Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, Kaduna State, has introduced a new dress code for students and staff.

The development was announced in the university’s bulletin of 16 June, banning indecent, offensive dressing and unacceptable appearance in public spaces within the campus.

The announcement stated that defaulter (s) of the dressing code would be sanctioned according to their frequent offences, including being sent out of the classroom, library, office, clinic and others.

The dress code prohibited various clothing items and styles, including shorts, skimpy dresses, body-hugging outfits, and transparent or see-through clothing.

“The Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Dress Code Implementation Committee, reconstituted by the Management, has revised the provisions of the ABU Dress Code that is applicable to both staff and students,” the bulletin stated.

The policy listed 27 prohibited conducts, including plaiting or weaving hair by male students, wearing coloured eyeglasses in classrooms, not on medical grounds, wearing bathroom slippers in classrooms (not on medical grounds), wearing trousers that stop between knee and ankle, having a multi-colour braid for females, having coloured hair styling, having dreadlocks by males or females, and having a spangle hair style for males.

Other prohibited items are tattoos, piercings of body parts for lip plugs/discs, mouth plates, nose rings and eyelets. Wearing of ankle chains by females, wearing of long eyelashes by females, wearing of Sagging/ass-down by both males and females, engaging in intimate open embrace (hugging/kissing), openly sitting on each other’s laps by opposite sex, and Unconventional wearing of face cap, among others.

The policy warned that students and staff who fail to comply with the dress code would face sanctions.

“The following descriptions and elements henceforth constitute indecent and offensive dressing as well as unacceptable appearance in public spaces in the university, and are considered as acts of misconduct,” the university warned.