'No bra, no entry': Nigeria university rule sparks backlash

A student looks on at the Medical Library entrance in the University College Hospital in Ibadan on November 19, 2024. [AFP]

A Nigerian university has ignited an online row after a video showed female staff members touching the breasts of women to check if they were wearing bras before taking part in an exam.

Hundreds of thousands of people have viewed the video of staff at Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU) in the southwestern Ogun state enforcing the policy that female students must wear bras during exams.

In the online row sparked this month, some denounced the practice as archaic and sexist, while others likened it to sexual assault.

"This is harassment. People have different reasons for not wearing bras," a user identified as @kaysheila posted on X.

"That's human rights violation. Sue them!!!" added another user, @kastrotwits.

But others have defended the checks, saying it is "inappropriate" for women to go into a public space without wearing a bra.

Muizz Olatunji, president of the university's students' union, justified the practice in a post on X.

"'No bra. No entry' is not a new policy in Olabisi Onabanjo University," he wrote.

"OOU promotes 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," Olatunji said.

He added that the university had also urged female students to "shun indecent dressing that's capable of making opposite sex unnecessarily lust after them".

But his students' union would nonetheless open talks with university officials to "explore alternative approaches to addressing indecent dressing, focusing on respectful and dignified interactions between students and staff".

For now the university has not made any official comment on the uproar.

Most of Nigeria's universities impose a dress code on students of varying degrees of severity. Mini-skirts are often banned for women, for example, as are dreadlocks or earrings for men.

Nigeria, whose population is 53.5 percent Muslim and nearly 44 percent Christian, has long been a conservative country in terms of social attitudes, particularly in rural areas.