THE International Center for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) on Friday, August 29, trained Student Ambassadors and Project Support Lecturers from Bingham University on empowering female students to confront sexual harassment in Nigerian universities.
The training is supported by development Research and Projects Centre (dRPC), through its NGO Support Initiative (NSI)
In his welcome remarks, the Executive Director of ICIR, Dayo Aiyetan, expressed gratitude to Bingham University for embracing the initiative, noting that some institutions had subtly turned it down.
The ICIR Senior Programmes Officer, Chukwudi Iwuoha, said the training aimed at building a safe, accountable campus environment for students through individual empowerment and systemic transformation.
“We are training 10 ambassadors per university, and today we have trained 10 ambassadors. The trained student ambassadors are expected to raise awareness, educate peers, support victims, and promote reporting of sexual harassment.
“They will advocate for policy reforms, collaborate with project support lecturers, and maintain professionalism while engaging. They will serve as trusted leaders driving cultural and institutional change on their campuses,” Iwuoha said.
The consultant and project mentor of dRPC, Nkiru Duru, said the project was dRPC’s little way to help fight against sexual harassment in tertiary institutions.
He said over the years, the menace of sexual harassment had eaten deep into the society.
“I am very impressed with the students. You know, I can see the zeal they already have, the student ambassadors. And I’m happy they have that zeal and they are open to learning. And the lecturers, who are supporting their projects, are also willing to help to guide the students more,” she said.
While urging the student ambassadors to use the skills and knowledge they acquired from the training to empower their colleagues from other universities (since it’s not possible for the project to reach all the universities in Nigeria), Duru said people should know that sexual harrassment was no more business as usual.
The ICIR Editor, Victoria Bamas, who was the trainer and facilitator, expressed delight that the students’ ambassadors already had an understanding of sexual harassment and the willingness to take their ambassadorial role more seriously.
“Now that they have this better knowledge, they are more likely to create their awareness, because they now understand boundaries. They are now more likely to help their school and their classmates create safe spaces,” Bamas said.
One of the student ambassadors, Miranda Hassan Danjuma, expressed enthusiasm with creating a safe and welcoming space for fellow students, adding that the training was rewarding and filled with valuable learning opportunities.
“I feel like it’s a safe place where my voice can be heard and something can actually be done about it. And, moving forward to letting them have more knowledge about this in order to create impact in society, not just in the university but allaround Nigeria and the world at large,” she said.
Nanji is an investigative journalist with the ICIR. She has years of experience in reporting and broadcasting human angle stories, gender inequalities, minority stories, and human rights issues. She has documented sexual war crimes in armed conflict, sex for grades in Nigerian Universities, harmful traditional practices and human trafficking.