A fierce statement against abuse of power in Nigeria’s ivory towers echoed through the Senate chamber on Wednesday as senators approved a legislation prescribing up to 14 years in prison for lecturers who sexually harass students.

The passage of the Sexual Harassment of Students (Prevention and Prohibition) Bill, 2025, marked a watershed in the fight against sexual exploitation in tertiary institutions, a problem long whispered about in corridors of power but rarely confronted head-on.

Moved by the Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele (APC, Ekiti Central), the bill seeks to dismantle what he described as a “culture of coercion and silence” that has eroded trust between educators and students.

According to Bamidele, the legislation is crafted to “protect students from all forms of sexual misconduct and abuse within academic environments”, while enshrining respect for human dignity and ethical standards in teaching.

“This law safeguards the sanctity of the student-educator relationship built on authority, dependency and trust,” he told his colleagues. “It ensures that no educator ever uses that trust as a weapon of exploitation again.”

Under the new Act, educators convicted of sexual harassment face a minimum of five years and up to 14 years imprisonment, with no option of fine.
Lesser but related offences attract between two and five years imprisonment, also without a fine.

Even indirect complicity, such as aiding or inducing another person to commit sexual harassment, now carries criminal weight.
The Act also removes the defence of consent, stating: “It shall not be a defence that a student consented” to the act. Only a legally recognised marriage between both parties may serve as an exception.

Students, or their representatives, including family members, guardians, or lawyers, can now file a written petition for sexual harassment directly with the Nigerian Police Force, the Attorney-General, or the institution’s Independent Sexual Harassment Prohibition Committee.

Every tertiary institution will be mandated to establish such a committee, empowered to investigate and deliver final decisions on complaints in line with the law.

However, once a case enters court, no internal disciplinary panel may continue the same matter, to avoid conflicts of jurisdiction. For years, Nigerian campuses have been rocked by stories of “sex-for-grades” scandals, many of which went unpunished. The Senate’s decision, analysts say, signals a zero-tolerance era for such abuses.