The Nigerian Senate has approved a historic legislation prescribing up to 14 years imprisonment for any lecturer or educator convicted of sexually harassing students in tertiary institutions.
The bill, titled Sexual Harassment of Students (Prevention and Prohibition) Bill, 2025 (HB.1597), seeks to tackle the recurring menace of sexual exploitation on campuses and establish stricter accountability for offenders.
Presented for concurrence by Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele (APC–Ekiti Central), the legislation aims to safeguard students from all forms of sexual misconduct while promoting integrity and ethical standards in higher education.
Bamidele explained that the bill provides a “strong legal framework for enforcement and punishment,” ensuring that academic environments remain safe and free from abuse.
Under the new law, offenders found guilty of acts listed in Clause 4 (1), (2), and (3) face between 5 and 14 years imprisonment without an option of fine, while those charged under sub-clauses (4), (5), and (6) face between 2 and 5 years imprisonment.
The bill also empowers students who suffer harassment to file civil actions for breach of fiduciary duty, with the same burden of proof required in civil proceedings.
Among the offences outlined are:
Demanding sexual favours or making unwelcome advances;
Inducing others to commit harassment;
Unwanted touching or sexually suggestive gestures;
And abuse of authority for sexual gain.
It further specifies that marriage between the educator and student is the only valid defence, while consent cannot be used as a defence in any educator-student relationship.
The legislation also mandates that complaints may be filed not only by victims but also by relatives, guardians, or concerned parties, to the Police or Attorney-General, with copies submitted to the institution’s Independent Sexual Harassment Prohibition Committee.
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During deliberations, Senator Adams Oshiomhole (APC–Edo North) urged that the scope of the bill be expanded to include workplaces and other professional environments.
“There is no need to restrict sexual harassment issues to students. We should craft this law to have universal application,” he said.
However, Deputy Senate President Barau Jibrin, who presided over the plenary, clarified that the bill had already passed in the House of Representatives and was only before the Senate for concurrence, adding that existing laws already cover workplace-related offences.
The Senate subsequently adopted and passed the bill for third reading, marking a major milestone in the fight against sexual exploitation in Nigerian universities.
The move follows years of public outrage over repeated reports of sex-for-grades scandals across institutions in Lagos, Port Harcourt, Ilorin, Nsukka, Kano, Benin, and Abuja — many of which gained attention after the 2019 BBC “Sex-for-Grades” undercover investigation exposed entrenched abuse within academia.
Women’s rights advocates have hailed the Senate’s action as a long-overdue step toward justice and accountability, expressing hope that the new law will empower victims to speak out without fear of intimidation or retaliation.