Wife of the governor of Ekiti State, Bisi Fayemi, has revealed that she too was a victim of sexual harassment while she was a university student.
Speaking on Monday night at the exclusive screening of BBC Africa Eye #SexForGrade documentary, Mrs Fayemi, who attended Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), said she was concerned that lecturers feel entitled to the bodies of their female students.
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The documentary, which focused on the University of Lagos (UNILAG) and the University of Ghana, exposed sexual harassment in public institutions.
A senior lecturer in the Faculty of Arts, UNILAG, Dr Boniface Igbeneghu, was filmed sexually harassing Kiki Mordi, an undercover journalist who posed as a 17-year-old admission seeker in the institution.
“I cried because what these young women have experienced is the story of many of us who passed through higher institutions in this country,” Fayemi said.
“I was educated here in Nigeria and I too was a victim of sexual harassment during my university days. I was luckier than these victims. It didn’t go that far but it was extremely unpleasant and of course, back in the days when all these things happened you can’t tell anyone because if you do even up till now people ask you to keep shut.
“You know people don’t talk about things like this. I was watching the documentary and there were three words that came to me, one is voice, it is time to speak up and speak out and for those who do we need to stand with them and stand by them and not silence them because the culture of silence has endured enough.”
The governor’s wife called for accountability from lecturers who are put in the care of students.
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“There has to be accountability and the third thing that came to mind was justice, justice for victim or I choose to call them survivors,” she said.
Fayemi said Ekiti had already opened a register to name and shame sex offenders in the state.
