Female students' never-ending battle with sleazy professors
Adaora (surname withheld) was admitted to study English and Literary Studies at Akwa Ibom State University in Ikot Akpandem, Akwa Ibom State, in 2018. She had previously attempted the United Tertiary Matriculation Examinations three times without success in order to study at the University of Uyo, Uyo, before deciding to attend AKSU.
A part-time lecturer began pestering her three months after school resumed.
He spanked her buttocks the first time he saw her, she claimed, as she walked past him in a crowded hallway. He apologized, stating it was an error.
Again in class, she claimed he approached her and sat on the same desk as her while teaching, making romantic gestures.
"He wasn't a small child." This man is in his fifties. "He made my life at AKSU a living hell," she claimed.
According to Adaora, when he finally made contact with her, he demanded to see her in his office.
Despite the fact that it was a shared office, she noticed that the other instructor was on Sabbatical leave at another university.
“Immediately I walked in, he stood up, locked the door, and began to push his body against mine. I was scared. I was around 20 years old then. I was confused. I saw this man as a father.
“I ran towards the door to open it because the key was still at the lock but he laughed and told me to come back. He said he was only playing with me. That was the beginning of my problems,” she added.
She said she spoke to a senior colleague, who told her the man was fond of doing such to ladies, warning her to beware.
When the first semester results were released that year, she failed his course.
She was sure she wrote something convincing that would earn her a pass grade, so she wrote to the school’s exams board for a re-mark. She even claimed to have paid some money to another lecturer to ‘facilitate’ it.
But, an approval came in the second week of the second semester. Her scripts were re-marked and she was awarded a ‘D’ grade. Still not convinced, she said she spoke to a female lecturer who told her to get evidence if she wanted to make a complaint.
Her time eventually came in Year Three, when the man, now a full-time lecturer with the department, took another course and made her a group leader in one of the assignment groups.
She claimed he sent her erotic messages, threatening that she would not graduate if she did not ‘surrender’.
Adaora said she went back to the female lecturer, who told her there was still nothing she could do despite showing all the messages.
She also got information about two other ladies, one of whom was already married with two kids, whom the man allegedly harassed the previous year and they filed a petition to the school.
“Till today, that petition did not see the light of the day. I wrote about four other follow-ups. The other ladies even petitioned the gender unit of the university, but nothing was done.
“I am married now with a daughter, and I am even scared to let my daughter stay alone with a neighbour because I don’t know what these men are capable of. If a man that old can look at a 20-year-old virgin girl then and say he wanted to have me, I wonder who is safe from their fangs,” she said.
When our correspondent called the number said to be attached to the Directorate of Information, Public Relations and Protocol of AKSU, the line rang out. Text messages sent to the phone line were also not responded to as of press time.
With each passing day, female students are becoming more endangered in institutions of higher learning.
On Wednesday, The PUNCH reported how a female undergraduate student (name withheld) accused a lecturer at the University of Lagos, Akoka, simply identified as Dr Kadiri, of rape.
The student said the incident occurred when she visited the lecturer in the office to sort out issues about her results.
A non-governmental organisation, Inclusive Social Welfare and Empowerment Foundation, where the victim reported the case, said rather than the lecturer attending to the undergraduate’s result issues, he allegedly raped her on August 16, 2023.
Our correspondent gathered that InclusiveSWEF reported the case to the Gender Unit of the state police command and through the OC Gender, the state CP, Idowu Owohunwa, issued a warrant of arrest for the lecturer through the High Court and involved the Vice Chancellor of the university.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, confirmed the incident, saying, “He is to appear in court in the coming days.”
Source: Punch Newspaper
