A Nigerian university has come under immense criticism after a video of a female staff member checking whether a female student was wearing a bra before allowing her into the examination hall went viral. Olabisi Onabanjo University in Ogun State defended the policy of allowing no female student without a bra in the examination hall and said it is part of the institution’s dress code aimed to promote modesty and maintain a “distraction-free environment”. President of the students’ union, Muizz Olatunji, however, has acknowledged that there is a need for an alternative method to enforce this dress code. Olatunji posted in X that checking the bra is not a new policy. Olatunji shared parts of what he said were the school’s policies, which described indecent dressing as that which shows sensitive body parts “such as breasts, buttocks, nipples and belly-buttons,” including “any dressing that is capable of making the same or opposite sex to lust after the student in an indecent manner.”After the video went viral, students of the university confirmed that it was shot at their school. Human rights lawyer Inibehe Effiong described the OOU’s bra policy as “draconian” and “arbitrary,” and one that “might amount to some form of sexual harassment.” He told CNN that “physically examining the bodies of students to determine whether they are wearing a bra or not is not only degrading but also undignifying.” “There could be medical explanations for why certain students may not feel comfortable wearing a bra at a particular time,” he said, adding that enforcing the policy “without exceptions, or without taking peculiarities into consideration is arbitrary,” and could lead to legal actions.
