Students at AUN are not silent over the 'sex for grades' scandal that happens in many Nigerian universities.
A recent documentary by the BBC on the issue motivated Politics & Peace Studies Society to organize a panel discussion on the pandemic of sexual harassment in Nigerian universities.
At the October 24 event, six students were invited to share their views on the subject. They were Miss AUN, Christine Vihisihma, and Abass Imoudu, both of whom are majoring in Law, Doofan Tar-Aliegba and Ahmed Mai-Borno, who are both majoring in Politics & International Studies, Sotonye Wariso, who is a Management & Entrepreneurship major, as well as Abuoma Offia, who majors in Computer Science.
President of the Society, Vanessa Williams, said a discussion about sexual harassment is apt and timely.
This is not the first time that issues of sexual harassment in universities have been raised. But the documentary has gone viral, making it an issue that many now want to discuss.
One takeaway from the event following the heat of the debate is that students want to engage with each other and it is in line with the objective of the Society. This is why Ms. Williams said the Society would organize and facilitate more events such as this in the coming months.
She said the Society encourages debate, discussion, and solution creation on political and social issues worldwide, beyond the learning formalities of the classroom.
"We hope to use our platform to foster a consciousness of what is going on in society and create an avenue for people to share their views, as well as learn something new."
The debate surrounding sexual harassment in higher education institutions has been reverberating across tertiary institutions across Nigeria. For the Politics & Peace Studies Society, hosting a discussion about this anomaly as its first event this year is lending its voice to the gravity of the discourse.
Reported by Omorogbe Omorogiuwa