FG to establish mobile courts to prosecute Sexual harassment offenders

The Federal Government is planning to establish mobile courts to address issues relating to sexual harassment.

The Minister of Women Affairs, Mrs Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye, made this known at a one-day National Stakeholder’s Engagement on Sexual Harassment Prevention on Tuesday in Abuja.

The event was organized by the ICPC in collaboration with the Gender Mobile Initiative.

She decried the high rate of sexual harassment, especially in tertiary institutions across the country but added that the measures being put in place would tackle the menace.

“Sexual harassment is not relegated to tertiary institutions alone but even in primary and secondary schools, which are often carried out by teachers and sometimes among pupils.

“We are also working in collaboration with hotel owners to deny access to under-aged children from lodging and report any such attempts to security operatives to curb the terrible sexual harassment problems.

She urged stakeholders to rise up to the challenge by ensuring that sexual harassment is brought to the barest minimum to address the problems of stigmatisation, and low self-esteem among victims.

Speaking, the Chairman of the ICPC, Dr Musa Aliyu Aliyu, raised the concern that until there are heavy consequences on offenders, the menace will continue to be on the increase.

Aliyu, also a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, noted that sexual harassment and other related societal ills, including gender discrimination, are tarnishing the nation’s reputation.

“Only a consistent, persistent, focused and united campaign can ensure that the challenge of sexual harassment in tertiary institutions is decisively addressed.

“ICPC had a few years ago, in line with its commitment to addressing all forms of corruption, including abuse of office via sexual harassment, with the support of the Ford Foundation, executed a project aimed at curbing this societal malaise.

“One of the expected outcomes of that project was the drafting of model anti-sexual harassment policies for various levels of educational institutions,’’ he said.

He said that the commission engaged the Gender Mobile Initiative to draft a model policy for tertiary institutions and the Federal Ministry of Education approved the policies for primary and tertiary institutions.

“The policies are not necessarily meant to be adopted word for word by stakeholders.