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A new report by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has revealed how most allegations of corruption in federal universities have neither been thoroughly investigated nor punished. The report titled: ‘Stealing the future: How federal universities in Nigeria have been stripped apart by corruption’ said: “Impunity for corruption in the university system has negatively affected the governance of federal universities and the quality of education received by the students.”

A postgraduate student in the Business Administration Faculty, who made an audio recording of a lecturer of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State, demanding five sessions of sex in order to increase her marks, appeared Tuesday before the investigative committee set up by the university. Her lawyer expressed optimism that the outcome of the investigative panel would serve as a lesson to other predatory lecturers.

A recent report by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has unearthed the rot in many of Nigeria’s higher institutions, highlighting an intricate collusion among staff, students and other stakeholders. In the report titled, ‘Stealing the future: How federal universities in Nigeria have been stripped apart by corruption’, SERAP claimed that many allegations of corruption in federal universities – such as unfair allocation of grades; contract inflation; truncation of staff’s salary on the payroll; employment of unqualified staff; examination malpractice; sexual harassment; and issuance of results for expelled student to graduate have not been thoroughly investigated.

The Commissioner for Education, Science and Culture says there are three major kinds of corruption in the West Africa’s educational system: manipulation of girls, favouritism when it comes to admission into higher institutions and sex for marks. Young girls often fall prey to teachers, among others “who make the education sector the worst hit by corruption. A scholarship programme has been put in place in order to protect these young girls and strengthen the educational terrain.

The University of Lagos has suspended a lecturer who was caught on film propositioning and sexually harassing an undercover BBC reporter. Several students in the film also made allegations of abuse against the lecturer. The university said it was "highly embarrassed" by the allegations and pledged to do "all that is necessary" to investigate and combat the "menace" of harassment at the institution.

A former Executive secretary of the Lagos State Scholarship Board has been charged with 8 counts of criminal conversion of N127 million belonging to the scholarship board. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s report revealed that the funds meant for students’ scholarship payments, staff welfare and office renovation had been used for personal purposes.