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| BBC journalist, Kiki Mordi |
BBC journalist, Kiki
Mordi, has told Sahara Reporters that she had seen "floating
threats" since her widely applauded undercover investigation into sexual
harassment of female students by male lecturers at the University of Lagos and
the University of Ghana respectively was published.
The
investigation, which took almost a year, saw Mordi and other undercover female
journalists secretly filming randy lecturers in both universities trying to use
their positions to demand sex from young ladies in order to favour them
academically.
According to
Mordi, who said on Monday that the project was inspired by her personal story,
she is not bothered by those threats because the BBC takes the
security of employees very seriously.
She said, “I
havent seen any direct threats but I have seen "floating threats" and
all of that but thankfully I work with a team that takes security very
seriously. The BBC have security in place to ensure that we are safe at
all times.
“Before
embarking on this project, the team prayed a lot and also sang because it
helped to calm the nerves.
“But I had
to go through the training I received over and over again because I wanted to
get it right.
“The bulk of the ritual
I performed were reading, research and preparation.
“The biggest
goal of this work was to be louder than the aggressor because sexual harassment
is very loud. I wanted it to be silenced.
“I am happy
that a lot is changing already since the documentary was release and I can
confirm to you that one of the lecturers at the University of Lagos caught
sexually harassing a prospective student has been dismissed by the institution.
“I believe
it doesn’t stop there until there is a conviction. We have to break that
culture of impunity.”
In the
undercover documentary now making the rounds on the Internet, one of the
lecturers at the University of Lagos, Dr Boniface Igbeneghu, a former sub-dean
of Faculty of Arts, who is also a pastor of a local branch of the Foursquare
Gospel Church, was seen making amorous advances at the ‘prospective student’,
who claimed to be 17 years old.
At a point
in the video, he offered her a wine, asked her to switch off the light in the
room so that he could kiss her.
After the
young lady didn’t do as he had said, Igbeneghu soon stood up to switch off the
light himself before going back on the sofa they both seated to pull her close
to himself for what he described as a “cold room” experience.
According to
the lecturer, the “cold room” is a place within the school’s senior staff club
where he and his colleagues take female students to for sexual pleasure.
Since the
video went public, there have been reactions from all across the country with
many prominent voices calling for a quick action by the government to arrest
sexual harassment in higher institutions in the country.
Apart from
being axed by Unilag, the Foursquare Gospel Church in Nigeria also announced
the suspension of Igbeneghu on Monday.
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