It’s International Women’s Day! [Issue 09. S3]
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This newsletter will focus on two things: Women, inequality and Chaos
Chaos: the Coronavirus, Nigeria
This newsletter is going through it. Send scones.
Sex for marks bill
Last year, BBC Africa Eye’s Sex for Grades documentary put a spotlight on the history of sexual harassment in universities in Nigeria. Through the documentary, we saw a lecturer solicit sex in place of academic grades from an undercover reporter posing as a student, and following its release, many women in universities accross the country who have suffered similar plight shared their stories.
After the release of the documentary, due (we imagine) to the attention it gained, the lecturers were said to have either been laid off or suspended while the schools carried out their own private investigations. Although not all the outcomes have gotten the same level of attention, it’s safe to say that as a result of this attention the documentary and stories on social media have gotten, the schools were forced to take these issues more seriously than they perhaps originally would.
The documentary and the buzz it gathered also led to the re-introduction of the Sex for Marks Bill. First introduced in 2016, the bill states that any lecturers found to be guilty of sexual harassment and misconduct would face between 5 to 14 years in prison, with no option of a fine. It also states that vice-chancellors and counsellors who fail to report sexual assault complaints within a week of reporting could face a 2-year jail sentence for obstruction of justice.
But when this bill was initially introduced in 2016, it was shut down by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) who claimed that it was “discriminatory”, and that it will “undermine the autonomy of universities”.
The bill was reintroduced in 2019. ASUU members that could lean on an argument of ignorance in the past are now fully aware of the depth of sexual harassment in Nigerian universities. But, the staff union is still protesting the bill.
To the staff union, it is essential that lecturers have agency over their female students bodies.
But, We are Loud and if we must, we will get LOUDER.
Boko Haram vs Coronavirus
On the 27th of February, Nigeria confirmed her first case of Coronavirus. Reports state that the virus was imported by an Italian man who had traveled from Milan, into Lagos through Murtala Muhammed Airport. He had been in the country for 2 days, one of which was spent in Ogun State, before he visited a hospital and the case was confirmed.
After the official announcement, Nigerians stocked up on the doomer kits consisting of masks, hand sanitizers and hand soap. According to social media recounts, some stores even hiked prices of these items by as high as 300% - apparently people forget that for you to be 100% safe, everyone around you has to have access to the same safety.
But the reality is that the millions of other issues in this country will probably kill us before this virus (which has a recorded death rate of less than 5%) even reaches us like that.
Case in point:
Boko Haram: Northeastern Nigeria is plagued monthly by attacks from Boko Haram or a Copycat crime group. Just 4 days before the coronavirus issue was announced, a church in Adamawa was bombed while a women’s prayer meeting was ongoing, and members were kidnapped. That was the second reported attack last month,
Lassa Fever: Rats are literally everywhere in this country. Seriously, take a walk, and I promise you that you will run into at least 3 rats,
Although it’s gradually reducing, Nigeria still records the highest ratio of deaths by Malaria in the whole world,
Inflation: The Nigerian government is not great with money; See the NASS’ debt records.
Nigerian girls are dying as a result of pedophiles and rapists. From injuries sustained as a result of the excessive pressure and from underage/prison-like childbirth.
So, yes, wash your hands and be careful where you put your mouth. But also, be guided.
“We need more women in transport”- Anita De Werd
Anita De Werd The head of Marketing and Business Development at the African Region for Mærsk, a Danish transportation and logistics company says Africa needs more women in the maritime and logistics sector.
Cool, so here’s our thing:
Imagine a Nigeria where women had the same access to power, where we have a fair amount of terrible, unremarkable and efficient women in power. If we had that, maybe we’d have more accommodating transportation needs for women -- working women, nursing women, mothers of young children. And perhaps the OkadaBan--though bad for everyone, has dealt women the dangerous end of the stick-- wouldn’t have seen the light of day.
Verdict: We need women everywhere.
Reforming internal modern-day slavery
A House of Representatives Member, Dr Balarabe Kakale, confirmed that the House has set March 12 to debate on the reforms in the Almajiri education system used in the Sharia states in Nigeria.
Almajiri was established in1906, by Alhassan Dantata (Aliko Dangote’s great-grandfather and one-time richest man in West Africa). It’s a system where a person (mainly a man) leaves his family in search of Islamic enlightenment; leaving his family to live with and learn from an Islamic leader. It was created as a way through which students could learn about their religion and get some version of a formal education-- as with Alhassan-- but as it gained popularity, it became less about education and more similar to slavery: the religious leaders started to use the children as beggers.
So, the House is looking to re-evaluate this system and propose reforms. Dr Kakale said that this debate would give both reps and stakeholders a chance to learn about the root causes of the diminished benefits of this system, and through that, can work out how to reform it for the better.
We’ll let you know how that goes.
Things we didn’t get into
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says Nigeria recorded N36.152 trillion as value of total trade in 2019, representing a 14.05 per cent increase over 2018, but this is still lower than what was recorded in 2018, and is still pretty close to the total national debt.
We might need to wait a while for the Lagos-Ibadan railway. The Nigerian Railway Corporation claims that construction and agreements have to pause due to the Coronavirus outbreak, Vanguard reports.