The Chief Executive Officer, WFM 91.7, Mrs Toun Okewale-Sonaiya, has asked the Lagos State Government not to be silent on the expected prosecution of anyone found wanting in the sex for grades documentary.
She said the state government was yet to take action on the case of Dr Boniface Igbeneghu, a lecturer at the University of Lagos, who was captured in the sex-for-grades documentary by the BBC.
Okewale-Sonaiya, who spoke at the inaugural annual lecture series organised in Lagos by the alumni of the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ogun State, said, “Dr Boniface is a pastor who allegedly committed sexual harassment.
“According to the sexual law of Lagos State, once you harass somebody, you go to three years’ imprisonment. After this documentary, Lagos State told us that they are prosecuting. But we are not keeping quiet because Lagos State is keeping quiet.
“Lagos State is a state of excellence in Nigeria; they do a lot of positive things but they are keeping quiet. We are not keeping quiet because he has been caught on camera. He has to do three years because that has to serve as a deterrent to others.”
She also lamented that apart from sex for grades, there had been instances of sex for salvation and sex for food as experienced in internally displaced persons’ camps. “When you go to the IDPs camps, the women sell their bodies to get food to feed their husband and children. There is sex for salvation and we have to fight it,” she added.
Okewale-Sonaiya added that it was important that people who work in schools, churches, mosques and hospitals subscribe to the National Sexual Offenders Register, which was launched on November 25, 2019. This, she said, would enable them to have a background check on their cooks, drivers and even colleagues.
Also present at the event were the deputy registrar of OOU, Mr Oluite Adekoya, who represented the vice-chancellor, and the founder of Proshare Limited, Mr Femi Awoyemi.
Adekoya, who spoke on other measures put in place to tackle issues of sex for grades in the institution, stated that the university’s counselling centre was being equipped, “because we believe you must be able to instill some courage in the female students for them to be able to really come forward.”
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