By Angela Atabo
The African University of Science and Technology (AUST) and the Regional Scholarship and Innovation Fund (RSIF) have built the capacity of students and staffers on sexual harassment prevention and safeguarding.
Prof. Azikiwe Onwualu, President of AUST, made this known at the RSIF Refresher Workshop on “Preventing Sexual Harassment and Grievance Redress Mechanisms” on Wednesday in Abuja.
According to Onwualu, the workshop aims to strengthen the culture of safety, awareness, accountability, and support while reaffirming its zero-tolerance policy and commitment to creating a safe academic environment for students and staff.
He said, “The message we are giving is that in any environment like this where you have males and females at different levels, some of them are lecturers, some are admin staff, some are laboratory people, and then you have students; there is bound to be issues of sexual harassment.
“The essence of the workshop is to reinforce to everybody that there are rules of engagement and regulations in things like these because otherwise you will have situations where students may be vulnerable and the lecturers or staff can take advantage.
“So, to ensure that things like these do not happen, or even when they happen, that they are addressed.”
Onwualu said the university comprised of students and lecturers from all over Africa and the world, so it was important that the gender policy and sexual harassment policy of the university be adhered to bearing in mind AUST’s zero tolerance.
He said the workshop was organised in collaboration with the Partnership for Skills in Applied Sciences and Engineering (PASET) a World Bank programme that sends PhD students from all over Africa to AUST.
Onwualu added, “Part of what they came to see is to be sure that we have a good environment that handles issues of sexual harassment to a point where you can have a zero level in terms of things like that happening.
“But more importantly, when it happens, it is to be sure that both students and staff have a very good redress mechanism so that if somebody is being harassed, the person should be able to speak up, report, and then the system would redress it.”
Also speaking, Dr Evelyn Nguku, Head of the Integrated Capacity Building Platform at the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe), said the
organisation supports students for doctorate studies and was intentional about having safe university environments.
Nguku, who is also the Capacity Building Specialist for the Regional Scholarship and Innovation Fund (RSIF), explained that the training was, therefore, important for both students, supervisors and the general population for great productivity.
“If this environment is good and it is safe, then their productivity and quality of their PhD goes up because they are supported from all spheres to enable them to undertake their research,” she said.
Also speaking, Bonfire Nyagah, Capacity Building and Safeguarding Specialist at icipe, said the goal of the workshop was to spark honest conversations about recognising, reporting and properly addressing harassment within academic spaces.
“Safeguarding deals with protecting scholarship recipients and faculty from any form of harassment or gender-based violence.
“We want participants to understand what harassment looks like and what to do when it happens within the law and within university policies,” he said.
Nyagah warned that society often normalises harmful behaviours.
He added, “Sometimes someone is being sexually harassed, but they think those are compliments. We want people to know when it is happening and how to respond appropriately.”
Nyagah praised AUST’s leadership for taking a firm stand on enforcing its safeguarding rules. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)
Edited by Bashir Rabe Mani
