Any teacher or member of the school staff found guilty of sexually harassing pupils would be subject to the full force of the law, the Kano State Government has committed to take immediate action against them.
Ibrahim Sumaila, the Senior Special Assistant to Governor Abba Yusuf on Student Matters, made this announcement to reporters on Wednesday.
The statement said that the SSA discussed strategies to combat the shockingly high rate of sexual harassment in educational institutions in a high-level stakeholders conference hosted by the Centre for Awareness on Justice and Accountability.
“As an Islamic state, Kano will not stand by and allow our daughters to be mistreated and degraded. He promised to swiftly flush out and convict any teacher who dared to violate a student.
Sumaila stated that NGOs spearheading sector advocacy and reform had the backing of the state government.
A six-month effort by CAJA to reduce sexual harassment through strategic policy-making at the institutional level was launched at the event, which included media professionals and students.
The effort, according to CAJA Executive Director Kabiru Dakata, is aimed at creating internal rules in secondary and tertiary educational institutions. He emphasized that the majority of these institutions either lack a clear sexual harassment policy or cover such matters in ambiguous student handbooks.
“We spent three years working to pass a national sexual harassment law, but the process is time-consuming.
Now, we are going for the low-hanging fruit—pushing individual institutions to adopt clear, stand-alone policies,” Dakata said.
He lamented that many victims suffer in silence, with some dropping out or failing courses because they refuse to yield to the demands of predatory lecturers.
“Students don’t even know where to report or who to turn to when harassed. That’s a failure of the system,” he added.
Barrister Maryam Ahmad Abubakar, who delivered a paper on understanding sexual harassment in academic settings, described the act as any unwelcome sexual behaviour—verbal, physical, or psychological—that creates a hostile learning environment.
She emphasised the need to enlighten both staff and students on boundaries, citing the importance of moral and religious teachings in reducing such cases.
Among the proposed strategies were: enforcing strict penalties, revising admission and employment ages, and integrating moral instruction into general studies curricula.
CAJA, with support from the Nigerian Women’s Trust Fund and other partners, also plans to empower survivors as advocates, conduct advocacy in selected schools, and produce campaign materials to raise awareness.
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