Yemi
Olakitan
Prostitution is common practice in Nigeria, especially in the major cities. A naïve young man can easily be lured by these women of easy virtues who stand on the red zones of Lagos looking for clients to patronize
them. This is not to say that prostitutes target young men alone. Older,
married men also patronize prostitutes in Nigeria. There is no age or status barrier. Clients come from the poor, the low, the high and the mighty.
The practice of sex work is so commonplace in Nigeria that nearly every community has a brothel, particularly in Lagos and Abuja. Hundreds of beautiful young women can be found in the clubs and brothels selling sex.
This is an irony because nearly everybody condemns prostitution in Nigeria. The imams, the pastors, the lecturers, the doctors, the lawyers, all condemn sex workers, yet their population is increasing.
This is despite the fact that we live in a very religious country. Nigeria has some of the largest churches in the world, the synagogue Church of all Nations, Living Faith Church, The Redeemed Christian Church of God, to mention but a few, with populations hitting five million in one church. The Muslims may not have very large churches but their population is closely following the Christian population in Nigeria.
If we have a very large population of religious people, the question to ask is: who are the people patronising them? If we have very religious people who lay claim to high morality, who are the clients of our equally large population of sex workers? Who patronises them? They must be patronised by ghosts!
In the words of Mr Ayo Ogunjobi, social commentator and blogger, Nigeria must stop the hypocrisy. The government must recognise that some things are with us and deal with them accordingly so that our brothels will not be a haven for much more heinous crimes. It is an irony that a country that has anti-prostitution laws should have such high numbers of sex workers.
Reports say prostitution began to boom in the early 1980s when street prostitution become a common sight on Allen Avenue, Ikeja, Oshodi and later Kuramo Beach in Lagos. It started slowly after Nigeria's independence in 1960. The common description of prostitution as the oldest profession in the world is really an understatement in Nigeria! The Association of Nigerian sex workers says it has about, 1,000,000 members working in different parts of the country but not all prostitutes have registered.
The question is why? Why do young, beautiful and promising Nigerian women go into prostitution? The first answer should be poverty. There is no social welfare programme in Nigeria. The result is that they struggle to provide for themselves. Many of them, without an education or any other means of livelihood except their bodies!
We can also find an answer to this question in peer pressure. ''My friends are all doing it why shouldn't I?''
In a chat
with Aisha from Benin on why she is practising prostitution. She explained,
‘’ I have no one to take care of me except my
mother who is living in the village. Since my father died, we have been alone.
If I don't do that who will take care of me? Aisha said she has a daughter and she pays her school fee from the proceeds of prostitution’’
The fact remains that prostitutes are very poor in Nigeria. Many are led into the profession as a result of extreme poverty. The money they make does not really deliver them from the chains of lack. They work, they earn, they spend it. Most of it on riotous living because of bad company. Alcohol and marijuana are easy to come by in the country.
However, it has been argued that there are those who
choose to practice prostitution, not because they are poor but because they
love the profession. There are also those who do not spend their earnings from sex work on frivolous things but on things of value such as education, or a small business.
A young
woman named, Precious will fall into this category, she agreed that
economic factors pushed her into sex work. According to her, she later discovered
that she loves sex and enjoyed satisfying her clients especially when good
money is involved. The question was posed whether she will live the profession
if offered a better job. She replied, ‘’a better job will not change anything, I
love sex.’’
Precious is
a classic example of the argument that some women willingly go into sex work
not necessarily because of poverty as she clearly stated that if given a
lucrative job she will continue her sex work because she loves sex.
In another story, Comfort, a full time prostitute from Eastern Nigeria, used the proceeds from sex work to get herself an education. Now, she holds a Bachelor's degree in Communications Studies and a National Certificate of Education, NCE. However, Comfort continues to work in the sex industry. When asked why? She said, she has not got another job yet but as soon as she has an alternative job, she will live the sex work. As we can see from the scenario of Comfort, she wanted an education, not having the money to pay for tuition, she becomes a sex worker. Comfort is a victim of circumstances.
In another case, Patience from Edo state worked as a full-time sex worker in Lagos for many years. She set up a hairdressing salon from her savings. In an interview with the writer, she said, she had trained as a hairdresser in Benin but did not have the money to set herself up in business. She decided to come to Lagos to do prostitution in order to save up for her dream business. Today, she has a successful hairdressing salon. When asked whether she still wants to do sex work. She said, no. According to her, she wanted to get married and have children.
In 1987, the
Women's Center in Nigeria wrote a press release about the harassment, assault
and rape of prostitute by law enforcement members. Here is another problem
Prostitutes face in Nigeria. Law enforcement officer regularly harasses them for
sex and money. These policemen take advantage of the law. Prostitution is illegal in Nigeria. However,
this is only in the books not in practice. As a result, policemen regularly exploit
sex workers, arrest them, then demand a bribe. Most of the time, these
bribes may be in cash or in kind.
The illegality of prostitution is really a problem in the sense that, unscrupulous people take advantage of it. The Federal Government should rather legalize prostitution if it cannot enforce its laws. What is the point of law in the books that have no teeth in practice?
Prostitution should be legalized, monitored and regulated. It is nearly impossible to eradicate prostitution. Who can stop two adults who have decided to have sex? They will always find a way.
This is the reason why it is called the oldest profession in the world. The government should rather regulate it in order to eradicate the more severe crimes of child prostitution, human trafficking, rape and extortion by law enforcement officers, armed robbery and so on.
A sex worker who is robbed by a client cannot report the offence. Why should she report when she can be arrested and exploited by policemen?
These things are all hidden in prostitution. It will be easier
for them to tackle these things when prostitution is legalized so that prostitutes
can cooperate with the government in order to expose the criminals hidden among
them.
Human trafficking and other offences hid behind prostitution will easily be reported by the sex workers if they are free to work straight to the police station without fear of harassment.
Another big problem is Transnational commercial sex work which started during British colonial West Africa. It began to grow into a transcontinental business in the 1980s. Starting in the mid-1980s, the trafficking of Nigerian Women to European countries such as Italy began to gain attraction, according to reports.
Young women are usually lured into transnational sex workers by very wealthy individuals who operate variously criminal activities including organ harvesting.
In many of the cases, there were examples of
coercion. For example, a trafficked person is asked to swear an oath to a juju priest. Some personal items such as bodily fluids are taken
by the priests for keeping or used to administer the oath and seal the
agreement. This keeps the victim in extreme phobia and mental bondage. In addition to the fact that prostitution is illegal in Nigeria.
When the women reach the country of the destination they are immediately indebted to the trafficker for transport and
lodging fees and will have to pay off the debt before they are freed, if ever.
The US Department of State Office dedicated to Monitoring and Combating Trafficking
in Persons ranks Nigeria as a 'Tier 2 Watch List country.
The illegal status of prostitution only sweeps the activities of the sex industry under the carpet as we have seen in Nigeria. The way forward is that government must show interest in sex work in Nigeria and protect its citizens.
They should show an active interest in the sex workers so as to be able to cooperate with them to fish out human traffickers, drug traffickers, armed robbers and paedophiles etc. This is because brothels are the hidden places of various criminals since prostitutes can not report them for fear of harassment.
The government can also provide counselling resources and rehabilitation programs for those who are in the sex business by circumstances and not by choice.
There are many young women in the trade who want to get out of the profession but are trapped by circumstances beyond their control. Government can offer scholarships to those who want to go to school but do not have the means. They can provide access to health care, thereby preventing the spread of infectious diseases.
Only by decriminalising prostitution can government do all these and many more. They can also encourage social workers to operate among prostitutes. The Nigerian government must realise that prostitutes are humans beings They are not from the moon.
(Names are changed) by Yemi Olakitan
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