Nigerian student claims lecturer sought sex in return for improved grades
Varsity administration suspends teacher, initiates probe
Monica Osagie. PHOTO: CNN
A Nigerian student said on Wednesday her lecturer had sought sexual favours to pass her to the next grade.
Monica Osagie, who got low marks in a course for her master's degree, claimed that her professor gave her two options: Sleep with him, or fail, CNN reported.
Facing the stark choice, Osagie says she knew no one would believe her word against that of the lecturer, so she recorded one of their conversations.
The recording was leaked online and went viral on social media platforms. Though Osagie said she did not leak the audio but submitted it to university authorities before someone put it up online.
In the audio tape, a man could be heard saying telling the student if she agreed to have sex with him five times, he would improve her grades.
"Is it not five we agreed? Our agreement is five," the man said on the tape.
Osagie replied, "Is it B that you want to give me or A? Why would it be five times you will knack me? Prof, you know what? Let me fail it. I can't do it five times."
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The allegations, surfacing amid the conversations around the global #Metoo movement, have now stirred a nationwide conversation in Nigeria about predatory sexual behavior in varsities and bolstered the notion that sexual harassment is a problem women around the world face daily.
The 23-year-old said she had developed a mentor-like relationship with the professor after she helped him edit a book he was authoring.
However, the relationship soon became uncomfortable as the professor started to make sexual advances.
"We actually edited the book together... Then, the next thing he told me was, 'Can you date me?' I was like, 'No.' He was like, 'Why?' I said, 'One, I don't date lecturers, and secondly, you are more matured than I am.'"
Osagie believed he intentionally gave her low marks so she would give in to his demands.
"He kept calling me to ask if I was ready to accept his proposal. So, I decided to record our next conversation," she concluded.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) in Osun State confirmed that the voice is that of Richard Akindele, an accounting professor at the university, saying a probe has been launched against him. The professor, he added, has been suspended following a final decision by the administration.