Nigeria has been battling a pervading sex-for-grades culture on its campuses for decades; and a couple of university lecturers have recently been fired or jailed for preying on young, impressionable women on campuses and for coercing them into sexual moments in exchange for grades.

During a one-kilometer walk staged in Calabar, the Cross River State capital, in commemoration of this year’s “16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence (GBV)”, Ayade who was represented at the event by Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Ms. Tina Agbor, said girls who study hard in universities won't need to sleep with lecturers for grades, The Nation reports.

The event was themed: “Orange the World: Leave No One Behind, End Violence against Women and Girls.”

Per The Nation, Ayade's remarks at the event, read by his representative, contained the following sentences: “Because the society has told you that for you to be a complete woman, you have to be married, many women are holding on to very wrong and abusive relationships.

“As a woman, you must add value to yourself for the men to respect you because when you reduce yourself to nothing, the men will kick you around.

“As a girl in the university, study hard and no one will take advantage of you because they know that you are worth your onions.

“Some of the university girls that say they were sexually molested are dullards who visit lecturers privately to beg for marks.”

In July, the Nigerian Senate passed the sexual harassment bill which seeks to protect university students from predatory lecturers.

The bill prevents lecturers from having or demanding sexual intercourse from students or prospective students; making sexual advances; or directing another person to commit any act of sexual harassment.

The bill also prohibits lecturers from whistling, winking, stalking, making sexual jokes, or making sexually complimentary or uncomplimentary remarks about a student's physique.

They are also prevented from grabbing, hugging, kissing, rubbing, stroking, touching, or pinching the breasts, hair, lips, hips, buttocks, or any other sensual part of a student's body.

The bill also stipulates that a student cannot grant consent to a sexual relationship with a lecturer.

Upon conviction, offenders can be sentenced to a maximum of 14 years in prison, fined the sum of N5 million, or both.

The bill has been forwarded to the House of Representatives for concurrence, from where it will be sent to President Muhammadu Buhari for assent or rejection.

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), the body of university lecturers, vehemently opposed the bill.