The University of Lagos (UNILAG) on Thursday, June 3, 2021 sacked two lecturers Boniface Igbeneghu and Samuel Omoniyi Oladipo for demanding sex from a reporter who posed as an admission seeker.
The embattled lecturers, Dr Boniface Igbeneghu of the Department of European Language and Integrated Studies and Dr Samuel Oladipo of the Department of Economics were found guilty of allegations of sexual harassment levelled against them.
The UNILAG Senate had set up had set up a panel to investigate the allegations of sexual harassment against two of its lecturers indicted in the sex-for-grades scandal.
Kiki Mordi, an undercover journalist, who disguised as a 17-year-old prospective student in a BBC Investigative Series, Africa Eye.
The documentary, published in October 2019, focused on sexual harassment in tertiary institutions in Nigeria and Ghana.
Wearing a secret camera, the reporter, had visited Igbeneghu, posing as an admission seeker. The clip went on to show the lecturer making sexual overtures to the reporter.
The lecturer, in one of the recorded meetings, described a section of the school’s staff club as the “cold room” where lecturers make out with female students.
“There’s an upper part of the staff club where lecturers take girls to for smooching and romance.”
In October 2019, Igbeneghu and Oladipo were suspended by UNILAG pending the outcome of investigations by the investigative panel set up to look into the matter.
The panel, headed by Prof Ayodele Atsenuwa, a professor of Public Law, who was then the Dean of Faculty of Law looked into the case and has come out with their verdict of sack for culprits.
A statement from the Public Affairs Unit of the institution, dated June 2, 2021, said the governing council has approved the immediate dismissal of Igbeneghu and Oladipo from the services of the university.
The statement said the decision was taken at a council meeting, which considered the report and findings of the Senate committee set up to investigate the allegations of sexual harassment against the two lecturers in a BBC investigative series, titled, African Eye, which centred on sexual harassment in tertiary institutions.
“The council consequently decided and approved that both Dr Boniface Igbeneghu and Dr Samuel Oladipo be dismissed from the services of the university for misconduct, with effect from Monday, May 31, 2021, in line with Section 18 of the University of Lagos Act 1967.”
The council further directed the university management to review the sexual harassment policy as may be necessary and institute effective strategies to prevent future occurrence.
‘Sex for grade’ is one of the problems confronting the nation’s tertiary institutions.
