Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - UniIlorin Lecturer Rape Scandal

Such unprofessional and predatory behavior accounts, partly, for why our universities remain in the periphery of global education. These dysfunctional institutions, in which the fundamental rights of students are routinely abrogated, could never aspire to attain the type of position that has been attained by institutions of higher learning in formerly developing countries such as Singapore and South Korea. 

The failure to protect female students at our universities is part of the overall failure of government to prevent tyranny directed at citizens by state and non-state actors. 

On Mon, Jun 13, 2016 at 9:33 AM, Moses Ebe Ochonu <meochonu@gmail.com> wrote:

Below is a link to an abridged version of a youtube audio recorded by a brave female student of the University of Ilorin, Nigeria. The tape records Dr. M.S Idiagbon, the HOD of the English Department, attempting to rape the student in his office. The full tape, which is 49 minutes long and is in the possession of the University's authorities, allegedly has Idiagbon threatening to fail the student in her exams and to even get her expelled from the University if she does not come to his office and if he does not sexually have his way with her. 

Needless to say, this is a reprehensible and egregiously criminal conduct. The tape is circulating widely in the Nigerian cyberspace and is generating, for good or bad, much discussion about the scourge of rapes and sexual harassment by lecturers in universities and other tertiary institutions in the country. 

Dr. Idiagbon can be heard in the tape bragging about his previous rapes, and arrogantly displaying an odious sense of entitlement to the victim's body.

The problem is widespread in Nigerian universities. As an undergraduate, I know some of these predators, and my interactions with colleagues and students at home have exposed me to the ugly truth of the persistence and even escalation of this crime on our campuses. 

The last time we discussed this issue on this forum, some folks disappointingly tried to minimize both the scope and seriousness of the problem by advancing specious and defensively evasive arguments, and some even tried to shift the blame to the poor victims. Others, insiders in the system, courageously admitted that this was a rampant problem and that they personally knew colleagues who indulged in sexual predation by leveraging their power over female students.

Hopefully, this tape, and other recent audio-visually documented rape scandals, will combine to shame the deniers. More importantly, one hopes that the awareness of the existence and increased accessibility of virtually undetectable recording devices will serve as a deterrent to sexual predators and rapists among Nigerian university faculty.

Dr. Idiagbon has resigned as HOD, but the university claims it is still investigating and has not taken any action against the predator.

https://youtu.be/TjGCuYmUmW8 

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JOHN MUKUM MBAKU, ESQ.
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Nonresident Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution
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Brady Presidential Distinguished Professor of Economics &  John S. Hinckley Fellow
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