The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on Monday in Abuja said the Sexual Harassment Bill, 2016 before the Senate undermined university autonomy.
President of the union, Professor Biodun Ogunyemi, stated this at a Public Hearing on the bill, organised by the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Sexual Harassment Bill was sponsored by Senator Ovie Omo-Agege (LP- Delta Central) and co-sponsored by 57 other senators.
The bill seeks to criminalise sexual harassment in tertiary institutions and it, among other things, proposes a five-year jail term for lecturers found guilty of sexual harassment of students.
Ogunyemi said that universities were established by law as autonomous bodies, adding that there were laws that clearly articulated redress procedures.
“As a global norm, universities and other tertiary institutions are established by law as autonomous bodies and have their own laws regulating their affairs.
This includes misconduct generally among both staff and students, with clearly articulated appropriate redress mechanism.
Any law or bill which seeks to supplant these laws violates the university autonomy.
In this particular instance, the bill violates the Federal Government of Nigeria and ASUU agreement of 2009 and as such should be rejected,” he said.
He said that the bill was discriminatory because it was targeted at educators.
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