sexual harassment in the institution, disclosed that the government is embarrassed by allegations levelled against some lecturers.
Adamu, who was represented by the Assistant Director, Tertiary Department of the ministry, Mrs. Ijeoma Duru, expressed the need for female students to study hard in order to be able to defend their certificates.
He charged female students to desist from going to lecturers unnecessarily and to also stop harassing their lecturers sexually, admonishing that the sexual harassment policy launched by UNIPORT should be adopted by other tertiary institutions.
Commending the management of the university for being the first to unveil a policy document against sexual harassment, the minister pointed out that the policy would go a long way in curbing the menace of sexual harassment in Nigerian higher institution
Also, the Vice Chancellor of UNIPORT, Prof. Ndowa Lale, lamented that sexual harassment had taken over public discourse and space in Nigerian universities, describing the situation as “a crying shame.”
Lale explained that university students should feel safe and secure under the protection of the institution’s authorities to pursue their education in an uninhibited environment that should allow them to bring out their best.
