Just imagine having to go through bra checks before writing exams. Yes, that is the reality in one university in Nigeria.
A university in Nigeria has sparked outrage after a video went viral showing female students being touched to see if they were wearing bras before taking part in an exam.
At Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU) in Ogun State, female students were physically frisked by staff to ensure they were wearing bras before being allowed into exam halls.
In the footage, female staff at Olabisi Onabanjo University are seen touching some students’ chests as they queue to enter an examination hall. The footage ignited a firestorm online, with critics calling it archaic, sexist, and disturbingly close to sexual assault.
The university has remained silent on the video, but a student leader defended the bra policy as being part of the institution’s dress code aimed at maintaining “a distraction-free environment.” A relic that bans anything “capable of making the opposite sex lust after the student.”
The university’s students’ union president, Muizz Olatunji, stated that the university promoted “a dress-code policy aimed at maintaining a respectful and distraction-free environment, encouraging students to dress modestly and in line with the institution’s values.”
Adding that the policy was not new, and the union had “engaged with the institution to explore alternative approaches to addressing indecent dressing, focusing on respectful and dignified interactions between students and staff.”
And here’s the kicker: OOU isn’t even a religious institution. Yet it enforces a moral code stricter than some seminaries. So, who exactly are they protecting? And from what?
