The Nigerian senate has introduced a bill that aims to prevent the sexual harassment of university students.
The proposed legislation follows a BBC investigation that uncovered alleged sexual misconduct by lecturers in Nigeria and Ghana.
The senate’s deputy president said he hoped the BBC’s investigation would help energise support for the bill.
Senator Ovie Omo-Agege said that, as a father, he found sexual harassment in universities was unacceptable.
If the bill becomes law, it would be illegal for lecturers to make sexual advances towards students.
Under the proposed law, read in the senate on Wednesday, teaching staff could face up to 14 years in jail for having sexual relationships with their students.
The anti-sexual harassment bill was originally introduced in 2016 but didn’t get through both houses in parliament.
Footage of alleged sexual misconduct by academics at the University of Lagos and the University of Ghana was broadcast on Monday in a documentary by the BBC’s Africa Eye investigative unit.
The documentary has provoked outrage in Nigeria and Ghana, leading to the suspension of four lecturers implicated in the film.
Both institutions have distanced themselves from the claims and suspended the lecturers involved, who denied the allegations.
