Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege has accused the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, of working against the passage of an Anti-Sexual Harassment bill before the Senate.
The senator who introduced the black to the Senate disclosed this while speaking at an Anti-Sexual Harassment bill dialogue in Abuja.
According to Ovie Omo-Agege, the bill is aimed at protecting female students from harassment not by lecturers, academic and non-academic staff.
“During a public hearing on the bill which seeks to protect our children in universities from sexual harassment by lectures, some members of ASUU vehemently opposed the passage of the bill.
“I believe as a matter of character, principle and learning that the student-educator relationship is one of in loco parentis in the same unique class as parenting.
“It is a fiduciary relationship of authority, dependency and trust where the educator, like a good and responsible parent, exercises supervisory responsibilities over the student.
“It is formed on an unwritten code of absolute honour and obligation of good faith, honesty, dignity, and care to be held inviolable.
“No educator has the moral right to exploit the special student-educator relationship for repulsive personal satisfaction.
“No one should be allowed to exploit seeming weaknesses in our existing legal frameworks to make life unbearably for our students, especially our female student.
“As a father, I am confident that I speak for an overwhelming majority of our citizens that sexual predators who operate on our campuses of tertiary education do not represent who we are as a people. We have a duty to stop them.”
