A senior lecturer in the University of Lagos has given an insight into what came out as ‘cold room’ in the BBC video report that implicated two lecturers for sexual harassment of female students.
This is as UNILAG sets up a task force to generally check matters relating sexual harassment in the institution.
One of the lecturers indicted, Dr Boniface Igbeneghu, is seen in the video saying there is a ‘Cold Room’ at the staff recreation club of the university where some lecturers allegedly coo immoral things with female students.
The institutions’ management has not only refuted the claim, it has also shut down the room.
But in a chat with phenomenal.com.ng, the senior lecturer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity since the matter is under investigation, said Igbenghu goofed from the beginning.
According to him, what he called the ‘Cold Room’ was, at the coming on stream of the staff club, called ‘Cool Room’ because it was the only room that had air condition then.
“So, there is nothing like the ‘Cold Room’ as he said. I am talking about what informed history of UNILAG says. It was so named decades ago, when the staff club had just been built. It was the only room that had air condition; so it was called ‘Cool Room’, and it was not – and is not – a place for any immoral thing,” he said.
Meanwhile, the university said it set up the task force to address issues of sexual harassment with a view to stemming the ugly tide.
Its Principal Assistant Registrar for Communication, Mrs Taiwo Oloyede, said in a statement that the move“i was in continuation of the institution’s unrelenting campaign against the menace of sexual harassment and other forms of inappropriate behaviours.
As the News Agency of Nigeria stresses, the institution recently suspended two senior lecturers exposed in alleged sexual harassment in a BBC investigative documentary video, ‘African Eye’.
The documentary also exposed some lecturers of the University of Ghana, Legon.
“The task force has the mandate to examine the extant University of Lagos policy on sexual harassment, receive complaints from faculties, departments and other units concerning matters that border on sexual harassment.
“It is to also receive oral and written testimonies from staff and students involved in cases of sexual harassment and recommend appropriate sanction for offenders.
“The task force, in addition to other functions, will put forward counselling and other therapies for mitigating the adverse effects of sexual harassment on victims and carry out other duties aimed at eradicating the ugly trend from the institution,’’ the statement read in part.
The task force is expected to send monthly reports of its activities to the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Oluwatoyin Ogundipe.
Oloyede reiterated the institution’s commitment to stamping out the menace of sexual harassment and related offences from its campuses.
She noted that the university “would spare no effort in ensuring that it remained a foremost citadel of learning and promoting excellence in character’’
