SEXUAL harassment in Nigerian campuses thrives largely due to a culture of silence, intimidation, and low institutional action. Many victims are unable to speak out due to fear of retaliation, stigma, or lack of trust in school authorities. Against this backdrop enters a digital initiative known as Oga Lecturer, a platform created by the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR), which is seeking to change that.

Oga Lecturer (www.ogalecturer.com) allows students to report sexual abuse anonymously, track institutional accountability, and provides support.

A 2025 ICIR survey conducted across multiple Nigerian campuses revealed that “Not trusting the system; threats from harassers; and fear of stigma” were the top barriers preventing victims from reporting. The survey had 312 respondents, including 93 males.

How Oga Lecturer came to be

“The Oga Lecturer project is a media initiative aimed at exposing and combating sexual harassment by lecturers of Nigerian higher institutions, including universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education,” its description reads on the ‘About us’ page.

Chukwudi Iwuoha, a programme officer for The ICIR, explains that Oga Lecturer was born out of a need to help students overcome the culture of fear. He says, “Sexual harassment in Nigerian universities is widespread, yet victims often feel powerless to act. The project was created to empower students, especially female students, to overcome intimidation and reclaim their confidence.”

He describes the problem as systemic.

“Sexual harassment has been like a pandemic in our institutions. Female students are often made to feel they cannot perform independently. Sometimes it’s suggested that a student must sleep with a lecturer to progress. We want students to know they can succeed without compromising themselves,” he states.

He adds that the platform helps students report harassment, understand their rights, and access support. “It’s not just about reporting”, he says, “it’s about empowering them to speak up and ensuring they are heard.”

On feedback about the platform’s name being male-coded “Oga”, Iwuoha responded, “Most sexual harassment incidents are perpetrated by male lecturers when compared to female-to-male harassment in universities.”

Beyond digital: the offline engagement of Oga Lecturer

Although Oga Lecturer is a digital initiative, it combines online reporting with offline engagement. The project has conducted surveys, sensitisation campaigns, campus outreach, and institutional visits across Nigeria. It is currently implementing a peer-to-peer advocacy model aimed at empowering female students to combat sexual harassment in higher education institutions.

In 2023, Oga Lecturer carried out an awareness campaign in 12 institutions, introducing students to the platform and educating them on how to use it.

Joshua Prince, from one of the sensitised institutions, says the Oga lecturer anonymous reporting platform serves two purposes. Students who are being harassed can report, and other students can also report misconduct, even if the victim does not.

Additionally, as part of the data-gathering efforts of The ICIR, field officers visited campuses to administer surveys. One of them, Itoro Udo, described mixed reactions from students.

“Getting students to fill out the survey wasn’t so difficult. Many were already fed up with the way sexual harassment was handled in their schools,” she, however, noted that some students expressed distrust.  “Some were hesitant because they felt it wouldn’t make a difference. They said many cases had been overlooked, so nothing would change.”

Udo explains that ‘fear’ also played a role as “some were scared that answering the survey would implicate them,” some of them eventually did after assurances about confidentiality.

ICIR uses this data to refine and design its programming so as to get maximum mileage.

With support from the Development Research and Project Centre (dRPC) through its NGO Support Initiative (NSI), Oga Lecturer launched a peer-led advocacy model in 2025. The initiative ‘Empowering Female Students to Challenge Sexual Harassment in Nigerian Universities’ is designed to build student networks that support survivors and enhance reporting mechanisms.

According to Iwuoha, “we are making students aware of sexual harassment policies and reporting mechanisms in their universities. Awareness is critical because many students don’t know their rights or who to contact.”

The model includes training students who will serve as ambassadors, building bridges between students and trusted lecturers, supporting survivors through referral systems and engaging school management on policy reforms.

“We have student ambassadors who collect reports and guide victims to support lecturers. These lecturers then communicate with the university administration when necessary. This builds trust and allows victims to speak up safely,” Iwuoha explains.

He adds that peer-led advocacy is essential as “students often face isolation. Peer support ensures they are not alone when navigating harassment cases.”

Mercy Mmesoma, another student who was sensitised during the campus tour awareness campaign in 2023, when informed about the addition of the peer-to-peer aspect, agrees that it can help build a community.

“Most victims don’t know who to trust”, she replies. “Many don’t feel comfortable opening up to government officials or elders. But with their peers and friends, they can trust and talk.”

“So yes, it can help,” she stated in response to her view of the model.

One of the student ambassadors, Miranda Hassan Danjuma, while speaking following a capacity training, describes the peer-led model as a place where she can be heard.

“I feel like it’s a safe place where my voice can be heard and something can actually be done about it,” she says.

The offline activities of the Oga Lecturer also include institutional engagement with the goal of strengthening policies.

According to Iwuoha, “Universities are starting to recognise the need to combat sexual harassment… Nearby institutions are now cooperating to create safer campuses. This is a groundbreaking achievement for us.”

Iwuoha believes it has increased student confidence significantly.

“The project empowers female students with knowledge about sexual harassment and gives them local support networks. It allows them to overcome fear and reclaim their agency,” he states.

Barriers to reporting and anonymous digital reporting of Oga Lecturer

Despite progress, persistent barriers remain. Iwuoha explains, “Fear is one of the major reasons students don’t report harassment. There is also stigma, and sometimes victims are blamed or left to deal with the situation alone.”

Hence, the anonymous digital reporting of the Oga Lecturer. The platform operates first as an anonymous reporting system that allows students to document incidents of sexual harassment without fear of exposure or retaliation.

Through the “Report Assault” form on the website, students can choose whether or not to provide their name or email. They are only required to fill in core details such as the institution involved, the category of the alleged perpetrator (lecturer, student, non-academic staff), and a description of what happened.

This structure ensures safety and accessibility while giving victims and witnesses a direct, confidential pathway to speak up. The aim is to break the culture of silence by offering students a secure space to come forward, says Iwuoha.

Once a report is submitted, the Oga Lecturer team reviews the information and determines the appropriate response. Cases may be escalated to relevant authorities and stakeholders outside or within the school or connected to legal and psychosocial support systems, depending on the needs of the student.

In situations where institutional action is weak or nonexistent, the platform triggers independent investigative journalism, digging deeper into allegations and exposing systemic failures that enable abuse.

This leads to the investigative and accountability reporting aspect of Oga Lecturer.

Investigative journalism as an accountability arm of Oga Lecturer

Investigative journalist Nanji Venley Nandang, who leads several Oga Lecturer investigations, including a recent one from Bayero University Kano (BUK), describes the intervention as transformative.

“Oga Lecturer is a very good initiative that will go a long way in enlightening students. It doesn’t just publish stories; it guides students on how to report cases and how their rights can be protected,” she states.

She also hosts Twitter Spaces on sexual harassment awareness for Oga Lecturer. She notes that classroom coercion, hostile verbal comments, non-verbal harassment, online blackmail, physical assault and institutional negligence are some of the breadth of abuse she has documented.

“Students tell me how lecturers demand sex for grades. Many give in because they don’t know how else to tackle the situation,” she says.

She referenced a notorious Kogi State University case, “in July, a lecturer reportedly died during sexual intercourse with his 200-level student in a hotel. Cases like this show how lecturers exploit students’ timidity,” she explains.

She adds that “some lecturers walk into the classroom and sexualise female students, saying things like, ‘Is it because you are carrying big breasts or a big bum that you think you can be rude to me?’ The girls are uncomfortable but don’t know how to report.”

She noted that there is also hostile-environment harassment, “Lecturers intimidate students into agreeing to romantic relationships. Some students eventually drop out. One student told me she left the university in her 300-level because of persistent harassment.”

And increasingly, online sexual harassment, “A student told me how her boyfriend used intimate photos to blackmail her for money.”

Nandang notes that the legal framework exists, but it is poorly implemented. “Lack of implementation of our laws and policies is the reason these abuses persist. The VAPP Act, the Child Rights Act, and university sexual harassment policies are not properly enforced,” she says.

She states that even institutions that champion reforms sometimes fail to uphold their own standards, “One organisation told me they knew what was happening but didn’t want to ‘spoil their partnership’ with the school.”

She states that Oga Lecturer fills an essential gap. “Oga Lecturer engages with students through social media, Twitter Spaces, and sensitisation on campuses. The ambassadors do the footwork in schools. It doesn’t end with storytelling; there is real one-on-one engagement,” she says.

She believes that this combination of journalism, data, outreach and support positions Oga Lecturer as an accountability tool that will lead to enlightenment and have a long-term impact.

“Very soon, students will understand their rights. Policymakers will have no choice but to sit up,” she says.

Muhammad Sada, a lecturer who has done research on gender and GBV, believes digital tools like Oga Lecturer are critical.  His school was one of the institutions visited during the awareness tour.

He says, “the culture of silence surrounding sexual harassment in the Nigerian higher educational system can be broken with the use of digital reporting tools like Oga Lecturer. They offer immediacy and anonymity, two essential elements that will motivate witnesses and victims to speak up without worrying about shame, victim blaming or reprisal by perpetrators or society.”

But he cautions that without strong legal backing and institutional collaboration, such platforms risk becoming symbolic rather than transformative.

He calls for proactive institutional adoption, “The university management should not see the platform as an external tool but as a partner. They should integrate it into their internal reporting system so that cases reported online are reviewed by the disciplinary committee”.

He added that they should create clear guidelines and protect whistleblowers.

A researcher with Health Policy Research Group (HPRG) and a doctoral student, Ifunanya Agu, notes that, “in Nigeria, many students stay silent because they fear consequences. A digital anonymous platform can break this silence.”

Agu, whose doctoral research focuses on evaluating interventions that address gender issues, explains that sustainability depends on institutional action because, “If complaints just sit without follow-up, victims will lose trust. Feedback is crucial,” she says.

She insists the platform should be universal, as “Lecturers can be victims of colleagues. Students can be victims of lecturers or fellow students. Everyone in the university system should be able to use the platform.”

This report is done for ICIR under the dRPC-NSI reporting grant.