UNILAG shuts ‘cold room’, suspends lecturer after documentary sparks new #sexforgrades scandal

The management of the University of Lagos on Monday shut down the “Cold Room,” where lecturers allegedly sexually harass students.

The Principal Assistant Registrar, Communication Unit at the UNILAG, Taiwo Oloyede disclosed this in a statement.

The “Cold Room” was reportedly mentioned by a lecturer of the institution, Boniface Igbeneghu, who was caught on video sexually harassing an undercover journalist who posed as an admission seeker.

In a documentary aired by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), the randy university don described the secret place where lecturers meet to “touch students breast” at the staff club of the university.

“The place is called cold room,” Igbeneghu said.

He also said that female students are required to pay lecturers to have good grades.

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In response to the lecturer’s remark, the university spokesman said: “The so-called ‘Cold Room’ is a Functions Room that may have been abused because this is a deviation from the purpose for which it was created (meetings, seminars, events, etc)” the university spokesperson said.
He said the lecturer had been suspended by the university management.

The university said it had suspended Dr Boniface indefinitely.

The lecturer was exposed in a video documentary aired by BBC Africa where an undercover journalist, Kiki Mordi, disguised as a 17-year-old admission seeker.

The disgraced lecturer is a former sub-dean of the Faculty of Arts in the university and head pastor of Foursquare Gospel Church.

The UNILAG Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, confirmed the lecturer’s suspension.

“The lecturer has been suspended indefinitely. A panel will be set up to investigate the issue,” the vice-chancellor said.

In the video documentary, the lecturer was seen inviting the “admission seeker” to his office for “tutorials” and at their first meeting asked: “how old are you?”.

After responding, the lecturer commented on her appearance, saying: “Don’t you know you are a beautiful girl? Do you know I am a pastor and I am in my 50s but if I want a girl of 17 years, all I need is a sweet tongue and put some money.”

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