Nigerian students donate pens to Tinubu to assent anti s3xual harassment bill

The students across Nigerian tertiary institutions in partnership with Gender Mobile Initiative (GMI) have donated their pens to President Bola Tinubu in order for him to speedily assent to the Anti-sexual Harassment Bill before him.

The pens, which were collected across different campuses, were presented to President Tinubu through his Senior Special Assistant on Students Engagement, Sunday Asefon.

The students said they assumed that shortage of pens was a likely factor for the delay in assenting to the bill.

A student of the University of Abuja, Abdul Fatima Zara said: “The most symbolic tool for students is pens and that is why we have donated these pens to the president.

“We decided to donate these pens because students are in school to learn to be better versions of themselves and if sexual harassment is in place to restrict every form of students’ zeal to learn, that should not be so and that is why we solicit that the president assent to the bill so that students will now have a voice to speak out.”

The Lead Director of GMI, a non-governmental organisation that works in addressing sexual and gender-based violence, particularly in educational settings, Omowumi Ogunrotimi said they partnered Nigerian students to launch the “#DonateAPenToMrPresident Campaign,” across campuses nationwide with the aim of contributing pens, urging the President to sign the bill promptly, thereby safeguarding students in educational institutions.

She said the sexual harassment prevention, prohibition, and redressal bill in tertiary institutions has been transmitted to the President’s desk for assent as constitutionally required.

She said: “Sadly, this Bill has lingered on the President’s desk for some time, a delay reportedly attributed to a shortage of pens. In response to this, we present pens to the President as a symbol of our collective power to end sexual harassment in environments of learning.”

The presidential aide, Asefon, admitted that the case of sexual harassment had been persistent in the citadel of learning and that the bill would address such and ensures that the right punishment was meted to the perpetrators.

He said: “My office is not unmindful of the prevalence of Gender-Based Violence against female undergraduates in tertiary institutions in Nigeria and the widespread allegations of sex-for-mark in some educational institutions in the country and the fact that most students who are targeted hardly come forward with complaints.

“I want to assure Nigerian Students today that, Mr. President will assent to the bill that seeks to criminalise the act of neglect or failure of administrative heads of tertiary educational institutions to address complaints of sexual harassment.”