UNILAG’s cowardly response to rape allegations

The news that a University of Lagos lecturer allegedly raped a young woman seeking admission is one that irredeemably ruins one’s day. For the record, the lecturer involved, a Dr. Akin Baruwa, denied the crime but admitted consensual sex with her. However, I find the young lady’s account credible. A man who pulls down his trousers in his office to have sex with a teenager whose parents asked him to help further her career is an exploiter who will have his way by any means necessary.

Whether he committed the crime or not can of course, be only determined by the law but that should not stop a wider conversation on sexual violence on university campuses in Nigeria and the larger societal failings that enable these things to go on virtually unchecked.

UNILAG, seething from embarrassment at having its name dragged into such murk, instantly disowned the lecturer. What the institution cannot escape, however, despite its denial, is that the rape happened on its campus premises – inside one of the lecturers’ offices – and as a result, it has a responsibility to the victim, to the society and to its own university to do more than issue a denial like a politician while hoping it all goes away.

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Shortly after the teenage victim, another young woman with the pseudonym, Agnes, came out with a similar allegation – the same Baruwa tried to rape her too! What I found maddening about her account was the boldness with which the man pursued his victim without fear of institutional reprimand. So, what steps did UNILAG take to protect its students from further sexual predation after Agnes wrote a petition about Baruwa? Did the school authorities bury their heads in the sands of administrative negligence?

The case of Agnes and the earlier victim are by no means isolated ones on Nigerian campuses. When I was an undergraduate, I had a friend who ran into a similar problem – the lecturer threatened she would never graduate if she did not sleep with him. She reported him to her school authorities who asked her to produce a proof of his guilt before they could entertain her complaint. She got a few friends together and they tried to bait the lecturer so they could record a video. Unfortunately, they burnt their hands badly in the process. Her university’s response makes one wonder how an institution can be lackadaisical when it should be protecting students from lecturers who turn sex into power play.

Again, what is it about sexual violence that does not compel urgency in Nigerian institutions? In both Ambrose Alli Univerity, Ekpoma and Abia State University, Uturu, gang rapes have been reported and those cases have quietly gone away.

UNILAG’s response is perhaps emblematic of broader societal views of women and their place underneath men, whether willingly or forcibly. It seems people see women as willing victims anyway. Interestingly, but most painfully, barely a whimper has emerged from UNILAG’s student body, or whatever remains of such. No statement urging investigation from the school authorities and demanding they review cases of sexual assault by lecturers or institute a formal process whereby such complaints can be lodged. Why would they care when they are busy issuing silly statements in support of politicians who are themselves raping the country for a living? No demonstrations by students who are or have been victims. Rape is such a taboo topic in Nigeria and people will rather not touch it for fear of being branded.

Compare UNILAG’s tepid response to that of the University of Virginia in the United States of America. When a story surfaced in November last year in which a female student named Jackie alleged that members of a campus fraternity gang-raped her, the university president immediately suspended all school fraternities, called on the police to investigate, asked witnesses to come forward, adopted a resolution affirming zero tolerance for rape and sexual assault, set up an investigation into the case and also reviewed the school policy towards sexual assault on campus.

Over the next few weeks, there were demonstrations by students and faculty, and heated discussions in campus groups, online and in the news media. Eventually the report was found to have gaping holes and no one could authoritatively conclude whether the rape happened or not. Nevertheless, the sense of responsibility the university displayed was instructive.

Now and then, a Nigerian university comes up with a cure for sexual harassment on campuses – they institute a dress code for students! This mentally lazy approach – unbecoming of an institution that pretends to be a universe of learning – assumes that the higher moral responsibility should be placed on the student, not the lecturer who has power over the student. Any lecturer who can claim to have been seduced by his/her student should simply be dismissed from the job because such a person lacks the discipline to be in a noble calling like teaching.

Nigerian public universities are understandably apathetic when dealing with rapes. They are largely funded with public money. When they get donations, donors do not attach moral responsibilities to the money. In the US, a university’s federal funding can be pulled under Title IX if the school violates students’ rights in sexual assault cases. That is why they work harder to provide safe spaces for students.

Again, Nigeria is not a litigious society and universities have not been sued for negligence in dealing with rape cases on their campuses. If the number of times a university is sued affects university ranking in Nigeria, and subsequently admission rate and funding sources, universities would be more responsible. UNILAG is one of the most subscribed in Nigeria. The figures from the Post-Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination brouhaha that occurred recently reveal the institution has more students than it can admit and therefore it can afford to be flippant and even cowardly in dealing with embarrassing issues such as rape.

Nigerian universities can do a lot to reduce cases of sexual assault on campuses especially those that occur between lecturer and students. First is to lessen the crushing power lecturers have over students and institute a near horizontal relationship between them. In climes where students assess their teachers’ performance at the end of every semester, a lecturer who scores poorly can have his appointment terminated. That practice improves teacher conduct towards the student. We must also question the circumstances that necessitated contact between Baruwa and the teenager in the first place. Why will a lecturer be helping students solicit admission if not for institutionalised nepotism?

In many Nigerian universities, there are no formal channels to confidentially report sexual assaults, no dedicated member of staff to help victims through their ordeal and offer psychological counselling, no established liaison with local law enforcement to help prosecute such cases, and no requirements for record keeping of rape and sexual assault statistics. The National Universities Commission must step in to force universities to confront sexual assault on their campuses.

UNILAG says it has set up a four-man panel to look into the allegation of rape. Well, it should also be working on ridding its school of sexual assault. Baruwa cannot be the only one who has ever been accused. What UNILAG does – or fails to – will determine whether it is conjoined in the violence that occurred to the young woman. Which says a lot about the university, the moral standards it holds itself to and equally importantly, the integrity of the certificates it awards.