CHAPTER FOUR

DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS, DISCUSSION AND FINDINGS

4.1 INTRODUCTION

This chapter deals with the presentation, analysis and interpretation of data sourced from

respondents from Caleb University, imota- Lagos and the University of Lagos. Therefore, all

the data collected is presented and analyzed with the use of an interview with senior lecturers

in Caleb university. The presentation is based on the research questions generated .

4.2 DATA PRESENTATION

4.2.1RESEARCH QUESTION 1: WHAT ARE THE CAUSES OF FEMALE SEXUAL

ABUSE ON CAMPUS?

Sexual abuse is caused by so many things which involves lack of self discipline, dress code,

laziness of the students, selfish interests, sexual attraction to a person and the willingness to

act on them and just but to mention a few. The tendency of the increase in the rates of sexual

abuse is driven by cultural, environmental, individual and family factors.

All respondents had different views on the causes of female sexual abuse but mostly shared

some common ideas such as lack of self control, indiscipline, dress code, lackadaisical

attitude from students to learn, seduction by students, etc. Mr. Agboola however, shared that

moral bankruptcy can be a cause of sexual abuse, living in the world we are in today where

integrity and moral are neglected, some people believe they can take advantage of the job and

harass students as benefits. Dr. Chiji Ezeji pointed that sexual abuse is also caused

psychologically. He pointed out that the experiences of people while growing up and the

environment in which they live or lived in affects them psychologically, for example , a home

where the father sexually abuses the mother and the children get to see this inhuman

treatment from the beginning can affect the child and also drive that child into it. Lecturers
who have been a victim of that can use his office as an avenue to carry out this barbaric act.

Mrs Oluchi Enapeh also contributed that peer pressure could also be the cause of sexual

abuse, environments where students are being pressured to go into acts they naturally will not

do all because their friends did it and they want to feel among so they do these things to

please friends. A good example is friends who seduce lecturers for good grades with little or

no efforts to study, selling silly ideas to their other friends and who may by into the idea and

causing abuse to occur.

Some respondents (respondents 4,5 & 6) who were interviewed anonymously because of the

sensitivity of the topic, also contributed that lecturers easy accessibility can cause sexual

abuse, where the lecturer is always available or easily accessed by students which can lead to

seduction and extortion, this is mostly found in private universities unlike the public

universities where getting access to lecturers are harder. Some respondents ( mr. Agboola

and Mrs Oluchi) disagreed that lecturers accessibility causes sexual abuse, they pointed out

that the lecturers accessibility is good for the students to be able to interact with lecturers and

enable them communicate difficulties whenever they have any on academic matters. Another

respondent pointed out that some sexual abuse cases are caused as a result of power.

Explaining this point further, I noted that some lecturers do not involve themselves directly

(lecturers holding bigger offices like HOD’s) can use their secretary to arrange students for

their canal satisfaction. Moral upbringing was another important point which I noted, some

parents unknowingly contributed to this mayhem because they failed to ensure that they teach

their children about things like sexual abuse and encourage them to stay away from it, like

the biblical saying which goes “train up a child in a way that he should grow, that he may not

depart from it”, and that lack of training has contributed to the level of sexual abuse cases on

campus.
On the issue of of dress code, I noted that all respondents agreed that the dressing of a student

can cause sexual abuse. They also mentioned that unlike public universities where students

are allowed to wear whatever they want, in private universities like Caleb, rules have been

made for a certain dress pattern and that has helped to reduce the level of sexual abuse

occurrences in private universities.

4.2.2 RESEARCH QUESTION 2: WHAT ARE THE EFFECTS/ CONSEQUENCES

OF SEXUAL ABUSE ON VICTIMS?

They all had similar responses to the effects of sexual abuse on victims like, emotional stress,

psychological effects, physical effects, etc. Mainly the effects which have been research

proven are behavioural effects, physical effects, social effects, psychological effects, etc.

Respondent 4 stated that the behavioural effects of sexual abuse can lead to victims making

irrational decisions that may affect them later in life or instantly, an instance of a victim who

vows to take revenge on the actor for being abused can either arrange for the person to be

equally abused by another person or kill the person, all for taking revenge on the person. A

social affect that respondent 4 mentioned is that the victim may grow wild and become

notorious which can add to the rising number of crime rate in our society and on the school

campus. A physical effect respondent 4 mentioned are sexually transmitted diseases,

unwanted pregnancies, injuries from the actors who use force to get what they want which

can also cause the death of such person, etc.

Dr chiji Ezeji mentioned that emotional stress is a commonly known effect of sexual abuse,

victims begin to feel neglected, depressed, and rejected. He, in agreement with respondent 4

noted that situations of sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancies can occur, some

victims who are students can begin to loose focus on their academics and completely become

a nuisances to the society, adding to the number of drop outs and increasing unemployment
rate, connecting all the dots, such person is liable to committing crime. Mr. Agboola stated

effects on both sides, where the lecturer is the victim, he can be publicly disgraced causing

him to loose his office (Job) as well as his reputation in the society in a whole. He stated that

the female even having to loose their integrity and honour, some of them have to go through

with abortions just to get rid of unwanted pregnancies, which we all know is not a safe

process. Mrs Oluchi mentioned lack of concentration, mainly psychological effects that may

affect the mind of the victim and cause the victim to be depressed and in some cases cause

the person to commit suicide. Respondent 5 and 5 gave similar responses to the effects sexual

abuse has on victims, both pointed out that victims can feel very depressed that they would

rather not talk about their experiences, inferiority complex and would disassociate themselves

from others because they feel unsafe around people, respondent 5 mentioned that it can cause

a mental imbalance to the victim.

4.2.3 RESEARCH QUESTION 3: HOW CAN THE RATE OF FEMALE SEXUAL

ABUSE ON CAMPUS BE CONTROLLED?

Respondents had common ideas as to how to curb sexual abuse on campus, they all

mentioned awareness, seminars and work shops, and enforcement of rules. However, some

respondents had more enlightening ideas to contribute, respondent 6 mentioned the

provisions of close circuit television (cctv) around the campus and in offices to monitor the

activities on the campus, he mentioned that the idea of having a CCTV camera in an office

will make the lecturers and even students watch what they do and say because they know that

they are being watched by the authorities. Respondent 5 and Mr.Agboola mentioned a similar

solution to sexual abuse which is reorientation of staffs and students and this can be done by

the help of religious heads on campus, the moral decadence in the society today has eaten

deep into the minds of people and so the reorientation of staffs will help discourage the

involvement of both staffs and students. All respondents agreed that counselling should be
made available for students, they should be able to communicate with a friendly face about

problems they cannot talk to just anyone about to help them get through difficulties like

sexual abuse. Respondent 4 made mention of the provision of tight campus security, if private

security officials are stationed in areas of the campus and are paid well, they will help to

reduce the level of sexual abuse and other criminal or unlawful activities on campus. Dr.

Chiji however mentioned that, the school and parents should help in discouraging wrong

associations amongst youths, some of the behaviours being portrayed by youths today are as

a result of the type of company they condone, hence youths should be educated on the

disadvantages of wrongful associations .

4.3 DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS

Sexual abuse has been always been a dark spot in human history, however it most crimes are

subject to the opportunities that cause them so therefore it would be a fools work to compare

sexual abuse on campus to sexual abuse that occurs on the street. While they are the same in

word the reasons behind them differ. When carrying out the research a few variables popped

up and are known causes of criminal acts on campus and some of them are lack of self

discipline, dress code, laziness of the students, selfish interests, sexual attraction to a person

and the willingness to act on them.

However during the interview of respondents, the researcher would like to agree on some of

the answers delivered by the respondents: in one case Mr Agboola says “moral bankruptcy is

the cause of sexual abuse” which the researcher finds quippy but true. While the situation

determines who lacks the ‘moral bankruptcy’ it is easy to point out that one of the parties

involves has the intent to use sex to bypass laid down safe protocols just to influence the

course of study on campus, sometimes it could be just for gratification.

strain caused by the environment causes. The researcher agrees with this as all crime takes

place in the mind before actual actions occur.

The researcher agrees with the other respondents who say it’s caused by other factors like

fondness to lecturers, low values and morals or some form of power struggle. In the end the

researcher acknowledges these factors as causes and would like to add that sexual disorders

should also be taking into account, although even if one of the parties suffers from this it all

still linked to the morals which can be called into question.

With the second research question posed and answered. The researcher would like to say that

the effects of sexual abuse can be classified under long term and short term results.

While the respondents acknowledge the psychological trauma it causes, the depression, the

mental stress, also physical stress like pregnancies, STDS, and low self esteem. The

researcher would like to point out that these effects are indeed the results of such actions but

most respondents didn’t point out the unique situation of if both parties are willingly engaged

in a sexual relationship.

While consent may be present, it doesn’t change the inappropriate status of the relationship.

First world countries view this acts still as sexual predatory and the researcher agrees with

that. Carnal knowledge should not exist between a guiding figure and whoever is being

guided.

The researcher phrased the last interview question as thus “How can the rate of female sexual

abuse on campus be controlled?”

epidemic which the researcher agrees with, the control methods that lead to rehabilitation

never comes up.

While variables like, campus security, reorientation, awareness seminars and lectures,

enforcement of rules, religion in moral culture and revival of its decadence. All these have

done very little to destroy this act, while it may lessen cases if doesn’t curb it.

Sexual promiscuity which is a major reason for this crime occurring either in the lecturer or

student. This method of control hardly applies to them as addiction is hard to get rid of and

sometimes requires psychological help. If therapy and other rehabilitation programs could be

added it might help stymie the wound.

5.1 INTRODUCTION

This chapter concludes the research work “perceived causes, consequences and control of the

increasing rate of female sexual abuse on campus: a survey of senior academic staff of Caleb

university, Nigeria “. It consists of the summary, conclusion, recommendations and the areas

for further research.

5.2 SUMMARY

This research work assessed the causes and consequences of female sexual abuse on campus,

as well as possible solutions to ending or reducing to a large extent the rate of sexual abuse

on campus, which can also be applied generally. The rate of sexual abuse on campus and in

the society had been a source of concern as the perpetrators of this evil mostly go unpunished

giving them room to carry on with such act. Chapter one talks about the historical

background of sexual abuse , statement of the problem was derived, research questions which

was adopted from the objective of the study. Chapter two shows the theoretical framework

work of the study and the literature review from other research works. The chapter three

shows the methods used to get data for the purpose of fulfilling the objective of the study.

The chapter four shows how the study assessed the causes, effects and control of female

sexual abuse on campus using and interview guide. To achieve the objectives pointed out, a

qualitative research method was adopted and data was collected using secondary sources. The
major findings of this research work revealed that the statistics of female sexual abuse is not

accurately known as a result of the country’s poor data base, as a result of the frequent reports

of sexual abuse, it is considered to be on the high side. Chapter four also shows the

discussion of findings and analysis gotten from 6 respondents through an interview during the

field work . Chapter 5 consists of the summary, conclusion and recommendations.

5.3 CONCLUSION

Sexual abuse has proven to be an issue that seems to have not end, iIt has different reasons as

to why these crimes are being committed. It can be for human pleasure, lack of self control,

show of power or dominance, etc. It has caused the deaths of some of its victims, sexually

transmitted diseases, post traumatic stress disorder, emotional stress and has led many into

the world of crime. There is a need to solve the problem from the roots cause and not just

from the fore front, if not handled properly it could turn into an organisation of crime and can

increase the rate of crime and deaths in the country.

5.4 RECOMMENDATIONS

1. Every institution should have strict policy on sexual abuse, anyone found guilty should be

persecuted and rusticated as students or relieved of their duties as academic staff of the

institution.

2. Institutions should see to it that anyone who is should guilty should not be allowed to hold

a public office in order to avoid the occurrence of such in another organisation.

3. The government should criminalise sexual abuse and introduce punishments like castration

and jail term to scare away future offenders from indulging in such .
4. Institutions should provide counselling services for both staff and students in other to

ensure that the morals and mental state of staffs and students are in check to avoid the

occurrences of such .

5. The government should ensure that the rules against sexual abuse are highly enforced to

discourage people from attempting such act and also to encourage victims to report cases of

sexual abuse.

5.5 AREAS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH

Research needs to be carried out on “ The measures government and institutions has taken to

combat the occurrences of sexual abuse in Nigeria “. This is to show how far the government

has gone to ensure that the increasing rate of sexual abuse is drastically reduced.

Research should also be carried out on “ The punishments meted out to offenders of sexual

abuse “ and “ The rate of reoffenders of sexual abuse ex-convicts”. This will show how

effective the punishments given to sexual abuse offenders are and to come up with better

ideas of punishments to reduce sexual abuse crimes.