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S*EXUAL HARASSMENT: Break the culture of silence, Fayemi urges students

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First Lady of Ekiti State, Erelu Bisi Fayemi has urged students of the Ekiti State University (EKSU) to break the culture of silence by reporting events of sexual harassment and gender based violence to appropriate authorities.

She made the call on Wednesday at a One-Day Workshop tagged “Gender Based Violence (GBV) and Sexual Harassment (SH) in Tertiary Institutions: The Way Forward” at EKSU in Ado -Ekiti, Ekiti state.

“Everyday when we open our newspapers, we read about a woman or a girl who have been sexually abused, gender based violence is no respecter of age, class or education”, she said.

She added that Gender Based Violence have physical, sexual, and psychological effects on the woman and girl.

“Years back, when research was coming forward on gender based violence, we could say the statistics were one in five or one in four but now because of the extended parameters of violence against women and girls, some psychological, some physical, …the figures are now one out of three women, she explained.

“Which means through out her lifetime one out of three women are going to experience one form of violence or the other, it might be rape, it might be sexual harassment, it might be in form of traditional practices such as widowhood practices, female Gender Mutilation and so on.

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Edward Olaonipekun, EKSU Vice-Chancellor in his remark said there are suggestion boxes for students to report cases of sexual harassment.

He noted that the institution will not entertain any form of violence and sexual harassment and advised the students to stay way from the offence.

Professor Kemi Ogundano, director of the institution’s Center for Gender and Development Studies (CGDS), in her opening address said that in a bid to have an enabling learning environment, the society has to be gender based violence and sexual harassment free.

She noted that the institution will not tolerate GBV and Gender Based Violence “in any way, shape, and form.”

“The workshop is especially organized to discuss concepts, types, causes and consequences of GBV and sexual harassment, its prevalence, intervention, prevention and vulnerability factors in EKSU. An exposition of the Ekiti State (Prohibition) Law, 2019 as well as GBV and sexual harassment

The events was attended by members of the Ekiti State House of Assemblies, Hon. Kemi Balogun, Hon. Yemisi Ayokunle and Hon. Teju Okuyiga, Prof. Wole Adebayo , Permanent Secretary Ministry of Women Affairs, Dr. Foluke Oladimeji and others.

By Oluwakemi Adelagun

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