Varsity teacher wants stiffer penalties for culprits of sex scandals

Former Vice Chancellor of Samuel Adegboyega University (SAU) Ogwa, Edo State, Prof. Bernard Aigbokhan, yesterday canvassed stiffer penalties, including prosecutions and dismissals, for lecturers indicted over sex for grades.

Aigbokhan said that the measure is to check the unwholesome practice in the nation’s tertiary institutions.

He made the call during a farewell party organised in his honour by the university management after his seven-year stewardship as the ivory tower’s second substantive chief executive.

The don said any academic staff indicted for the offence should not be spared but be made to face both internal disciplinary panel and prosecution under the law.

Aigbokhan regretted that the menace had brought the teaching profession to disrepute, adding that the victims were sometimes children and wards of academic staff in other higher institutions.

“Whoever commits such offences bordering on sex for grades should be reprimanded, sanctioned and dismissed. Some of us lecturers are parents of these young girls who are victims of sexual assaults on campuses. We have children in the university. So, if you are doing that, what do you expect other people to do to your own daughter? So, I don’t have sympathy for lecturers being prosecuted over sex for grades, “he asserted.

The professor of economics also called on the Federal Government to extend the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) to private universities nationwide.

According to him, a large part of the revenue sources available to TETFUND was tax from the private sector, and as such, private institutions should be allowed to benefit from the fund.

In his remark, the Vice chancellor, Prof. Babatunde Idowu, described his predecessor’s tenure as one that recorded unprecedented infrastructure development as well as uncommon academic and administrative excellence.

Hailing Aigbokhan’s developmental strides, the vice chancellor said he would be missed by staff and students for his contributions to academic excellence