By YEJIDE GBENGA-OGUNDARE

Following various complaints and allegations of continuous abuse of female students in the Federal Government Girls College, Oyo, and the petition written to the Nigeria Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ), Oyo State chapter by concerned parents, Oyo NAWOJ on Sunday, July 18, 2022, demanded that relevant authorities take immediate action to halt such alleged abuses.

NAWOJ also called for the suspension of the principal of the school, to allow thorough investigation in the matter.

NAWOJ, speaking through its chairperson, Comrade Jadesola Ajibola, at a Press Conference held at the NUJ Press Centre, Iyaganku, Ibadan, called on the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, to immediately set up an investigation panel to look into the alleged molestation of the girls, sexual harassment and all forms of abuse against students of FGGC, Oyo.

NAWOJ also called on the Registrar of the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN), Professor Segun Ajiboye, who it described as an outstanding indigenous son of Oyo state, to investigate the attitude of these registered teachers without delay and take appropriate action.

“We demand the immediate suspension of the principal to allow for thorough investigation on the matter and the PTA Chairman also should resign with immediate effect as the Concerned Parents claim they no longer have confidence in your leaderships as it portends more danger to the lives of the girls in the school.

“And as the alleged perpetrators are undoubtedly members of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), we call on Comrade Raji Oladimeji to look into this issue further.

“As an association, we will not relent on our oars until we get justice for the survivor of the recent abuse, a minor who was regularly sexually abused and violated and other victims in that school.

“Also, we ask that the Federal Government who owns the school to set up a committee and make Oyo NAWOJ one of the members to investigate the alleged sexual abuse perpetrated against these students and bring any erring staff to justice,” NAWOJ demanded.

While condemning what is now called the sexual siege on FGGC Oyo and any form of violation against the rights of any child in the state in its totality, Oyo NAWOJ stated that it believed that by now, the leadership of the school ought to have set up a panel to investigate the dangerous trend reported by concerned parents of the school.

The association commended the Oyo state Police Command under the leadership of the new Commissioner of Police, CP Adebowale Williams, for taking up the recent incident involving a 14 year-old girl who was sexually molested and abused by her teacher and urged the CP to speed up investigations and start prosecution of the accused teacher before a court of competent jurisdiction within the state without delay.

NAWOJ also called on Governor Seyi Makinde and his wife to support in ensuring justice for the victims and provide more protection for pupils and students in the state, while warning others who are constantly engaging in the inhuman acts to stop it immediately as the law would surely catch up with them shortly.

Oyo NAWOJ also dvised parents to do more in ensuring the protection of their children at all times, adding that NAWOJ remains the voice for the voiceless in the country and would continue to respond to calls of this nature from other schools where some violators were still perpetrating such an act.

In her contribution, a representative of the Concerned Parents, Faniyan Nancy, stated that the molestation and defilement of girls in FGGC, Oyo has been on for over a decade within the school but became worse under the current principal, adding that parents could not continue to watch while the school sweeps cases under the carpet without considering the effect of the sexual abuses on the children.

Also speaking, another parent, Honourable Adewale Adebayo, said the parents had to shout out as rather than diminish, cases of teachers in the school abusing students sexually continue to rise and many students have been destroyed psychologically.

“We cannot close our eyes to this menace that can truncate the future of our children. Perpetrators must be made to face the law especially since the management of the school has been covering up such incidents in the past for months and refusing to take disciplinary actions against the perpetrators when such cases are reported,” he added.

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