Across campuses in Nigeria lately, videos have surfaced of students beating lecturers accused of sexual harassment. The men in those clips are being called “randy lecturers” — a campus slang for lecturers who use grades, admission, or supervision as leverage for sex.
The latest was the trending video of a lecturer with Nnamdi Azikiwe who was beaten by some young men said to have come from outside the school. According to the story, the lecturer was said to have been set up after luring a young female student to his office to seek sexual favours.
At the same period a similar incident was said to have taken place in an institution in Asaba, Delta State. And earlier, was the story coming of an elderly lecturer at Paul University, Awka, who jumped down from a storey building after he was caught in a compromising situation with a female student.
But today, the tables seem to be turning and a kind of revolution is going on campuses. The students are fighting back and one could safely say the anger of students is real. So is the frustration.
Why this keeps happening
For years, many students have complained of quid-pro-quo demands in hostels, offices, and WhatsApp DMs. Complaints to departments often go nowhere. Investigations drag. Victims are told to “settle it” or risk failing a course.
When institutions keep silent, and when due process feels like a dead end, mob action starts to feel like the only way to be heard. That’s what we’re seeing now: students filming, chasing, and beating accused lecturers in broad daylight. But is that the best?
The problem with jungle justice
As satisfying as those videos feel in the moment, they create three bigger problems.
One: It replaces justice with spectacle. A beating doesn’t produce evidence, records, or a policy change. It produces injuries, suspensions, and sometimes lawsuits that bury the original complaint.
Two: It puts students at risk. Assault can lead to rustication, arrest, and a criminal record. The student loses school, career, and future, over a two-minute video.
Three: It lets the system off the hook. When students vent their anger on one lecturer, the university doesn’t have to fix admissions, grading, or its harassment policy. Nothing structural changes.
The way out: 4 things that must happen now:
Campuses need working, confidential reporting channels. Every university should have an independent sexual harassment panel with students, staff, and external members. Anonymous reporting, 48-hour acknowledgment and protection against victimization. No more “go and meet your HOD” directive.
If an investigation finds merit, sanctions must be public: suspension, loss of promotion, dismissal, and blacklisting from TETFund jobs. Lecturers should know there is a career cost.
Student unions, SUGs, and campus press should document cases, push petitions, and do peaceful protests. Film the office, not the fight. Use the evidence to force the panel to act, not to replace it.
From 100-level orientation: clear rules on power relations, dress codes for professionalism on both sides, and mandatory training. “No sex for grades” should be as basic as “no cultism”.
Bottom line
We understand the rage. Nobody should have to trade their body for a B+. But beating a “randy” lecturer ends with two casualties: the lecturer and the student’s future. From the video of the beating of the Unizik lecturer, he could have easily died, with its attendant consequences for the culprits. Such a development would have easily overshadowed the man’s alleged act.
What we need are institutions that are afraid of students, not students who are afraid of institutions.
Beat the system, not the person. Report, Organize, Document, Sue, Protest. And demand that universities publish annual harassment reports with numbers and outcomes.
That’s how we protect the next set of students — without destroying ourselves in the process.
