The Edo State Ministry of Education has reaffirmed its commitment to eradicating sexual harassment, abuse of power, and other forms of misconduct from educational institutions across the State.
The pledge was made recently during a stakeholders’ engagement between the Ministry and the Edo State Office of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), held at the Ministry’s premises in Benin City.
The meeting, led by the Resident Anti-Corruption Commissioner (RACC) for Edo State, Ebenezer Shogunle, Esq., centred on strengthening collaboration between the Commission and the Ministry in the dissemination and institutional adoption of the approved Model Anti-Sexual Harassment Policy for Educational Institutions in Nigeria. Discussions also covered the training and strengthening of Independent Sexual Harassment Prohibition Committees in tertiary institutions across the State.
Speaking at the engagement, the RACC explained that the Model Anti-Sexual Harassment Policy was jointly developed by the ICPC and the Gender Mobile Initiative as part of the Commission’s preventive mandate to address systemic vulnerabilities that facilitate sexual harassment and abuse of power within educational institutions.
He noted that the Policy, designed to provide educational institutions with a comprehensive framework for preventing, reporting, investigating and responding to sexual harassment, has been approved by the Federal Ministry of Education for dissemination and adoption by tertiary institutions nationwide.
According to him, effective implementation of the Policy requires robust collaboration among regulatory authorities, educational institutions and other relevant stakeholders.
He further stated that ICPC, under the leadership of its Chairman, Dr Musa Adamu Aliyu, SAN, remains committed to making educational institutions safer environments for learning, teaching and human capital development through preventive interventions, institutional reforms and strategic partnerships.
The ICPC Commission therefore solicited the Ministry’s support in facilitating the dissemination and adoption of the Policy across tertiary institutions in Edo State, as well as in building the capacity of members of the Independent Sexual Harassment Prohibition Committees.
Responding, the Permanent Secretary, Edo State Ministry of Education, Sir Enodolomwanyi Otamere, welcomed the initiative and pledged the Ministry’s full support and cooperation towards ensuring that educational institutions in the State provide safe, respectful and harassment-free environments for students and staff.
The Permanent Secretary expressed the Ministry’s readiness to work with the ICPC and other relevant stakeholders to strengthen existing mechanisms for preventing and responding to sexual harassment and abuse of power within the education sector.
The engagement is expected to pave the way for deeper collaboration between the ICPC and the Edo State Ministry of Education in strengthening institutional safeguards, promoting ethical conduct and protecting the rights and dignity of members of the academic community.